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<blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 6064876" data-attributes="member: 75787">Sounds good Salamandyr, and thanks for the encouragement. Sadly, my sword instructor moved, and at TKD, my preferred MA, no-one worth fighting ever turns up in the 40+ bracket. At state events, maybe 2-3, and even at Nationals, there's less than a dozen. I used to drop down and fight 18-25 level (and lose almost all the time, but have a ton of fun) but alas, insurance companies have required that no longer be an option. Anyway, I completely agree that combat and sports are completely different. AND I agree with pretty much all you say; I just find it hard to reconcile with being scared of a 20th level fighter with a nail file, assuming any form of reality. On your summary:&quot;people should be scared of a barbarian wielding a giant axe&quot;, absolutely. Because he knows how to use it AND it's a dangerous weapon. If, on the other hand he is charging at you across a field and you have 10 reasonably trained archers, go on coffee break, because he's dead. If he has been given a three-piece staff, just try and stand clear as I defy ANYONE to be able to do more damage to someone else than themselves using it without training.In martial arts, the three critical things are power, speed and technique. If you can be better than the other guy at two of them, you should win, assuming any sort of parity with the others. For D&amp;D I think weapon choice should add to that, so I'd say the triumvirate is STATS, SKILLS and WEAPON. As you level, stats + skills improve -- weapon does somewhat (because you buy better equipment!), so the barbarian will win, because STATS and SKILLs dominate, but if you take away anything like parity with a weapon and give him a nailfile, it should be much less likely a win.Appreciate the thoughtful comment and good luck with the saber! I tried that once. EPIC FAIL.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gorgon Zee, post: 6064876, member: 75787"] Sounds good Salamandyr, and thanks for the encouragement. Sadly, my sword instructor moved, and at TKD, my preferred MA, no-one worth fighting ever turns up in the 40+ bracket. At state events, maybe 2-3, and even at Nationals, there's less than a dozen. I used to drop down and fight 18-25 level (and lose almost all the time, but have a ton of fun) but alas, insurance companies have required that no longer be an option. Anyway, I completely agree that combat and sports are completely different. AND I agree with pretty much all you say; I just find it hard to reconcile with being scared of a 20th level fighter with a nail file, assuming any form of reality. On your summary: "people should be scared of a barbarian wielding a giant axe", absolutely. Because he knows how to use it AND it's a dangerous weapon. If, on the other hand he is charging at you across a field and you have 10 reasonably trained archers, go on coffee break, because he's dead. If he has been given a three-piece staff, just try and stand clear as I defy ANYONE to be able to do more damage to someone else than themselves using it without training. In martial arts, the three critical things are power, speed and technique. If you can be better than the other guy at two of them, you should win, assuming any sort of parity with the others. For D&D I think weapon choice should add to that, so I'd say the triumvirate is STATS, SKILLS and WEAPON. As you level, stats + skills improve -- weapon does somewhat (because you buy better equipment!), so the barbarian will win, because STATS and SKILLs dominate, but if you take away anything like parity with a weapon and give him a nailfile, it should be much less likely a win. Appreciate the thoughtful comment and good luck with the saber! I tried that once. EPIC FAIL. [/QUOTE]

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