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Does a Great Axe do 2.5x the Damage of a Dagger?
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<blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 8214017" data-attributes="member: 6750908"><p>You know, normally, this is the unrealistic assumption that everyone makes... that causes their "realistic" house rules to fall apart.</p><p></p><p>Realistically, there are a handful of important vital organs and/or blood vessels that piercing/slashing/crushing is <em>almost immediately </em>fatal with... practically the entirety of other physical trauma only serving the purpose of degrading the victim's endurance and morale and making them more vulnerable for one of the former kill shots.</p><p></p><p>The battle axe isn't more likely to score a kill shot than the dagger, and it really isn't better at wearing down the victim's fighting spirit. It's <em>longer</em> than the dagger, giving it more reach, and it's heavier so it's more effective against shields and armor. It's got a hook on the business end that makes it easier to drag an victim's shield or even their weapon out of a defensive position. Compared to a sword, even a "short sword", it's not very useful for deflecting the victim's own pitiful attacks.</p><p></p><p>D&D doesn't model <em>any of those things</em>.</p><p></p><p>So a battle axe is a one-handed weapon, and it's not convenient to carry or hide, you can't throw it and you can't use it to sneak attack. So it does more damage than weapons that can do those things. In 3.X, the difference between an axe and a sword was that axes were less likely to deliver bigger critical htis, while swords were more likely to deliver smaller critical hits.</p><p></p><p>Is any of that realistic? No. Does it satisfy the need for deeper tactical decisions in weapon choice? Yes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DammitVictor, post: 8214017, member: 6750908"] You know, normally, this is the unrealistic assumption that everyone makes... that causes their "realistic" house rules to fall apart. Realistically, there are a handful of important vital organs and/or blood vessels that piercing/slashing/crushing is [I]almost immediately [/I]fatal with... practically the entirety of other physical trauma only serving the purpose of degrading the victim's endurance and morale and making them more vulnerable for one of the former kill shots. The battle axe isn't more likely to score a kill shot than the dagger, and it really isn't better at wearing down the victim's fighting spirit. It's [I]longer[/I] than the dagger, giving it more reach, and it's heavier so it's more effective against shields and armor. It's got a hook on the business end that makes it easier to drag an victim's shield or even their weapon out of a defensive position. Compared to a sword, even a "short sword", it's not very useful for deflecting the victim's own pitiful attacks. D&D doesn't model [I]any of those things[/I]. So a battle axe is a one-handed weapon, and it's not convenient to carry or hide, you can't throw it and you can't use it to sneak attack. So it does more damage than weapons that can do those things. In 3.X, the difference between an axe and a sword was that axes were less likely to deliver bigger critical htis, while swords were more likely to deliver smaller critical hits. Is any of that realistic? No. Does it satisfy the need for deeper tactical decisions in weapon choice? Yes. [/QUOTE]
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Does a Great Axe do 2.5x the Damage of a Dagger?
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