Parrying

To perform a Parry, you must announce before initiative is rolled that you're going to Parry. (If you have more than one attack per round, you must announce how many of them are going to be Parries.)

Then, during the round, the first time an attacker strikes at you (even if it's before your turn to strike), you roll your Parry. Roll to hit your attacker, and roll vs. his AC including all bonuses for shield, magical items, etc.). You can use your weapon at its normal chance to hit, or your shield at a +2 to your chance to hit (plus any magical bonus the shield confers). If you hit, his attack is parried and does you no damage.

You can Parry thrown weapons, but not missile attacks (quarrels, arrows, sling stones, magic missiles, etc.).

Choice of Parries

You don't necessarily have to Parry the very first attack made against you... though that is the simplest way to do things. If you prefer, you can choose which attacker you're going to Parry.

Example: Amstard is fighting an ogre and its idiotic goblin jester. Before initiative is rolled, he announces that he'll be using one of his two attacks to Parry.

The NPCs win initiative and attack. The jester attacks first. Amstard announces thar he's not Parrying this attack. The jester hits him, doing miniscule damage. Then the ogre attacks. Amstard announces that he is Parrying this attack. The ogre rolls to hit, and succeeds. Amstard rolls to hit, and succeeds in Parrying the attack.

Then, it's the player characters' turn. Amstard still has an attack left, and so swings at the ogre.

If a character Holds his Parry, anticipating that some other attacker will swing at him, but that attack never materializes (for example, because that specific opponent went somewhere else), and he's still suffering attacks this round, he can use that Parry against one of these other attacks. He may not, however, apply it against an attack that has already taken place.

Polearm Parries

If you're wielding a polearm, you can parry an attack from another character wielding a polearm, even if that character is attacking someone else. To do this, you must be within range either of that attacker or his intended victim.

Example: Amstard is wielding a halberd from behind the shield-wall his friends are holding. Amstard announces, before initiative, that he'll use one of his attacks for a Parry and the other for an attack. After initative, an NPC with a glaive takes a swing at Drusilla. Though the glaive-wielder is out of Amstard's range, Drusilla is right in front of Amstard, easily within his range. Amstard rolls his Parry, rolling against the glaive wielder's AC, and hits: he parries the attack. When it's time for the PCs to attack. Drusilla puts the glaive wielder down and Amstard swings his halberd against another enemy.

Missile Weapon Parries

In desperate situations, a character can parry with a missile weapon he is holding (bow, crossbow, or staff sling. but not sling). If he is successful with his parry, though, his weapon is ruined; the enemy's attack has destroyed it. He may continue parrying with it until it is completely destroyed (rules for destroying weapons and armor appear in the Equipment chapter of this book), but it may never again be used for its original purpose.

Parrying from the DMG

Even if you use this Parry maneuver, you can still use the Parrying option from the Dungeon Master's Guide.

As with all other forms of Parrying, the character must announce, before initiative is rolled, that he is performing the Parrying maneuver for the AC bonus.

When a character deliberately chooses not to parry, his chance of being hit increases. A mage casting a spell, for instance, gains no AC adjustment for Dexterity. Thus, choosing to parry, in and of itself, is not a separate option under the AD&D game rules.

At the same time, the assumption is that characters in combat are constantly exposing themselves to some risk - trying to get a clear view of a target looking for the opening to make an attack. There are times, however, when this is not the case. Sometimes, the only thing a character wants to do is avoid being hit.

In order to make himself harder to hit, a character can parry, forfeiting all actions for the round; he can't attack, move, or cast spells. This frees the character to concentrate solely on defense. At this point, all characters but warriors gain an AC bonus equal to half their level. A 6th- level wizard would have a +3 bonus to his AC (lowering his AC by 3). A warrior sets a bonus equal to half his level plus one. A 6th·level flghter would gain a +4 AC bonus.

Note that the benefit is not a perfect all-around defense, and it's not effective against rear or missile attacks. It applies only to those characters attacking the defender with frontal melee attacks. This optional defense has no effect against magical attacks, so it wouldn't do anything to protect a character from the force of a lightning bolt or fireball, for example.