Well it depends on which edition of the game you are speaking of. I can only speak for the first and 2nd edition. The current one I skipped since I don't like card based rpg's.

WFRP 2nd ed was the system used to build Dark Heresy and Deathwatch from. So, a lot of the rules are similar. Same with most of the stats and even the skills and talents used. In WFRP you can play 4 races. Human, halfling, Elf and Dwarf. There are separate books to play Chaos or Skaven. No Lizardman unfortunately. But there are some homebuild systems t obe found on the net to do just that.

With character creation, you roll stats just as in DW but then things differ. With WFRP you have careers, from humble rat catchers to haughty nobility. These you normally roll randomly. After all, a beggar can become a mighty hero in Fantasy doesn't he?

Realize though that compared to DW you are rubbish, but such is fitting for plain human stock ;)

In reply to Gwenlynn (msg #69):

Ok that is really helpful actually

You wouldn't happen to have a link for a site for a Lizardman character sheet would you because that is what I am really looking at to play I unintentionally seem to always pick the most badass army in every Warhammer games Space Marines Lizardmen (don't get me wrong I'm not gloating it's just unintentional I choose my army based on what the box shows them looking like lol *pretty colors*)

Sorry no, I found something a few years ago. Try googling on WFRP lizrdman 2nd 3dition, Lustria

alright thanks

here's something you may want to have a gander at.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=250748

Yeah that pretty helpful but i like Saurus skinks are ok but i just can't get into them like i can with Saurus warriors

Can an attack be parried with a Great Weapon? It technically meets the requirements as there is a weapon in both hands; just a single one, not two.

There are no special abilities of the weapon to imply that it cannot be used to parry. You might make a houserule that slow also implies that you parry at -10 with a great weapon though.

If you could parry because you use two hands,  then grabbing a long sword with both hands should allow a parry. Using two weapons for a free parry is due to one hand not being used in the attack, and therefore able to parry.

You can parry with a great weapon if you enter a parrying stance as a half action.  This means you can still make a standard attack as a half action but you cannot charge, swift attack, all-out attack or any other full action manoeuvre.

For those with a one-handed weapon this still applies except that you can use an off-hand weapon for parrying AS A FREE ACTION.  This of course means you are able to charge, all-out attack etc as well as parry.

I don't think the 'slow' effect has any difference by RAW but I like the idea that it would give a -10% to the parry.


If this was in a game I was playing in I would strongly object to allowing a Great weapon user to parry without he goes into a parrying stance, slow or no slow.  A great weapon is extremely powerful and useful but it does have - and should have - obvious disadvantages.

Thought I would share this- I wrote these rules for adding some additional background to WFRP2 PC's years ago- finally posted it today:

Linkage: http://rat-catcher.blogspot.co...its-for-wfrp-v2.html

At first gtlance, they look like interersting additions. Though perhaps having 3 skills/talents would be a bit much.

Yeah, I've considered cutting it back to two- it's quite easy to just lump the 3 skills/talents together and make it a 'chose 2'.  Another fix if it becomes too min/maxy is to not allow skills from a background to stack with career skills- that way it adds a little flavor and competence for PC's that have a slightly more interesting background, but can't be overtly abused to yield valuable skills if you stack a background and a career that overlap significantly.

Does Parry use the same modifier as the attacks made that round? Or is it straight WS?

Depends on the modifier I believe, if it's a weapon modifier it depends on what weapon you're parrying with, if you get a free parry from a weapon in your off hand it's assumed you're using that weapon to parry with, if it's an "environmental" modifier I believe it affects both attack and defense.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:59, Thu 17 Oct 2013.

Off the top of my head...

Weapon modifiers effect it so that would be defensive e.g Best Craftmanship Sword, Shield, Buckler most other Parrying Class.

I'd agree with Sarge on "environmental" modifiers be that terrain, being outnumbered or GM imposed modifiers.

Action wise which is what I think you are asking about I would say it doesn't. As far as I remember they are written to be mutually exclusive. A character who goes All Out Attack can't take a defensive reaction and a character in Defensive Stance can't attack. I think the only way they can come into conflict is if you are using the optional rule Action, Action, Action!

So...

A character with BC Sword and Shield in off hand takes the action Aim (half) and Standard Attack (half). He attacks +10 for aim and +5 for sword giving him an attack of WS+15. In defence he receives a reaction Parry using Shield which is defensive +10 but off hand -20 so a he parries at WS -10.

