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Author: Sackett

Jan 27th 2013 at 7:38:10 AM

I get what this is about.  It's not a StoneWall, it's about the character that is always using the "Parry" command when you are in battle.

For example, in {{Wizardry}} the typical starting party is:

2 fighters
1 priest
1 thief
2 magi

Arranged in that order.  Only the front line (ie the first 3) can use melee attacks.  Fighters of course go in the front, and magi in the back.

You might think you'd put your healer/priest in the back, but actually in Wizardy priests have much more survivability and physical attack power then thieves.  So you pretty much have to put your thief in the back row.

But thieves have no magic, and no ranged attacks.  So the only way they can contribute to a battle is to use magic items, which are not common enough to be used in more then maybe 1 out of 1000 battles.

So all the thief does every single battle is "Parry".  In other words, stand around and try not to get hit. Even if one of your front line fighters dies and your thief moves up to the front row, about half of the time it's better to just have him parry so he survives longer and keeps your magi out of melee.

So you might ask why bother carrying around the deadweight of a thief.  Well, that's because most monsters have their treasure in a treasure chest, which is booby trapped. These booby traps are nasty, occasionally killing the person who opens the chest, and sometimes even wiping out the whole party.  At low to mid level, only a thief has much hope of disarming the traps.  So you carry around a thief and have him constantly "Parry" during combat.

That's what this trope is describing.