D&D General The rapier in D&D

[Reynard]

Just this one:
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technically that was a dwarf made artifact.

 

[Charlaquin]

technically that was a dwarf made artifact.

Good point!

 

[Bae'zel]

I’ve held a very realistic rapier before. It is super long, heavier than it looks and very sharp along both edges of the blade.

It is not at all like a bendy fencing foil, and more D&D players need to know this.

 

[pawsplay]

In truth, is -any- weapon made by mortal hands a valid choice against a dragon

Well, no, fighting a dragon is obviously nuts. But if I were going to do it, I wouldn't pick something that is as close to useless as I can imagine.

 

[pawsplay]

I’ve held a very realistic rapier before. It is super long, heavier than it looks and very sharp along both edges of the blade.

It is not at all like a bendy fencing foil, and more D&D players need to know this.

That is also correct.

 

[pawsplay]

Is the rapier really any less appropriate than a hand crossbow or a lucern hammer for fighting dragons.

I would definitely put the lucerne hammer near the top of my list. Let's break some scales! Maybe bust a claw.

 

[Steampunkette]

I would definitely put the lucerne hammer near the top of my list. Let's break some scales! Maybe bust a claw.

In the time it takes you to pull the hammer back for a half swing you're already dead because you have to be close enough for the finishing swing to strike.

At least the hand crossbow, useless as it is, can be fired from a short distance away as a final defiant "Up yours!" before you die.

 

[GrimCo]

As said before, let's not think too much about how realistic things are in D&D. Cause they aren't realistic at all. Handheld weapons are bad choice for fighting anything larger than large humanoid creatures. Huge and gargantuan creatures are so big, you can't reach any vital parts at all, and even if you can reach it, you need to go trough some thick hide, muscle and fat to get deep enough to hit vital part.

In short, for anything above large - siege weapons, artillery, magic. T Rex, example for Huge creature, is 13 meters in lenght, 4 meters tall at hips, and weights 8-10 metric tons. In comparison, largest elephants are 4m at shoulder and weight around 6 metric tons. Old dragons would be closer to C130 in size (lenght, mass, wingspan), but with scales comparable to main battle tank armor. So yeah, rapiers. Right

 

[Gadget]

Mechanically, they needed a d8 finesse weapon. Thematically, they wanted to include it as more of swashbuckling weapon. D&D has gradually moved out of GG's obsession with medieval poll-arms and tried to incorporate more eras and styles in an attempt to appeal to a broader base. Heck, a lot of the art for recent projects looks like something out of a Victorian Steam-punk/Sherlock Holmes adventure. I remember when 3e came out and rapiers were added to the core rule books for the first time and people were complaining about 'Zorro' or the 'Three Musketeers' in D&D.

Practically speaking rapiers were long, sharp and deadly weapons, not the fencing implements most casual players may think of when the term is mentioned. About as practical as most other D&D weapons when facing a dragon (which is to say not very practical).

 

[pawsplay]

In the time it takes you to pull the hammer back for a half swing you're already dead because you have to be close enough for the finishing swing to strike.

You evade, and strike at the incoming claw.