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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Griffith Dragonlake" data-source="post: 3757065" data-attributes="member: 40379">One of my house rules for 2nd edition was to use Dex for attacks and Str for damage.  However, I dropped that rule after performing a few experiments with plastic weapons and museum replica weapons as well as discussing the physics with my wife (who is a physicist).Now I know this sounds obvious, but what jumped out at me was how much easier and faster I could hit specific locations with the toy weapons than I could with the museum replicas (and rattan weapons too).  This tells me that STR has a direct impact on the ability to move a weapon fast and accurate.  The faster a weapon moves, the harder it is to block or parry that weapon.  The increased accuracy leads to increase in damage (direct hit v. glancing blow) as well as increase in critical hits (hitting the critical areas).I made another realization:  At some point, STR no longer matters.  Going back to the toy example, I realized that DEX drives the success of light weapons, i.e. swinging a plastic sword faster didn't really make any more difference.Hence the new house rule # 1:  All light weapons always use DEX to attack.  No more weapon finesse feat (and light weapons use 1/2 X STR bonus).On a related note, experimenting with museum replicas and SCA (rattan) weapons also led to another discovery.  Weapons which are bottom heavy (basket hilt swords) require far less STR to be successful than top heavy weapons (mace, axe, pick, club).  Proof:  Compare a basket hilt sword to a cross hilt sword.  Even if the cross-hilt sword is lighter, having the weight at the  bottom acts as an awesome counterbalnce.  Now turn that basket hilt sword upside down and try and swing it.  Hoo boy!  It swings a lot more slowly and really requires both hands to successfully use it.  Even though they weigh the same, a bottom heavy weapon and a top heavy weapon have vastly different strength requirements.House Rule # 2:  Mass Arms (mace, club, pick, flail) gain 1.5x STR bonus to hit rather than 1x.  [Polearms use 2x STR bonus]House Rule # 3A:  Swords use STR and DEX bonuses to attack.ORHouse Rule # 3B:  Swords use 1/2 STR and 1/2 DEX bonuses to attack.Haven't playtested House Rules 3A and 3B enough to decide which works better.</blockquote>

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