I have a quick question about this skill. The skill reads
Opportune Parry and Riposte (Ex): At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack. The swashbuckler makes an attack roll as if she were making an attack of opportunity; for each size category the attacking creature is larger than the swashbuckler, the swashbuckler takes a –2 penalty on this roll. If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses. The swashbuckler must declare the use of this ability after the creature's attack is announced, but before its attack roll is made. Upon performing a successful parry and if she has at least 1 panache point, the swashbuckler can as an immediate action make an attack against the creature whose attack she parried, provided that creature is within her reach.
now the question that a friend asked me was "Can you parry and riposte if the attack on you missed?"
now i try to tell em that you cannot parry if you have nothing to parry against since the attack missed. He said it doesnt say it has to make contact in the skill description so i thought i ask the community about this :D
thx in advanced!
When Baddie A makes an attack you make an attack roll as well. It does not matter if that attack rolls a 1, you have chosen to commit to the parry already. Your job just got easier because if you roll anything higher then his attack, you block his attack.
its important to note that by the very text of the ability, you must decide to parry after the attack is announced but before the result is revealed. if you already know the attack hit (or missed!) then it is already too late to parry.
This question just came up and I don't think Gilderoy Lestrange has answered the question as clearly as I would like.
Let's put some numbers down to clarify the situation.
Case A: A soldier is about to make a melee attack on a Swashbuckler PC. The GM notifies the player of the Swashbuckler that the attack is about to be rolled and asks if he wants to spend the panache point and prepare a opportune parry and riposte deed. The player says yes.
Now the soldier rolls and the attack result comes out a 9, which is below the normal AC of the PC. The PC makes an attack roll, per the rules for OP&R and the parry roll is a 12. So does the swashbuckler get to make a riposte, that is, make an attack of opportunity?
Case B: this then brings up another question.
The PC swashbuckler has an AC of 16. The attack roll of the soldier is a 14. The parry roll from the swashbuckler is a 12. Does that mean the attack hits, since it is higher than the parry? In other words, does making the parry carry an inherent risk of leaving one open to a hit if the parry does not succeed, or does the attack still have to be better than the normal AC to hit, even if it is better than the parry roll?
My inclination would be to answer "yes" to case A and to say that the attack in Case B fails because it is stopped by the normal armor class of the PC, even though the parry was ineffectual. In effect, the OP&R deed allows you to get an AOO on an enemy, provided the parry roll is higher than the attack roll. The attack roll still has to exceed the PC's normal AC to hit, however.
if you successfully parry you can spend an immediate action to attack if you have at least one panache. The parry attempt uses one panache and an AoO.
no, if you fail to parry it still needs to beat your armor.
Let me clarify case A for you:
Parry spends AoO and a point of Panache.
Riposte spends your immediate action and needs a point of Panache (so you can't do this multiple times in a turn).
Case B:
It's not what you roll on the die, is attack roll vs attack roll. This includes all the normal modifiers on the attack roll. So your example isn't really valid, because you're looking at dice rolls not total attack roll.
Edit: Never mind, for some reason I thought you were saying die rolls not attack rolls.
In any event, no the opponent doesn't hit you just because you roll worse in your parry attempt then they do on their attack. They still have to hit your AC to cause you damage.
Let me clarify case A for you:
Parry spends AoO.
Riposte spends your immediate action and a point of Panache (so you can't do this multiple times in a turn).
Parry uses the panache, riposte just needs one left in the tank to do.
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Case A: Yes. The attack has been successfully parried and as such the swashbuckler can make a riposte.
Case B: No. The text for the ability says, "If her result is greater than the attacking creature's result, the creature's attack automatically misses." Nowhere does it say there are any negative effects to a failed parry, besides a spent panache point and the chance to be hit, if the attack actually meets your AC.
Edit: Ninja'd!
Yes. as long as your attack roll is higher (and recent faq's strongly suggest that the nat 1 and nat 20 rolls don't matter) you parry and then can riposte if you want. Whether the attack would have hit or not is irrelevant.
Thanks for the quick replies.
One other issue came up. If the battle is taking place in dim lighting, so one must make the roll for the 20% miss chance, would you require a 20% roll on the parry? Or just on the Riposte (effective AOO).
The parry uses an attack roll, according to it's description (you're make an AoO to defend). I would probably rule that mischance would apply. Even mischance from things like Blur. You can't properly see the enemies attack, so it makes it harder to defend against, whether it's because it's kind of dark or because he appears to be 5ft from where he actually is.