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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5615027" data-attributes="member: 82106">Yeah, I've never understood the way shields have been treated in D&D. Eh well, it is what it is. Hard to say. In general I think where staves lose out is armor. Given the nice reach though I'm not sure I'd really vote for a sword/shield type guy there. Keep your distance, whack a few elbows and hands, knock 'em off their feet, lol. I think it is safe to say that if you put swords, shields, etc in the hands of modestly trained people they are going to beat equally trained staff users most of the time, it is quite a bit easier to get lucky with a sword and the results are a bit more decisive. Well, there were a vast array of minor bow variations certainly. I think within the context of D&D categorizing them as 'light' and 'heavy' is really all that's needed. I mean you can always point to some weapon and say "that one is better than most". In the real world various considerations that can't be modeled in a game tend to make the extremes unworkable.Actually the pole arm fetish in AD&D was quite alive and well in the original PHB. There are well over a dozen variations listed in the weapon tables, lol. UA just recapitulated and clarified since obviously this important aspect of game design desperately needed updating and improvement! Gygax does sometimes make me chuckle. Notice the opposite extreme in OD&D, weapons were all virtually identical, the dagger did lower damage and the two-handed sword did extra damage, that was about it.</blockquote>

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