Fighting with a cloak and sword

[EricAlexander]

One of my players asked if his character could fight with a rapier in one hand and a cloak in the other.  I suppose the cloak would be ok at binding the opponent's weapon, but has anyone else given any thoughts as to target numbers and what else you could do with it?

[Hereward The Wake]

and used to hit at the opponent, thow over their head whip into eyes, wrap around arm for added protection. Though not used it in the game! 8'(

[Jake Norwood]

Hi Eric.

TFOB will cover this aspect of the C&T proficiency, and you can be assured that it will cover both the binding and fouling of an opponent's weapon as well as using it as a distraction.

For now, treat it as being able to use both the "toss" and "bind and strike" maneuvers, but without having to relinquish the weapons.

Jake

[EricAlexander]

Thanks for the response!  Looking forward to the supplement... but Origins seems so far away.  :)

[Harlequin]

Actually, the neatest technique I've been shown with cloak&rapier was a step past "distraction."

It involved a reversed stance (cloak arm fore, sword arm back), sword in a low en garde, cloak slightly unfurled (~2ft) and hanging from the arm.  The idea being that this puts the sword's tip physically behind the cloak, which does a fantastic job of making it very difficult to read if/when the sword is used to strike.  It effectively removes much of the "baseline" of telegraphing - not the bad telegraphing that a novice might do, but the sort that we all end up doing just because further concealment of our intentions would become impractical.

Definitely starts from a Full Stop and Defensive Stance, in TRoS terms, but the rest of the trick isn't quite so easy to implement.  A variant on "Toss" is certainly appropriate, but unfortunately with rapiers there's not a big gain vs. other options available, esp. when using an off-hand dagger.  I've been using Wits vs. Vocation (Quickstart version suits me better) rolls for this and like distractions, to reduce pool preparatory to throwing red, and it's worked okay.

But it's a lovely maneuver to use in practice, if you ever get the chance.  Not easy to do unless you've already mastered defending yourself with the unfurled cloak, though, as your arm is very vulnerable.

- Eric

[Hereward The Wake]

Yes it is a good move. With practice the throw flick of the cloak that proceeds the thrust with the sword is very quick and quite strong and will cause a nasty hit to the face/eyes of the opponent. This will cause lots of problems to any attempt to interfere, by the opponents weapons, so their best chance is to try to dodge or avoid but they then still have to deal with the follow up thrust!
Bear in mind when dealing with a cloak that generally it is made of wool and is fairly wieghty, especially when it is moving with momentum. So getting a whack with one on the head will often not only hurt but knock you off balance.

JW