D&D 5E Falchion & Finesse?

A

AverageCitizen

Explorer

• Aug 24, 2014

• #11

IIRC the falchion was a European weapon that resembled a scimitar and many Europeans thought it was of middle Eastern origin. It gained popularity due to western fascination with the east.

When I got into d&d (3e) it was a two handed scimitar, like the one Hassan tries to chop Bugs Bunny with.

 

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CM

Adventurer

• Aug 24, 2014

• #12

What if it was something more akin to the LotR elven glaive?


I could see the case for this being a finesse weapon, especially considering how they tend to spin it around.

 

Savage Wombat

Hero

• Aug 24, 2014

• #13

AverageCitizen said:

IIRC the falchion was a European weapon that resembled a scimitar and many Europeans thought it was of middle Eastern origin. It gained popularity due to western fascination with the east.

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Pathfinder used the term "falcata" from the same root word (also not of medieval origin iirc) to describe the same weapon, without causing confusion with the two-handed falchion.

 

mach1.9pants

Hero

• Aug 24, 2014

• #14

A falchion is pretty much a cleaver sword. However 3E decided to name a two handed scimitar a falchion, I guess 'cos it sounds a bit similar and exotic/non-western. Since the names of swords is pretty flexible and varies from era to era and culture to culture it is not really a problem. If your game calls two handed scimitar falchions like 3E, then the stats above look good. IMO the only really egregious sword name error in D&D is the long sword for a normal good old one handed sword!

For me this is a falchion, as most D&D game I use a middle-ages European base style (like Greyhawk or DL or FR)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falchion

 

T

The Crimson Binome

Hero

• Aug 25, 2014

• #15

CM said:

What if it was something more akin to the LotR elven glaive?

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I can't imagine that being anything other than an elven scimitar. I'm not sure that it's even physically possible to finesse a weapon while wielding it in two hands.

 

CM

Adventurer

• Aug 25, 2014

• #16

Saelorn said:

I can't imagine that being anything other than an elven scimitar. I'm not sure that it's even physically possible to finesse a weapon while wielding it in two hands.

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It's a two-handed weapon, so scimitar wouldn't work.

 

mach1.9pants

Hero

• Aug 25, 2014

• #17

Saelorn said:

I can't imagine that being anything other than an elven scimitar. I'm not sure that it's even physically possible to finesse a weapon while wielding it in two hands.

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Why couldn't you take advantage of your superior hand-eye co-ordination rather than pure muscle power with any weapon, really? I don't see it being a problem, as your 'dexterity' is probably as important as your 'strength' when it comes to hand to hand combat. Conversely with a bow your strength is pretty important too (see the bone structure of longbow archers!) So IMO, really it comes down to making it feel OK for your table and not being totally unbalanced, and the lotR movie elven sword-staff-glaive-thing looks pretty finesse-able to me.

 

Henrix

Explorer

• Aug 25, 2014

• #18

falchion, falx, etc. (and fauchard) all go back to sickles. And that would have been very evident in the middle ages for anyone with a smattering of latin or french.

The elven glaive above actually looks a lot like a dacian falx.
Except that on a falx the edge is on the inside.

All the historical falchions seem to be heavy chopping blades.


Could you have an elven glave weapon that's finesseable? Sure, this is fantasy after all.
But don't call it a falchion, it'd just confuse things.

 

T

The Crimson Binome

Hero

• Aug 25, 2014

• #19

mach1.9pants said:

Why couldn't you take advantage of your superior hand-eye co-ordination rather than pure muscle power with any weapon, really?

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Of course, dexterity should help with any weapon. The question is, can you make the weapon work in such a way that your dexterity is drastically more important than your strength, in terms of your ability to hurt someone with it? To the point where strength is a non-factor, throughout the normal range of adult strength capacity.

It's much, much easier to make that argument for a thrusting weapon than for a slashing weapon. Of course, now that they've said you can finesse a scimitar, that raises questions. It's harder to justify why you can't finesse a glaive, now that you can​ finesse a scimitar.

 

Mouseferatu

Hero

• Aug 25, 2014

• #20

The problem with "falcata" is that it, too, has (or at least has come to have) a specific meaning, and it's no more a two-handed scimitar than the falchion is. They're both heavy, chopping blades that have very little in common with the traditional scimitar design.

Honestly, while I'm sure some existed for ceremonial or execution purposes, I'm not convinced the "great scimitar" ever really had a place on the historical battlefield. The entire point of the scimitar (and other sabre-style weapons) was that they could be wielded one-handed from horseback.

I'm not saying such a weapon shouldn't exist in D&D. This is fantasy, not history, and the imagery is indeed cool. But I wish the games would just go ahead and call it a "great scimitar" (or executioner's scimitar, or whatever other term), rather than trying to fit an existing word to it.