I have a player who is an arch-militant who wants to wield a powerfist and powersword. Since the fist cannot parry the sword would allow him to continue to recieve the defensive powers of parry. I feel like this is wrong since a power fist prevents parrying then you should not be able to get around it simply by having another weapon that can, because if that was how it worked then why would anyone ever only use a pwoerfist (simply not fight with your offhand to prevent suffering two weapon penalties and reap the defensive values then). Of course I want to check with everyone else out there and see how they feel on the subject.

If you were the GM for this what would you rule?

Power Fist and Sword are a common combination for this exact reason for a long time. And it didn't start with Rogue Trader. Well, technically it did, but the Rogue Trader from the 80s.

Simple answer, the powerfist is too clumsy to hold a weapon and use it effectively. If he wants to be able to parry with his sword, he would have to use it in his offhand, incurring a penalty.

I'd allow him to parry with the sword as the RAW is very clear on the matter (pg 246, an off-hand weapon does not have a penalty when used to parry) and I don't see a problem with it.

There are a few things for you to consider:

- The unwieldy quality will come into play if he tries to dual wield power fists.

- Enforcing weight limits might cause him problems. Over in this thread I received a reply from Sam Stewart saying that the power fists weight does not include a power supply. If he wears power armour it can supply the power, but if not he needs a 10kg backpack to power it.

Simple answer, the powerfist is too clumsy to hold a weapon and use it effectively. If he wants to be able to parry with his sword, he would have to use it in his offhand, incurring a penalty.

Not for parrying, though. The offhand penalty very explicitly applies to attacks.

Other than that, yes, it's a completely legitimate tactic. The drawback is, of course, that he can't do anything else with his offhand now - like carrying a ranged weapon. My characters, when Ambidextrous, generally used a basic ranged weapon. When it comes to melee, you hold the basic weapon in one hand and quickdraw a melee weapon with the other. This tactic can't be used with a powerfist as you need a secondary melee weapon to parry with.

So what you got is a character that sacrifice ranged combat for pure melee-madness. Cool that, the player can potentially "tank"

He can't parry heavy bolter shots though.

Forearm mounting can let you get away with 2 melee weapons and a ranged weapon.

Forearm mountings allow at most two pistols, with -30% range. Not so good when you're being shot to pieces with rifles or worse from a decent range.

I'd be fine with allowing a power fist/power sword combination. It has disadvantages as have been pointed out previously.

Thats is the risk of dual wielding is that you can always be outranged. but with the three you are still better off than if you just had the sword and fist. This is why it is always wise to have basic weapon as well.

of course having Sprint and a MIU Weapon also helps move 50+ squares and shoot.

Of course really evil GM's just shoot you from space.

eyeslikethunder said:

I say we take off, use blessed atomics on the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

-=Brother Praetus=-

eyeslikethunder said:

Heh, I'd love to see a player explain how they're holding and firing a rifle properly with one or more power fists.

One hand is only a brace when firing a weapon of that size. A power fist enveloped hand would serve adequately.

"Yep, and then you just lightly hold it, just like" - *CRUNCH*- "ok, next rifle..."

I'd give it a penalty, but it's not without precident, at least in the TT. (Even guardsmen can do powerfist & Bolter) You just have to turn the disruption field off first.

If there's only one powerfist, it's turned off and it's just used for bracing the rifle then it might work. It'll be awkward at best though, power fists aren't going to allow the same precision of grip. A penalty at best methinks.