Assassins Strike and "The Reaping"....help.

By Maverikk, in Dark Heresy Rules Questions

Brother Praetus said:

Assassin X uses his normal reaction to parry Cultist 3 successfully, and follows up with a successful counter which disembowels Cultist 3 with a vicious strike to the body.

Against Cultist 4 we see Assassin X once more parries; this time with the reaction granted by Wall of Steel . Again there is a successful use of counter-attack , deftly alleviating Cultist 4 of his head.

Cultist 5's attack is easily dodged by Assassin X, thanks to his final reaction granted by the Step Aside talent.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Isn't this too many reactions? You have parried twice as well as dodge. It is my understanding that while step aside and wall of steel allow an extra dodge and extra parry by granting an additional reaction, you are still limited to two reactions. For example you can not parry twice, dodge twice or one of each in a round rather than, as is implied here, you have two dodges and two parries equalig four reactions. Or did I read this post, or the rules, incorrectly?

It's generally assumed that both talents grant an extra reaction each that can only be used to dodge/parry.
If you want to get literal and point out that both talents talk about a second and not an extra reaction: The alternative would be that you have a second reaction that can only be used to dodge and that can only be used to parry. Since there's no type of action that is both a dodge and a parry, you now have a second reaction that can be used for nothing at all.

I think I like my interpretation better, especially considering that the few careers that get both talents receive the second one at a relatively high level - so it can be assumed they're supposed to be more meaningful than "you can now use your second reaction for a different type of defense as well".

Rashid ad Din Sinan said:

Isn't this too many reactions? You have parried twice as well as dodge. It is my understanding that while step aside and wall of steel allow an extra dodge and extra parry by granting an additional reaction, you are still limited to two reactions. For example you can not parry twice, dodge twice or one of each in a round rather than, as is implied here, you have two dodges and two parries equalig four reactions. Or did I read this post, or the rules, incorrectly?

There's an official response posted here . And that was just the first one I ran across. I'm fairly certain there is another much older one from pre- Rogue Trader launch somewhere as well. Or, maybe in the Rogue Trader forums, I don't recall off the top of my head.

The effects of the talents stack, as each gives you an additional reaction which can only be used in a specific manner. The wording is just somewhat poorly chosen. It kind of runs along the lines of semi- and auto- being worded as "extra hits equal to the rate of fire" rather than "maximum hits."

-=Brother Praetus=-