D&D General How much damage should a Bastard Sword deal if it is used 2-handed, used 1-handed it deals 2d4?

[Slit518]

Let's say the Bastard Sword which can be either wielded 1 or 2 handed deals 2d4 damage when wielded in 1 hand.

How much damage should it deal when used by 2 hands?

 

[aco175]

Don't 5e basically have a bastard sword as a longsword with 2 hands.

I chose 1d10 since you asked in a general forum and not specifically 5e.

 

[Davies]

2d4 damage but +1 to hit due to better control.

 

[billd91]

Depends on your edition. 5e eschews modifiers and advances die type so going to 2d6 may be appropriate.
2e generally keeps dice the same but adds +2 damage. 3e gives a stupidly good multiplier to strength bonus damage (particularly when strength is really high).
1e did it really weird. I won’t even go into it here.

 

[Slit518]

Depends on your edition. 5e eschews modifiers and advances die type so going to 2d6 may be appropriate.
2e generally keeps dice the same but adds +2 damage. 3e gives a stupidly good multiplier to strength bonus damage (particularly when strength is really high).
1e did it really weird. I won’t even go into it here.

3e did 1 1/2 x Str mod, right? So a Str of 20 would be +5 and 1/2 more again would be +7?

 

[embee]

Although it changes the question parameters, I would say 1d8 for 1 handed and 2d4 for 2 handed. Mathematically, the halfway point of a d8 is halfway between the 4 and 5 (the imaginary 4.5). On a d4, it's the imaginary 2.5. Double that 2.5 and you're at 5. Which is .5 higher than the imaginary 4.5 of the d8. It's a slight boost but not a gamebreaker. Practically, the lowest possible then becomes the 1 when used 1 handed and 2 when used 2 handed.

 

[Lanefan]

I'll back @embee up that when used 1-handed it should be 1d8, intentionally the same as a longsword.

When used 2-handed it could be 1d10 or even 1d12, depending on system. 2d6 might be a bit high but I could get behind 2d5 or (if you want the same range but linear) 1d10 reroll 1s.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The 5e longsword is a bastard sword (as it was RL historically).

 

[Argyle King]

Although it changes the question parameters, I would say 1d8 for 1 handed and 2d4 for 2 handed. Mathematically, the halfway point of a d8 is halfway between the 4 and 5 (the imaginary 4.5). On a d4, it's the imaginary 2.5. Double that 2.5 and you're at 5. Which is .5 higher than the imaginary 4.5 of the d8. It's a slight boost but not a gamebreaker. Practically, the lowest possible then becomes the 1 when used 1 handed and 2 when used 2 handed.

I could get on board with that.

Thematically, having more consistent base damage would coincide with using 2 hands for better control.

Though, 5E seems to have a pattern of a damage increase with versatile weapons, so my vote went to 1d4+1d6.

 

[Horwath]

The 5e longsword is a bastard sword (as it was RL historically).

Longsword(historically) is a two handed weapon, that you could use one handed in some moves(i.e. lunge), but you would want to use it two handed almost all the time.