Actual functional weapons

[David Howery]

For me, I can't see the spiked chain as ever have been a real weapon (chain and whip, yes - spiked, I have my doubts). And as cool as darth maul's double lightsaber is, I don't think a double sword or double scimitar ever existed before being shown on the silver screen (sure, bo staffs - which was what the double-saber was based on before the effects light - have been around, but I doubt the two-bladed sword was).

I gotta admit, some of the goofy weapons and armor in 3E really turned me off of the game. The first thing I thought of when I saw the spiked armor was 'yeah, because you want the monsters to stick to you and make it easier for them to claw your face off"... the second thing I thought of was 'if you hit those spikes with a mace, wouldn't the guy in the armor go spinning around?". As for the double sword/axe/whatnot, I looked at those and thought "what a great way to cut off your own leg..."

 

[delericho]

And as cool as darth maul's double lightsaber is, I don't think a double sword or double scimitar ever existed before being shown on the silver screen

(Yes, I'm replying to the same post again. )

The more I think about it, the more I think that the best way to handle things like Darth Maul's double lightsaber, Gogo's spiked chain, any of the weird and wonderful martial arts weapons, or even that iconic Pathfinder Barbarian's oversized sword is not with Exotic weapons - that's the wrong tool for the job.

Instead, they should have stopped with Simple Weapons (essentially, converted farming implements) and Martial Weapons (as we know them). Then, provided a mechanism for characters to assign their own custom weapon, complete with appropriate Proficiency and Specialisation feats and the like.

Then, they should have provided mechanisms for the character to develop their unique fighting style with the weapon, using Feats (3e), Powers (4e), or a Theme (5e) - on the grounds that if you want your character to have a custom weapon, you probably want that to be one of his key defining characterics.

And then, since you're almost certainly never going to find a magical version of your custom weapon, there should probably be some "Weapons of Legacy"-like mechanism for the weapon to grow with the character, picking up powers as it goes (possibly with rituals to awaken these?).

The thing is, that wouldn't have to stop them drawing up lots of "exotic" weapons, since these would then just be examples. And because these are unique weapons, there probably wouldn't be the same resistance - sure, the double-bladed sword is goofy as just a regular weapon that anyone can have, but if Darth Maul has the double-bladed lightsaber then it's cool. (And any that still don't pass the group's versimilitude-filter can just as easily be dropped.)