Alternate Parrying of Heavy Weapons

A while back I was playing out a sample combat to see how some mystically-powered knights fared against the massive beasts their order was founded to combat. And I found myself frustrated with parries. The knight could block essentially any attack, against almost any size of beast he faced. So I've come up with a new parry system. I hope you find it useful.

Goals

This system was made with the following goals:

1. Make situations where parrying is difficult a smooth spectrum rather than a binary "it works" or "it fails"
   
2. Make broken guards more common than broken weapons
3. Make natural weapons more formidable when parrying and being parried
   
4. Flow simply and elegantly

Parrying shouldn't suddenly become impossible, and it shouldn't rely solely or even mostly on the weights of the weapon, or on their likelihood of breaking. Flesh is generally weaker than steel, and leverage more important than weight. I also hope to adjust the scaling of natural weapons.

The Rule

Compare the basic lifts of the attacker and defender. If the attacker has a greater basic lift, get the ratio of the two lifts and round down to the next entry on the table

Ratio	Modifier
1:1	+0 Parry
2:3	+0 Parry
1:2	-1 Parry
1:3	-2 Parry
1:5	-3 Parry
1:7	Parry Fails
1:10	Parry Fails

Then look at the attack type and the defense type and move the category up or down as follows:

• Attacker Slamming: +3 categories
• Attacker using a "Heavy" Attack: +1 category
• Attacker Using a "Small" Weapon: -1 category
• Defender Using a "Small Weapon": +1 category
• Defender Using a Two Handed Weapon: -1 category 
• Defender Parrying a Slam with their body: -3 categories

A "small" weapon usually means a knife or an unarmed attack. Some exotic unarmed attacks, especially the bites of born biters, are not "small".  Unarmed defenses, as opposed to attacks, are not small. The penalty from a difference in weapons is cumulative with those from parrying a weapon unarmed.

"Heavy" Attacks are about the leverage of the attack rather as the literal weight of the weapon. A heavy attack is a usually two-handed swing or an attack that makes use of the attackers momentum, like a lance. Many polearms count as a heavy weapons when swung, but not when thrust.

When to use This Rule

This system is designed for games where strength varies wildly and where relative strength matters. I don't recommend using it for game that are mostly about fights between humans of roughly equal strength, but it should shine in games about fighting giants and big monsters. These rules make strength more effective in combat, especially very high strength, which often benefits the monsters, but it can also benefit exotic PCs with very high ST.

Even when using this rule, don't be afraid to play fast and loose. It should be obvious when you need to check for penalties. Keep your guard up, and if you can't keep up your guard, get out of the way!