Hey all, new on the fourm here.

I've got a Mercenary Soldier an' I'm looking at picking up a pair of Vamblades to use as backup backup weapons and I wanted to make sure I had it right on a couple points.

The Defensive I bonus from the two wouldn't stack and would only be gained while "wielding" them, correct? Under Melee and Ranged Defense on pg. 207 it says that "Multiple sources do not stack" and from the Description of the Defensive quality "A character wielding a weapon with the Defensive quality", though the description of the item seems to imply that the defense comes from durasteel vambraces themselves.

And on activating them it says it can be done "with a simple flick of the wrist" but doesn't have Quick Draw or anything, so it would still be a Maneuver to activate one or can I activate both with a single Maneuver?

Finally, does "weidling" require the use of your hands or can you continue to use whatever you originally had in them? So I could flick them out to engage in melee while continuing to carry my Heavy Blaster Rifle (I wouldn't assume I could gain the Defensive benefits if I wanted to use the Blaster Rifle but I don't see why I can't declare I'm firing it one round then fighting with the Vamblades the next).

I think that covers all the questions I had about them specifically, thanks for any help.

I think the RAI here is that you gain the Defensive bonus by having a pair of vamblades equipped and ready for combat, without other weapons prepped (since then you're not really able to use them to parry, for instance).

As for drawing the weapons, that still takes a maneuver, unless the character has Quick Draw. The fluff is just meant to explain how the weapons work; the rules make no mention of the weapons taking an incidental to draw as-is.

1. Yes, you only get Defensive 1 for both blades. No stacking.

2. It's still a manoeuvre to "draw" them unless you have Quick Draw. If one of my players had them I might let him draw both at once as part of the same manoeuvre, but that's as far as I'd go. The flavour text doesn't always match the mechanics.

3. There is no way you could effectively use the vamblades while holding a rifle (or any other two-handed weapon) at the same time. I might allow a player to HOLD an item (a one-handed item, maybe limited to Encumbrance 1 or less) while using the vamblades, but I wouldn't let him use it while they were drawn. As long as the player kept acting in good faith and didn't try to abuse it by gaming the system, that could work.