D&D 5E I hate rapiers. Do you?

Dausuul · Mar 8, 2017

vincegetorix said:
Well not perfect, just a little bit more. In the end I think we can agree that there's little chances that any weapons would be able to do real lasting damage to an ancient gargantuan dragon if things were to be realistic.

A longsword is even worse than a rapier for fighting such a creature. The rapier, being a thrusting weapon, could conceivably be driven in far enough to cause injury. Slashing weapons will do about as much functional damage as keying a car.

The best weapon to use on a dragon, if you don't have siege equipment handy, would be a nice long spear. Lots of stuff in Dragonlance is silly, but their choice of dragonslaying weapons was dead-on.

jasper · Mar 8, 2017

Three Musketeers. Fencing …
Hmm let look at our four friends
Athos secretive rogue who always drinking. Hides the fact that he is a noble. And the kingdom weapon is rapier.
Porthous heavy strength fighter build. Uses a rapier not to stick out.
Aramis cleric who thinks rapiers are cool. Player took one fencing class at the YmCA.
Dart Agnan noble born first level who uses his daddy heirloom sword. Sounds like his last pc died with a masterwork or +1 rapier and the player wanted to keep for his next pc. So the dm destroys it in the first combat.
That Alex Dumas as a dm was A dumb (beep)

Tales and Chronicles · Mar 8, 2017

Dausuul said:
A longsword is even worse than a rapier for fighting such a creature. The rapier, being a thrusting weapon, could conceivably be driven in far enough to cause injury. Slashing weapons will do about as much functional damage as keying a car.

The best weapon to use on a dragon, if you don't have siege equipment handy, would be a nice long spear. Lots of stuff in Dragonlance is silly, but their choice of dragonslaying weapons was dead-on.

Indeed. If I'd go dragon (or other giant creature) hunting, which I wont because I love living, I'd focus on long spear to pierce whatever armor protects it and keep some king of distance between it and myself, and heavy maul to break those heavy bones and articulations: at good maul smash between the dragon's wings to keep it grounded, a mighty spear trust through the skull to end him.

Warmaster Horus · Mar 8, 2017

Dausuul said:
A longsword is even worse than a rapier for fighting such a creature. The rapier, being a thrusting weapon, could conceivably be driven in far enough to cause injury. Slashing weapons will do about as much functional damage as keying a car.

The best weapon to use on a dragon, if you don't have siege equipment handy, would be a nice long spear. Lots of stuff in Dragonlance is silly, but their choice of dragonslaying weapons was dead-on.

Piercing is the most deadly of damage. Modern firearms kill quickest if they can pierce far enough into the body and hit a vital organ. Slashing is mainly superficial unless a major blood vessel is cut and even then it takes time to bleed out. Slicing your way through chain mail is all but impossible. Bludgeoning can be deadly but is easily countered by armor which distributes an already dispersed blow across a wider area. A piercing attack with its' small, focused area of effect, is more likely to broach armor.

Pathkeeper24601 · Mar 8, 2017

lowkey13 said:
....sometimes, I have nightmares about Gnome Paladins smiting with their Rapiers.

....but maybe that's just me.

There are plenty that have nightmares about my Halfling Paladin of Mask riding into battle on his Giant Weasel/Mastiff (DM dependent) and smiting off the kneecaps of his foes. It doesn't take long for him an his opponents to literally see "eye to eye". The only thing more frightening is when he comes up 5' short of an opponent. It only took one crit fed smite to get the rest of the table to stop laughing at his use of a whip in combat.

lowkey13 · Mar 8, 2017

*Deleted by user*

Tony Vargas · Mar 8, 2017

doctorbadwolf said:
I rather like that Dex builds are at least as good as strength builds.

It'd be OK if STR builds were at least as good as DEX builds in, say, the exploration pillar. Which they're not.

And IRL, the rapier is a very good weapon.

It was a very specialized weapon that was suited to a period when armor was on the way out and firearms on the way in. Vs the armor of earlier periods it would not have done well; compared to repeating firearms, it's virtually pointless(npi).

It's also, like the longbow, very iconic. There are a lot more would-be swashbucklers to be upset by a sub-optimal rapier than would-be Roman gladiators to be upset by a sub-optimal shortsword.

Like I said, we need more properties, like high crit and brutal in 4e, or different crit ranges and crit damage amounts in 3.x.

Could be some nice options to present. Maybe in the context of more detailed combat options, tweaked action economy, better tactical positioning rules, and new martial classes?

flametitan · Mar 8, 2017

Hriston said:
I used to hate rapiers, but then I started calling it an arming sword and it all made sense.

Alternatively: Sidesword. Later period sideswords were basically arming sword blades mounted on Rapier hilts.

EDIT: In fact, there's even some swords which blur the line between sidesword and rapier (while to the best of my knowledge sidesword as a specific weapon category is a more modern invention). I wouldn't be surprised if the "battlefield Rapier" that saw action in war was more akin to a sidesword.

ad_hoc · Mar 8, 2017

To be fair to the paladin point, 5e finally allows for us to play Inigo Montoya, the greatest paladin in fiction. So there is that.

I think the problems with the rapier really come to light when looking at dual wielding. You can't use rapier and dagger. If you pick up the feat then you can but it is better to use 2 rapiers which is silly.

CydKnight · Mar 8, 2017

Yeah, it stands out like a sore thumb first because it's the only dex based sword that does more than a d6 and for no apparent reason other than that. Then there is the name. I think if they simply made it a d6 like the scimitar and short sword it wouldn't stand out so much for the wrong reasons.

D&D 5E I hate rapiers. Do you?

Do you like the way 5e has handled rapiers?

Absolutely not! I hate, hate, hate the way 5e has handled rapiers.

I dislike 5e rapiers so much I have houseruled a nerf on them.

I like rapiers, and I eat paste.

I only participate in polls with leading questions.

Dausuul

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jasper

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Tales and Chronicles

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Warmaster Horus

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Pathkeeper24601

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CydKnight

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