Disarm

There are two types of disarming maneuvers, offensive and defensive, and they both work essentially the same way. A character who wishes to use either type of disarm must allocate one of his attacks for the round to the feat. If the disarm is a defensive one, it is resolved before the attacker rolls to hit. A disarm works very much like a block, but the character attempting the disarm must roll against AC 0, while the intended victim of the disarm still rolls against an AC 4.

Anyone involved in a disarm that is using a two-handed weapon receives a 4-point bonus to the target Armor Class for the purposes of the opposed roll. It’s impossible to disarm a weapon two sizes larger than your own, so a fighter with a dagger can’t try to disarm a mage with a quarterstaff. Disarming can occur using a missile weapon, but the missile’s size is the factor used to determine whether or not the attempt can succeed, not the weapon firing the missile.

For example, Dain the dwarf warrior is fighting a human sellsword named Torath. Dain announces before initiative that he will use one of his attacks for a defensive disarm on Torath’s attack that round. Before Torath attacks, he makes an opposed roll against AC 4 while Dain rolls against AC 0. Torath’s THAC0 is 17 and Dain’s is 13. Torath rolls a 15, good enough to hit AC 4, while Dain rolls a 12, not quite enough to hit AC 0. Torath avoids Dain’s disarm attempt and proceeds normally with his attack roll.

If Dain had been wielding a two-handed axe, his roll would also have been against AC 4 (the 4-point bonus to AC 0), and his 12 would have been good enough to hit. Since his 12 was lower than Torath’s 15, Dain would have won the opposed roll and disarmed Torath.

Defensive disarms work just like blocks for initiative; if announced before the roll, they can be attempted against attacks that beat the character’s action phase. Otherwise, they can only be used on the character’s action phase or later in the round. Offensive disarms work like called shots; when announced, they delay the character’s action phase by one step. The intent to disarm has to be announced before any rolls are made.

When a weapon is disarmed, it falls 1–10 feet away (1d3–1 squares) in a random direction. Recovering a disarmed weapon requires a half-move. A disarmed character can be immediately covered if the attacker has an attack remaining in the round.

Disarms work best against low-level opponents who don’t have good THAC0s, since it’s difficult for them to make their opposed rolls.

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