D&D 5E The best solution for longswords

BookBarbarian · Mar 20, 2018

werecorpse said:
Because all of the fictional high and wood elves (who are naturally dexterous) who do not have martial weapon training and also all of the fictional rogues who cannot sneak attack with non-finesse melee weapons are trained in the use of this fictional weapon. So a solution to the issue of fictional Longswords is to make the fiction of them consistent and sensible with the fiction of the non martially trained elves and the class of rogues.

I think we've had some good posts in the thread that would explain why Elven society highly values training with Longswords, even when they are naturally dexterous.

I also think it's perfectly fine to let Rogues sneak attack with Long-swords in fact I would have preferred that they can sneak attack with any weapon that a Rogue is naturally proficient in. 1d10 just isn't much of a bump.

I do dislike making Longswords finesse, as it further tips the balance away from Strength and further to Dex.

BookBarbarian · Mar 20, 2018

snickersnax said:
"Tavern brawler: Accustomed to rough-and-tumble fighting using whatever weapons happen to be at hand..."

Its funny how "whatever weapons happen to be at hand" doesn't include a longsword....???

Maybe Tavern brawler just needs to be expanded to include what the description already says it does.

That's a pretty good point.

Unarmed strike damage to 1d4, Proficency with Improvised weapons, and bonus action grapple attempt with, well either of those, or actual weapons would make this a pretty nice feat.

snickersnax · Mar 21, 2018

BookBarbarian said:
That's a pretty good point.

Unarmed strike damage to 1d4, Proficency with Improvised weapons, and bonus action grapple attempt with, well either of those, or actual weapons would make this a pretty nice feat.

I actually really like this. Tavern Brawler becomes the versatile weapon feat!!!

It improves my mental cinematic of how I think longsword fights should be (with grapples). Although to really make it great, it would include shoves prone and pommel strikes...

werecorpse · Mar 21, 2018

BookBarbarian said:
I think we've had some good posts in the thread that would explain why Elven society highly values training with Longswords, even when they are naturally dexterous.

I also think it's perfectly fine to let Rogues sneak attack with Long-swords in fact I would have preferred that they can sneak attack with any weapon that a Rogue is naturally proficient in. 1d10 just isn't much of a bump.

I do dislike making Longswords finesse, as it further tips the balance away from Strength and further to Dex.

I've skipped some of the thread so haven't seen those.

IMO allowing rogues to sneak attack with any of the weapons listed under rogue weapon proficiency is not unreasonable.

You note I've kept the d8/d10 versatile slashing sword as a non finesse sword right? I've just posited making a weapon that's identical to the rapier but does slashing damage and calling it "longsword" to match the Elf and Rogue granted proficiencies. In my game some of the locals call that weapon a falchion, some call it a longsword.

snickersnax · Mar 21, 2018

snickersnax said:
Maybe Tavern brawler just needs to be expanded to include what the description already says it does.

Turns out Tavern Brawler doesn't even need to be adjusted for it to work with a longsword.

"In many cases, an improvised weapon is similar
to an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For
example, a table leg is akin to a club. At the DM’s option,
a character proficient with a weapon can use a similar
object as if it were that weapon and use his or her
proficiency bonus."
[MENTION=6802553]BookBarbarian[/MENTION] : No toes stepped on at all.

Vis · Mar 21, 2018

Why not just make the longsword DEX and STR based for your campaign? Or give the players a longsword that is a family heirloom that DEX based? View the PHB and DMG as reference material. Then rule what makes since to me and my players at the campaign.

Yaarel · Mar 21, 2018

The Japanese measure blade length by foot.

The length of D&D blades correspond as follows.
• 0+ feet: dagger
• 1+ foot: shortsword
• 2+ feet: ?
• 3+ feet: longsword
• 4+ feet: greatsword

The sword that is missing in D&D is actually the important one: viking sword, knightly sword, spatha, katana, etcetera.

Yaarel · Mar 21, 2018

The Japanese unit of length, the shaku, is 30.3 cm, about 30 cm or 1 foot.

Yaarel · Mar 21, 2018

If there are any historical swordfighters among us, what is the main difference in feel between a single-edged sword and a double-edged sword?

Yaarel · Mar 21, 2018

Yaarel said:
The Japanese measure blade length by foot.

The length of D&D blades correspond as follows.
• 0+ feet: dagger
• 1+ foot: shortsword
• 2+ feet: ?
• 3+ feet: longsword
• 4+ feet: greatsword

The sword that is missing in D&D is actually the important one: viking sword, knightly sword, spatha, katana, etcetera.

I think it is ok if D&D calls the normal sword a ‘sword’. If needing to generalize among various blade lengths, D&D tradition already does that by referring to them as ‘blades’.

So.

Sword, 1d8 slashing or piercing, finesse.

When you want to slash, you can slash. When you want to pierce, you can pierce. It is the way the weapon works.

Heh, the D&D economy and weights are so wonky, it really hurts me to mention these in the list. But using Players Handbook conventions it costs 15 gp (same price as longsword), and weights 2 lb (same weight as shortsword), but in reallife the sword weights about 2½ lb.

D&D 5E The best solution for longswords

BookBarbarian

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snickersnax

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werecorpse

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snickersnax

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Vis

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Yaarel

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