Parry

Parry
Skill type:	Skill
Skill subtype:	Passive, Defensive
Primary user:	Bandit, Earth Templar, Fighter, Psionicist, Swordmaster, Watcher
Requirements:	A melee weapon in the main hand
Syntax:	Automatic

One of the few skills taught by almost all guilds of Avendar, parrying is the art of fending off an opponent's blows with one's own weapon. It is easiest to do so with a staff, though polearms and spears are well-suited to it as well. Swords and exotic weapons are neither good nor poor to one attempting to parry, though swords parry more effectively when wielded with both hands. Maces, axes, flails, daggers and whips are in turn less and less suited to parrying with.

Fighters, by virtue of their training in a variety of techniques, will be more skilled at parrying no matter what the weapon.

Wielding a weapon other than a sword or a spear in one's offhand will inhibit parrying with the main hand. It is typically easier to parry when skilled with one's own weapon.

It is particularly difficult to parry against daggers and whips, and easier to parry polearms.