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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7953586" data-attributes="member: 6779196">That’s not a sword at all, that’s a foil. It’s sports equipment.A rapier weighs about the same as an arming sword, the weight is just more concentrated near the back end, putting its point of balance closer to the hilt. It doesn’t exactly require more strength to use, it requires different strength - more in the forearm, wrist, and legs, as opposed to the upper arm(s) and core. That’s true of foils as well, fencing takes an incredible amount of lower body strength and balance.Of course, none of that really matters, because finesse in D&amp;D isn’t about how much actual strength a weapon requires to use. It’s about how the weapon is perceived in pop culture and depicted in fiction. A rapier is seen as a weapon used by a dashing swashbuckler who fights with agility and grace over power and force, so it’s a finesse weapon. This is also the main reason there aren’t any axes with finesse. Accurate or not, they’re seen as more brutal, direct weapons than their more elegant counterparts in swords, so they lack finesse and have a bigger damage die.But an estoc’s function is to penetrate small gaps in heavy armor - it is fundamentally designed for precision.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7953586, member: 6779196"] That’s not a sword at all, that’s a foil. It’s sports equipment. A rapier weighs about the same as an arming sword, the weight is just more concentrated near the back end, putting its point of balance closer to the hilt. It doesn’t exactly require [I]more[/I] strength to use, it requires [I]different[/I] strength - more in the forearm, wrist, and legs, as opposed to the upper arm(s) and core. That’s true of foils as well, fencing takes an incredible amount of lower body strength and balance. Of course, none of that really matters, because finesse in D&D isn’t about how much actual strength a weapon requires to use. It’s about how the weapon is perceived in pop culture and depicted in fiction. A rapier is seen as a weapon used by a dashing swashbuckler who fights with agility and grace over power and force, so it’s a finesse weapon. This is also the main reason there aren’t any axes with finesse. Accurate or not, they’re seen as more brutal, direct weapons than their more elegant counterparts in swords, so they lack finesse and have a bigger damage die. But an estoc’s function is to penetrate small gaps in heavy armor - it is fundamentally designed for precision. [/QUOTE]

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