D&D (2024) What, exactly, is a 5e "scimitar"?

[Ancalagon]

5e 's mechanical granularity is pretty... limited, so sometimes I think it's perhaps better to "reverse" the analysis - look at mechanical windows and then fill them in with weapons/armor that fits.

Like a 1d8 slashing finesse martial single handed melee weapon.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

5e 's mechanical granularity is pretty... limited, so sometimes I think it's perhaps better to "reverse" the analysis - look at mechanical windows and then fill them in with weapons/armor that fits.

Like a 1d8 slashing finesse martial single handed melee weapon.

Honestly sounds like what I'd imagine a "scimitar" to be, whereas the 5e "scimitar" sounds more like a "sabre" but these things are really subjective. Could be called a "kopesh" too.

Frankly, the more I think on it, the more I like @Horwath's weapon chart. "Pay" for the features. Name it whatever you like.

 

[Yaarel]

Like a 1d8 slashing finesse martial single handed melee weapon.

I strongly perceive the sword types within the framework of the Japanese bladelength unit, approximately a foot or 30 cm.

upto 1 foot: knife
1 to 2 feet: shortsword
2 to 3 feet: "normal" sword
3 to 4 feet: longsword
4 feet plus: greatsword

In this context, the "sword" in the sense of a viking sword, knightly sword, and arming sword, is:

Sword: martial weapon, 1d8 slash/pierce, finesse, heavy

It has the heavy property in the sense that only a medium size humanoid can wield it agilely to benefit from its finesse.

By contrast, I view the katana as:

Katana: martial weapon, 1d6 slash/pierce, finesse, versatile (1d10).

 

[Yaarel]

When I imagine warhammers I’m thinking Thor, not that wussy little tack driver that was used historically. Something that in real life would weigh 40 lbs. Yes, I know how improbable that is. I swing a 2.5 lb hammer blacksmithing.

You seem to be describing the 5e maul?

It weighs 10 pounds.

 

[Yaarel]

For me, I interpret the armor table as if:

Padded (gambeson or equivalent layering of fabrics)
Leather (boiled/cured hard leather torso armor, whether breastplate cuirass, or scale shirt)
Studded Leather Full Leather Suit (torso armor, armguards and legguards)

Similarly scale:

Scale (metal scale armor, whether brigandine cuirass, or scale shirt)
Splint (scale torso armor, plus splinted armguards and splinted legguards)

 

[Bill Zebub]

You seem to be describing the 5e maul?

It weighs 10 pounds.

No, I'm not describing a maul. I'm describing an anvil on a stick.

EDIT: Making the point that sometimes I'd rather imagine something impractical/impossible but aesthetically cool (imo), than imagine something historically/functionally accurate.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

No, I'm not describing a maul. I'm describing an anvil on a stick.

EDIT: Making the point that sometimes I'd rather imagine something impractical/impossible but aesthetically cool (imo), than imagine something historically/functionally accurate.

Yeah, that's a way of looking at it. I wouldn't go as far as "anime-swords" but I don't mind some silliness. I once modded a heavily armoured mini to make a Warforged. I made a flail that looked a bit like the one the Witch-King had in LotR. Because why not? The character was a "robot"!

On the other hand, I LOATHE the "double"-weapons. Anyone remember the "double-axe"? Ridiculous! (No, I don't mean a double-bladed axe. I mean a stick with axe blades on both ends! It was in 3.x and 4e, IRRC. Sooooo stupid.)

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah, that's a way of looking at it. I wouldn't go as far as "anime-swords" but I don't mind some silliness. I once modded a heavily armoured mini to make a Warforged. I made a flail that looked a bit like the one the Witch-King had in LotR. Because why not? The character was a "robot"!

On the other hand, I LOATHE the "double"-weapons. Anyone remember the "double-axe"? Ridiculous! (No, I don't mean a double-bladed axe. I mean a stick with axe blades on both ends! It was in 3.x and 4e, IRRC. Sooooo stupid.)

Yeah I'm not a fan of the double weapons. But if somebody else wants one, and the stats are otherwise normal, I'm not going to try to spoil their fun.

 

[Maxperson]

What, exactly, is a 5e "scimitar"?

Because the word "scimitar" means the same thing as a "sword", there are many different kinds of scimitars.

Where European swords tended to be double-edged and straight, some Central Asian swords were single-edged and curved. Horse riders introduced their to elsewhere outside of Central Asia. Eventually, Europeans came to use the term "scimitar" for any kind of curved blade. There are many different kinds. But medieval Europeans mainly encountered only one kind of scimitar, the one used by the Turkic or Mongel horse riders from Central Asia.

What kind of "scimitar" the 5e Weapons Table is statting is less clear. Its d6 damage, and finesse and light properties, suggest a small weapon, like a shortsword, about the bladelength of ones forearm.

However.

In a medievalesque context, from the 1200s onward, the term "scimitar" especially refers to the long sabers that the cavalries of Mongols or Turkics used. But this is a kind of longsword, and not at all what the 5e Weapons Table is describing.

For bladelengths, I find the Japanese unit of measurement most useful and most convenient (coincidentally about a foot or 30 cm).

• 1 foot or less = knife
• 1-2 feet (12-24 inches) = shortsword
• 2-3 feet (24-36 inches) = sword
• 3-4 feet (36-48 inches) = longsword
• 4 feet or more = crazy long

The scimitars that the Central Asian cavalries wield are between 30 inches and 40 inches. In other words, the "scimitar" is comparable to a "normal" knightly sword or else a longsword. The longer length helps reach from horseback.

But this sword-or-longsword isnt at all what the 5e Weapons Table is statting.

What is the Weapons Table statting?

I always thought D&D got it from the scimitars encountered during the crusades into the Middle East.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

• 4 feet or more = crazy long

I'll just drop in to say
4 feet or more = Berserk long