lichmaster
Hero
Well, a quarterstaff is not just a piece of wood, it has iron bands at the extremities and it's made from 4 sections of treated wood, nailed together. Given its length, versatility (can be used 1h or 2h and you can change that in a fraction of a second) and relatively light weight for its length, it's a pretty good weapon to try to deflect a sweeping blow if you can catch it when its sweep has just started, so it has little momentum. It's also effective against thrusting attacks from shorter weapons if you can maintain your distance, and may work against longer thrusting weapons like spears if it's 1 handed against 2 handed. It will fail if you have limited space around you, so in very close combat a short weapon is always superior, even for parrying.you're telling me a long piece of wood is better at parrying things then an extendo-bladed arming sword (which is basically what a rapier is - an arming sword with the blade thinned out to be as long as a longsword's while still being able to be wielded one-handed)?
With a side sword or a rapier, your parrying is limited by the fact that you have a thinner blade than most swords, shorter range than other swords or long weapons, and you can only wield it with 1h, meaning you can only parry short thrusting weapons. In very close combat, or when you don't have much space to move around, or when the enemy has no armor, is an exceptional weapon.
I can't stress this enough: I really couldn't care less about convincing you, or "winning" whatever you think it can be won here.i don't think you can win. it's absurd any way you look at it.
D&D and A5E are fantasy RPGs in a generic medieval setting, there's absolutely no realism one can rely on. If you want the rapier to have the parrying property in the game, go on and have fun.
My comments above were about the fact that each weapon had its use and purpose and existed at very specific periods for very specific reasons, and yet the distinction between the different varieties of swords and polearms can be very blurry. Rapiers were NOT used when full body heavy armors were around, and actually in those periods most swords were a last resort weapon in any case, polearms, blunt and heavy weapons being far more useful and common instead. Their "superior" parrying abilities of the rapier would have been nonexistent in that kind of historical period.