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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 311884" data-attributes="member: 1645">If anything, the ancient world was more advanced than the later medieval world -- with a few specific exceptions: the stirrup, the wheelbarrow, steel arms &amp; armor, and eventually gunpowder.&nbsp; For just about anything else, scholars of the Middle Ages looked back to the ancients.Even in Classical Greece, where armor and swords were made out of bronze, arrow tips and spear tips were often iron or steel.&nbsp; Later, the Romans wore mail and carried steel swords, but some still wore bronze helmets.Bronze is much easier to fashion into sophisticated shapes (helmet, muscle cuirass).&nbsp; Iron/steel makes for hard arrowheads.I'm not sure bronze deserves any significant penalties except against superior steel equipment.&nbsp; A 1d4 (2.5 average) dagger stab would reduce down to 1d4-1 (1.75 average) just because the blade is bronze; that's a big penalty.&nbsp; And a stone club should be almost as good as an iron mace.Even longswords are impractical using bronze.Certainly priests would be literate.&nbsp; Further, an ancient empire could easily be more literate than a medieval society.&nbsp; Of course, D&amp;D isn't very medieval when it comes to literacy; almost everyone should be illiterate until well after the introduction of the printing press. It's the Romans who built the roads that were still being used in the Middle Ages, and it's the Roman military machine that kept travel safe throughout the empire.&nbsp; They even had daily newspapers transported hundreds of miles.&nbsp; You certainly didn't see that in the Middle Ages.Because the stirrup wasn't around yet.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 311884, member: 1645"] If anything, the ancient world was more advanced than the later medieval world -- with a few specific exceptions: the stirrup, the wheelbarrow, steel arms & armor, and eventually gunpowder. For just about anything else, scholars of the Middle Ages looked back to the ancients. Even in Classical Greece, where armor and swords were made out of bronze, arrow tips and spear tips were often iron or steel. Later, the Romans wore mail and carried steel swords, but some still wore bronze helmets. Bronze is much easier to fashion into sophisticated shapes (helmet, muscle cuirass). Iron/steel makes for hard arrowheads. I'm not sure bronze deserves any significant penalties except against superior steel equipment. A 1d4 (2.5 average) dagger stab would reduce down to 1d4-1 (1.75 average) just because the blade is bronze; that's a big penalty. And a stone club should be almost as good as an iron mace. Even longswords are impractical using bronze. Certainly priests would be literate. Further, an ancient empire could easily be more literate than a medieval society. Of course, D&D isn't very medieval when it comes to literacy; almost everyone should be illiterate until well after the introduction of the printing press. It's the Romans who built the roads that were still being used in the Middle Ages, and it's the Roman military machine that kept travel safe throughout the empire. They even had daily newspapers transported hundreds of miles. You certainly didn't see that in the Middle Ages. Because the stirrup wasn't around yet. [/QUOTE]

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