Hey Gang,
My group of LotR players and I were discussing the possible problem in the rules with regard to characters of vastly different size fighting each other.
When we have characters of equal size fighting each other the parry system works fine. If the attack hits then the defenders make a test against a TN equal to the attack to see if he parries. So if we have two characters of equal size with equal ability the it really boils down to who roles the higher role with the defender gaining a small possible bonus from his parry bonus if his weapon give him one. We will assume no shield for augments sake.
Example: two men fighting with short swords both men have a +2 nimbleness bonus and both have 6 ranks in Armed Combat: Blades (specialty: Short Sword) So the attacker would have 2d6+10 on the attack. The defender would have a parry of 2d6+10. Since the parry test wins a tie the defender has a small advantage but it still plays well and seems to represent what one would picture in your mind and narrate.
IMHO is seems to break down as the size of the two combatants get further apart. Basically after much vigorous discussion the problem boils down to the fact that size does not seem to get factored into parrying in any real way.
Example: Lets say we have Rufus the Bold a mighty hobbit warrior. He is a warrior hobbit with 1 advancement. His nimbleness 12(+3) and after fervent training (using favored weapon) he has 10 ranks in Armed Combat: Blades (short sword) This gives him a total of AC (3+10+2) = +15 Don’t forget he is a small size character.
Now Rufus the Bold has encounter and a Cave Troll and being no slouch he feel he must rid Middle Earth of this evil. Well Mr. Cave Troll is big bad and UGLY. He has a mighty Strength 16(+5) and having nothing better do with his time his has practice smashing rocks with his favorite weapon Grond jr. and has 8 ranks of Armed Combat: Clubs (Mace) This give the Cave Troll, that would be Mr Troll to you hobbits a AC (5+8+2) = +15 Now remember a cave troll is Mammoth in size.
So lets say the Mr Troll thinks Rufus need to be even shorter than he is and swings a mighty blow down at Ruffus. Well assuming no other situational modifiers we apply a +6 size modifier (+2 for each size difference Small-Medium-Large-Mammoth) to the hobbits Natural Defense of 13 (10 +3{nim}) so the target number is a 19, but since Mr. Cave Troll is no slouch he only misses on a role of 2 or 3 so for the most part the Ruffus cannot rely on his small size as protection here. So he must do something to protect himself. Being Rufus the bold and maybe not the swiftest he decides to parry.
Now here is were I perceive the problem comes up once Rufus decides to parry its basically opposed skill test that is exactly the same as the first example. Both character have equal ability and thus it come down to who rolls better. Mr Troll receives no advantage from his size in a test were intuitively size should matter. Ground jr. probably weighs as much as Rufus. With this miss match would Rufus have the physical capability, irregardless of his skill practiced ability to parry (block or divert) the attack?
Size only modifies Natural/Passive defense number. In the above example the smaller hobbit get a boost from 13 to 19 and the poor Mr Troll get knocked from 10 down to 4!. Now I don’t have a problem with that he is the size of a barn door. But the size modifiers only apply to the passive defense TN and does not play a part in the parry.
It would seem that it should be much harder for Rufus to Parry Mr Troll then it is for Mr Troll to Parry Rufus but in the present system size make it no harder or easer to Parry. And if we extend this analysis to dodge the same problem occurs but in the other direction. Suddenly Mr Cave Troll can dance around a blow with the same ease the little Rufus could assuming they have similar swiftness modifiers. This also does not feel right.
Have a missed some nuance of the rules? Does this feel right to you guys? Have you addressed this minor problem in your game? I would love to here your opinion or comments.
Thanks
mcb