Dervish, Scimitar, Light Weapons and Grappling

[Nyarlathotep]

Ahhh, what a usefull fountain of knowledge this place is.

One of my players was browsing through the CW and noticed this in the description of Slashing Blades for the Dervish PrC.

"treats the scimitar as a light weapon (...) for all purposes..."

This would allow the Dervish to use a scimitar in a grapple as it would be a light weapon. It's pretty explicitly worded so my initial reaction would be to say "Yes, you may use a scimitar in a grapple", but I thought I would see if anyone else has had any problems with this before allowing it in my game.

Your experiences?

 

[AuraSeer]

"All purposes" means all purposes. That means the dervish can use the scimitar just fine when grappled, or even when swallowed whole.

 

[Scharlata]

"All purposes" means all purposes. That means the dervish can use the scimitar just fine when grappled, or even when swallowed whole.

Hi!

... and all purposes mean all purposes, even with DISARMING.

Enjoy!

 

[xazil]

Or a monkey grip / goliath / half-giant using a large size one.

 

[Hypersmurf]

... and all purposes mean all purposes, even with DISARMING.

And Power Attack.

-Hyp.

 

[Darklone]

And Power Attack.

-Hyp.

Right. IMHO the only balancing factor in the whole dervish stuff is that he can't use scimitars with Power Attack.

But with a falchion.

 

[brendan candries]

all purposes ...

a design flaw, oversight or poorly written?

I find it quite amusing that a scimitar using character suddenly finds himself unable to use power attack and is more vulnerable to disarming when he gets the "slashing blades" ability.

But then ... according to complete warrior ... should his dex drop below 13 after a dance, he's fatigued ... doesn't he loose all dervish traits? lo and behold! He can use power attack again!

 

[noeuphoria]

Usually in that case, I would rule the weapon acts as light or not, depending on what the character needs. After all, doesn't this ability mean the Dervish is better than a normal character with the scimitar. On the other hand, I could see ruling that the dervish has a unique combat style that emphasizes quick, blurry slashes, and as such, they are ill-suited to using the scimitar heavy-handedly. Of course, you could just disallow the dervish in your campaign like I did. It's the only class in the CW I thought was just straight-up overpowered. Frenzied berzerker is too, but it's also pretty much unplayable as a PC class.