Same character enters Defensive Stance (full). So he may use his BC Sword in his main hand for +5 WS and +10 for being defensive as well as +20(?) for Defensive Stance giving him a parry of WS+35.

Hopefully that explains things a bit.

Note: This is off the top of my head and I'm pretty sure some of the terms and values are a bit mixed up with Dark Heresy so if anyone with a book in front of them can come and add to this. Also haven't actually played in a while...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Thu 17 Oct 2013.

There's actually no mention of a negative to parry from using your off hand under two weapon fighting, just to attack.

Correct...that is only to attack.  Shields and parrying weapons are designed to be used off-hand by non-ambidextrous people.

I obviously need to go back and read over the rules. Perhaps that's a house rule I've been using. I've always applied the modifier to any action using the off hand. To me the benefit of having the free reaction is the price you pay for a negative penalty and also increases the benefit of being ambidextrous.

Sarge and Prowler are both right.  The 2 weapon fighting rule specifically gives the off-hand negative only to attack rolls.



Not so sure about this.  What do you mean by ?

As I read the rule for Defensive Stance all it gives is that an enemy attacking you is at -20% to his attack.  It certainly does not add to your parry.  Your BC sword does absolutely nothing since you cannot attack.  But although you cannot attack in that stance you canstill parry (or dodge if you have the skill).  But your parry would be your normal parry at WS +10% for the shield.  Your sword and your stance do not affect this parry.

In reply to The Digger (msg # 88):

That might be a Dark Heresy or Deathwatch carryover.  Swords in those settings have the Defensive quality (+10% to Parry).  Not so much in WFRP.

prowler; are you referring to Furry's 10% defensive sword?  I am not saying a sword is defensive.

The defensive rule for swords is taken from the WFRP Armoury it gives basic weapons additional benefits at BC under a side bar Option: Distinguishing Hand Weapons.  Hammer is Pummelling, Military Pick is Armour Piercing, Slow, Axe is Impact and Sword is Defensive. (WFRP Old World Rmoury pg 29)

My apologies. Although published these are optional rules whereas in DH they are written in the Core Rules for the sword at least.

The +5 bonus is for Best Craftmanship (WFRP  Core Rules pg107)  So a Best Craftmanship sword would give a parry bonus.

You're right on defensive stance. It's coming back to me now I knew there was a 20% bonus somewhere.

I'm sorry if I'm causing confusion as I'm more into the 40k side of things these days and it's all slightly the same but a little bit different and I do tend do bash various rule sets together and play about with a lot of house rules. Glad that there's some discussion though.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:51, Fri 18 Oct 2013.

I may be wrong (again) but there is a Balanced Quality which means you suffer no modifier while using the weapon in your off hand. The Buckler is both Balanced and Defensive (?). Why give both those qualities to an item if there's no negative modifier for parrying off handed. There might not be a specific reference in the combat section to parrying off handed but I'm pretty sure it says any action attempted off hand is at -20.

I think I'm going to look this up.

And I am wrong. Apologies Sarge there is indeed no reference of a negative modifier to parry only to attack. You are entirely right.

WFRP Core Rules Two Weapon Fighting pg 130 says...
A character can parry as a free action once per round. This parry can be used at any point during the round. The limit of one parry remains in effect.

DH Core Rules Two Weapon Fighting pg 197 says...
If you're wielding a melee weapon as one of your two weapons you may make a Parry once each Round as a Reaction as normal with this weapon, though you may still not Parry more than once in a Round. This Weapon Skill test is not an attack, and therefore it does not suffer the standard penalty for attacks made using your secondary hand.

There's not even a balanced quality in WFRP only in DH where it doesn't even do what I think it did. I'm going to look to see where I got this from. I Think I've been spouting house rules as though gospel and got rather confused along the way. Apologies again all round
This message was last edited by the player at 01:48, Fri 18 Oct 2013.

Because you can still attack with your off hand, so in the event the weapon in your dominant hand is disarmed or you really want to use that off hand (Buckler does have Pummeling, and Sword Breaker can break swords, while BC Hand Weapons if using certain optional rules do offer benefits all their own, so there are some reasons to) and you aren't Ambidextrous, you won't suffer the -20% to your off hand attack. In fact, the only part of the combat rules that mentions a negative to attack from the off hand is two weapon fighting, probably because they expect in most cases the player to use the dominant hand unless he's using two weapons.

Regardless RAW does not include a negative to off hand parries.