Parrying with the Off Hand

:note: PWOH redirects here, short for Parrying with Off Hand (omitting "the"). For a shortform for Parrying with One Hand try PW1H instead.
B376 "You parry with your “off” hand (your left or “shield” hand if right handed; see Handedness, p. 17), or with a weapon held in it, at -4 to skill."
B549 "Off-hand parry: -2 to Parry (no penalty w. Ambidexterity)"
==Dungeon Fantasy==
===Exploits===
*Attack, Using the Off Hand: all attacks involving your “off” hand are at ‐4pg 36
*What Am I Parrying With?: Parrying with the Off Hand: Per Using the Off Hand (p. 36), weapons in your “off” hand are at ‐4 to skill and thus ‐2 to Parry unless you have Ambidexteritypg 48 
*Parrying Unarmed: Parrying barehanded requires one weapon. Unarmed attacks from high-ST monsters pose a empty hand for DX, Boxing, Brawling, Judo, or Karate, similar threat: For the purpose of these rules, any attack or two free hands for Sumo Wrestling or Wrestling. Parry under Striking or Grappling counts as is still 3 + half skill.pg 49
==quotes==
===Kromm===
Makes statements which appear to conflict with the RAW and retcon unarmed parries to be better.
2006 http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=309662#post309662
:Those without unarmed combat skills may parry at (DX/2)+3; see Parrying Unarmed (p. B376). However, this parry isn't "ambidextrous" and doesn't allow you to parry one attack per hand at no penalty -- unlike Boxing, Brawling, and Karate parries.
2008 http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=574424&postcount=8
:It's the bit where Brawling is innately ambidextrous that makes it useful for parrying. Martial Arts presents an optional rule to tone this down, but as written, it's a nice edge.
2010 http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=1027218
:There is no "off" hand in unarmed combat in GURPS. The Basic Set failed to make this as clear as it could have, hinting at it in a few skill descriptions but not generalizing it. Martial Arts makes it far clearer. Claiming that there is an "off" hand for the purposes of unarmed combat is fine as a house rule, but definitely not what the entire body of rules published to date supports.
2021 http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=2363252&postcount=7
:Joe Blow with no special skills can parry unarmed with either hand at no penalty (aside from the -3 for parrying a weapon unarmed, if doing so)
There is a visible shift between 2006/2008 where DX-to-Brawling appears to upgrade the off-hand parry (removing the -2 resulting from -4) to 2010/2021 where unskilled DX parries are also treated as ignoring the -2 resulting from -4
===Douglas Cole===
2008 http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=574978&postcount=31
Brawling description says you may parry two different attacks, one with each hand. It lists the base parry as the usual 3+Brawling/2.
It then refers to parrying unarmed, which doesn't add much on this score.
In the basic description of Parrying, however, there's the Parrying with the Off Hand italicized paragraph. This says you parry with the off hand, or with a weapon held in that off hand, at a -4 to skill, which translates into a -2 to the skill roll. Ambidexterity removes these penalties.
GURPS seems to most often take the tack of "rules apply except where noted," not "rules don't apply except as noted specifically." Sean and David have said many times that this is done, and will always be done, to reserve wordcount for things that matter.
So, depending on which paragraph is considered superior, we can have different results. However, it makes sense that since everyone can Parry using DX, but not everyone has the Brawling skill, that the order of superiority goes:
#General parry rules: Parry at 3+DX/2, once. 
#Off-hand parry rules: Parry at Skill-4, once, for (3+(Skill-4)/2) = net -2 to roll...it just happens that the unarmed general skill in question here is DX. People with Ambidexterity ignore this
#Brawling: two parries using two hands, and skill says they're BOTH at 3+Brawling/2; you don't need Ambidexterity to ignore the off-hand penalty using Brawling for that second parry. You probably do need Ambidexterity to ignore the penalty for parries with the off-hand beyond the first.
The specific skill description gets the last word.
==Peter V. Dell'Orto==
2014 http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=1799819
:Basic Set never says unarmed off-hand parries have a handedness penalty.
:there is no mention of an off-hand attacking penalty for unarmed attacks.
:Martial Arts explicitly states the case that Basic Set makes implicitly, by not mentioning a penalty, and says giving a penalty for off-hand unarmed attacks and parries is an optional rule.
Orto is incorrect, not acknowledging the significance of the "or with a weapon held in it" phrase denoting that the preceding statement refers to parries done without a weapon held in the hand.
==corwyn==
http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=1799933&postcount=3
But it does. Otherwise, what is meant by:
"Parrying with the Off Hand: You parry with your “off” hand or with a weapon held in it, at -4 to skill. Since Parry is calculated off half skill, this gives -2 to Parry. You may ignore this penalty if you have the Ambidexterity advantage."
What is meant by "or with a weapon held in it" but indicating that the rule applies without a weapon in your hand - unarmed?
or:
Under Melee Attacks (BS 369): "You can make a melee attack using any ready melee weapon (including a natural weapon such as a kick, bite, or punch)..." That means that all the rules governing melee attacks apply to unarmed attacks as well, unless excluded, right? 
Then, under To Hit:
"Applying all conditional modifiers for your maneuver, situation, ...A detailed list appears under Melee Attack Maneuvers." This list includes the off-hand penalty. This means that the off-hand penalty applies to unarmed, unless excluded somewhere. 
So please point out where the Basic Set excludes unarmed attacks from the above rules, or where my logic fails.
==Retcon selective logic==
The argument that combat skills not mentioning off-hand penalties meaning they ignore them is not applied to other penalties. Combat skills also do not mention applying penalties from feints or deceptive attacks, for example.
==References==
==See also==
*Number of Parries
Category:Rules