D&D 5E The fall from grace of the longsword

[Derren]

Depending on the campaign, a semi-mechanical advantage might be that longswords are more likely to be enchanted than other one-handed weapons.

Which begs the question why people would use and enchant longsword instead one of the clearly better one handed weapons?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Which begs the question why people would use and enchant longsword instead one of the clearly better one handed weapons?

For much the same reason that swords were popular in real life.

 

[Derren]

For much the same reason that swords were popular in real life.

See [MENTION=45468]ranger69[/MENTION] post. Longswords were valued backup weapons on the battlefield, but people usually used more specialized weapons first.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

See [MENTION=45468]ranger69[/MENTION] post. Longswords were valued backup weapons on the battlefield, but people usually used more specialized weapons first.

In real life fiction, though. Our heroes always prefer longswords over battle axes or maces. Why? Because they're cool.

If someone in the real world had the chance to make a magical archaic weapon, there's a good chance that they'd go with a sword, because legends are just chock-full of magical swords and not-so-much other weapons. Off the top of my head, I can name one magical spear (Gae Bolg), one magical hammer (Mjolnir), and at least five magical swords (Excalibur, Kasunagi, Tyrfing, Hrunting, Durendal). Swords are really popular.

 

[Derren]

Swords are really popular.

Because they were a symbol of nobility and rulership (Swords were hard to make compared to spears and axes, so not many had them), not because they were powerful weapons on the battlefield. And when it comes to costly ways to make battlefield weapons better, people would choose the more useful ones to do so.

 

[DMZ2112]

A substantial number of magic weapon types in the DMG are specified as "swords only," for some reason. So it's a safe bet that while a fighter may not start play with a longsword he'll probably have one before long.

Unless you do the logical thing and disregard the rule.

Personally I think the D&D5 weapon list needs to be rebalanced across the board. D&D4 did a much better job of making every weapon a viable option. D&D5 goes back to the time-honored tradition of a random list of cool-sounding weapons with arbitrarily assigned advantages.

Why has the longsword fallen from grace? Someone decided it didn't need an edge because players would buy it for looks.

 

[mlund]

Because they were a symbol of nobility and rulership (Swords were hard to make compared to spears and axes, so not many had them), not because they were powerful weapons on the battlefield.

Eh, that's going a bit too far. Swords are quite good at what they are designed to do - they just aren't designed to kill people covered head-to-toe in Mail, let alone Plate armor. The overwhelming bulk of troops in medieval armies did not have those luxuries so the standard arming sword did a fine job killing those sorts of people. It was a very flexible weapon in those cases too - balanced to strike quickly, recover quickly, parry, and it could often inflict a crippling or mortal blow without getting lodged in someone's body or shield in such a way that it couldn't be extracted easily (a huge deal in a melee). It had the right degree of reach to kill infantry from horseback too. Compared to an ax, spear, or a pure bludgeon is was a great weapon in most battlefield situations against most opponents.

It's just not the correct weapon to receive a charge, form a pike block, hit someone from 100' away, or slay a noble / wealthy man-at-arms wearing the best armor.

- Marty Lund

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Because they were a symbol of nobility and rulership (Swords were hard to make compared to spears and axes, so not many had them), not because they were powerful weapons on the battlefield.

There you go, then. Adventurers and enchanters prefer swords because they are a symbol of nobility, and because they don't mind spending an extra 5gp for it.

Which really isn't that surprising, if you consider that most people who would commission a magical weapon to be enchanted would need to be nobility in order to afford it.

 

[Derren]

Which really isn't that surprising, if you consider that most people who would commission a magical weapon to be enchanted would need to be nobility in order to afford it.

Even nobility was sensible enough to use battlefield weapons on the battlefied, which often, if not mostly, included other weapons than swords and of course would strengthen them with magic and not ceremonial swords.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Even nobility was sensible enough to use battlefield weapons on the battlefied, which often, if not mostly, included other weapons than swords and of course would strengthen them with magic and not ceremonial swords.

The longsword isn't an inferior weapon, though; it's as effective (in the abstract) as a battle axe or warhammer. Given the choice between three similar options, where one of them has bonus symbolism going for it and the others don't, why wouldn't you pick the longsword?