D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Rapier & Scimitar

[Mal-2]

I can visualize someone using a rapier with two hands -- wrap both hands around the hilt and try to shove the blade through some thing. Of course, it would tend to leave you wide open to attacks, so it's really more of a coup de grace kind of thing than a useful fight maneuver.

It also would utterly lack any grace or finesse, so you could forget about using Weapon Finesse.

There was a weapon called the estoc that was used this way. It was a long triangular blade used to puncture armor. It's thought to be one of the ancestors of the rapier, but it wasn't a fencing weapon.

Mal-2

 

[Dirigible]

Not according to Google, there's not .

Ah. that would be because I spelled it wrong

Mel puttah bemoh.

Which, according to Google, exists mostly in RPG weapons tables.

 

[Christian]

Can anybody notify me of any changes about the Scimitar from 3e? Probably there is no change, but somehow the Scimitar entry is missing from the 3.5 SRD...

It's in my copy ...

Scimitar 15 gp 1d4 1d6 18–20/x2 — 4 lb. Slashing

 

[hong]

Ah. that would be because I spelled it wrong

Mel puttah bemoh.

Which, according to Google, exists mostly in RPG weapons tables.

Insert joke about glaive-glaive-glaive-guisarme.

 

[Dakhran the Dark]

Insert joke about glaive-glaive-glaive-guisarme.

I thought that was glaive-glaive-guisarme-glaive-voulge-spetum-billhook, aka the "Swiss Army Polearm"...

 

[Hypersmurf]

Consider that hoary old chestnut, the "called shot". When you make a called shot, you take your time to aim for a precise location, in the hopes of doing more damage. In D&D terms, that translates to taking an attack penalty, in return for a bonus to damage.

Which, mechanically, is a perfect fit for Power Attack.

How do you handle Power Attack vs undead with that flavour text, though?

They're immune to crits and sneak attacks because precise locations don't matter...

-Hyp.

 

[Darklone]

How do you handle Power Attack vs undead with that flavour text, though?

They're immune to crits and sneak attacks because precise locations don't matter...

-Hyp.

Or Power Attack from your lvl11 barbarian to hack his way through a solid wall?

 

[hong]

How do you handle Power Attack vs undead with that flavour text, though?

They're immune to crits and sneak attacks because precise locations don't matter...

-Hyp.

Life is too short to worry about piddling inconsistencies with flavour text.

Anyway, the immunity to crits always struck me as a ham-fisted way of doing things. A zombie may not have vital organs worth talking about, but it's still got joints and tendons. Smashing a knee or hip should slow down a zombie just as much as it would a human. I don't have a problem saying that a precisely targeted lunge from a rapier can achieve this, just as much as a massive whack from an axe.

 

[Darklone]

Mayhaps, Hong, but I do like the immunity of undeads vs. sneak attack, either from the flavor POV as well as from the gamism POV.

Critical hits as lucky/strong hits got washed out of the window with Improved Critical and Keen things.

 

[hong]

Mayhaps, Hong, but I do like the immunity of undeads vs. sneak attack, either from the flavor POV as well as from the gamism POV.

Critical hits as lucky/strong hits got washed out of the window with Improved Critical and Keen things.

Oops, I was really giving a handwave why I don't have a problem with Power Attack being used to represent a precise strike. I wasn't trying to say that I allow crits and sneak attacks on undead.

That said, I _do_ think the crit/SA immunity is silly from the game design PoV, because it hoses the primary combat ability of an entire class. In our high-level campaign, we've just finished up with the RttToH. The endgame for this megamodule consists basically of a seemingly-endless slog against packs of undead. In about a dozen sessions of gaming, I think our rogue managed to sneak attack twice. Basically he got us through a lot of traps, and hid in the back whenever the winterwights came out to play.

Now you may say that rogues get extra-cheesy sneak attack goodness whenever they're not facing undead, and it all balances out that way. However, I don't think that balancing one extreme with another extreme is a very useful way of looking at things.