Dragon's Tail Cut?

Dorky. I've got a player in my group who runs a swordsage, and after three months we all still grimace when he calls out "I run up and do my maneuver, Saphire Nightmare Diamond Blade!"

I don't know why "Dragon's Tail Cut" is worse than "Bull Rush", but it is. I'd rather they go as generic/descriptive as possible, and just call that particular strike "Knockdown".
 

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I think it doesn't matter what they name it at all, since I (and the player involved) will be the one putting the flavor in the game. Some PCs will achieve the mechanic by walloping their enemy, some by flipping the enemy's feet out from under them, etc.

In short, what's in a name? Will not a Dragon's Tail Cut by any other name still drop you flat on your ass?
 


I dislike Wallop, because that... just sounds like something your grandpa would say. "So we're trading blades, and I walloped him!" It just makes me want to say "a-huck!". Besides, "Wallop" is more of a "strong hit that would do a lot of damage", to me, not "knock you down".

But I also dislike Dragon Tail Cut. Because when I read "Dragon Tail Cut" I think "He's cutting the dragon's tail?" "Sweeping Blow" is better. Or maybe "Sunder Footing".
 
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When I saw this I first thought this was yet another thread grumbling about the new Dragon format. :p

I think Leg Sweep would have worked just fine... Or Sweeping Kick.
 

Scribble said:
When I saw this I first thought this was yet another thread grumbling about the new Dragon format. :p

I think Leg Sweep would have worked just fine... Or Sweeping Kick.

Not if (as is implied by "cut") it is a sword-specific power.
 

I don't like "Wallop", but I don't like "Dragon's Tail Cut" either. Both of them are particularly bad examples of the sort of names they are.

C'mon, WotC, it's not that hard to come up with names that are flavorful but don't sound like they came out of a Shaw Brothers movie.
 


Dragonblade said:
They should call it "Sweep the Leg" and write flavor text of how it was a maneuver perfected by the ancient and mysterious Cobra Kai society. ;)

Hell. Yeah.

I can already see my first character: Johnny.

"Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?"

"NO SENSI!!!"
 

Italian terms:

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~hudson/saviolo/glossary.html

imbroccata: a thrust with the hand pronated (knuckles forward, palm outward) passing over the opponent's hand and downward; also foin

inquartata: a sideways or backwards step with the rear foot together with a lowering of the body underneath the incoming blade, dropping the left hand to the ground for support, followed by a counterattack with line; also passata sotto.

mandritta: a horizontal cut delivered with the palm upward and the knuckles leading, from right to left

punta riversa: a thrust with the hand in supination (knuckles down, palm inward), delivered from the inside line, passing on either side of the opponent's ward, usually delivered on a step

riversi: a horizontal cut delivered with the palm downward and the knuckles leading, from left to right

stoccata: a thrust with the hand supinated (knuckles down, palm inward) rising from underneath the opponent's ward; also thrust

stramazone: a vertical cut to the head, palm to the left

German terms:
http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/talhoffer.htm

eg:
Overhand cut. – Underhand cut.
Plunging cut. – Changing cut.
guard of Wrath
sword capture.
open guard
Iron Gate
half-sword
Murder-stroke

Spanish terms
http://www.martinez-destreza.com/articles/spanish1.htm

Old French:
Coup de Jarnac:
http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/kill2.php

"The technique disabled one's adversary by severing the tendinous portion of the hamstrings, causing the victim's leg to collapse immediately, much the same way the limb of a marionette would go limp upon the severing of the string responsible for its movement. Located behind the knee, these tendons are not well exposed to an adversary facing his opponent from the front. Consequently, delivering a cut to this area presents certain challenges. The efficacy of the stroke was clear, however, and the technique may have served as a justifiable alternative to the risky and less effective cutting strokes directed to other parts of the leg.

The momentous duel in 1547 which gave the technique its name was that fought between Jarnac and Chastaigneraye.28 After a preliminary exchange of thrusts and cuts, Chastaigneraye was closing distance when Jarnac shifted his position while drawing Chastaigneraye's defenses high with a feint to the head, leaving the lower limbs exposed. With his hand in pronation, Jarnac then executed a drawing cut with the false edge of his blade across Chastaigneraye's hamstrings, inflicting a slight wound behind the knee of the left leg. Surprised, Chastaigneraye became briefly distracted, but before he had an opportunity to regain his composure Jarnac delivered a similar stroke to the hamstrings of the right leg, this time cutting through to the bone. Although Chastaigneraye eventually bled to death, it was the severing of his hamstrings which resulted in his immediate incapacitation.

A similar duel featuring the application of this technique was also fought between Newton and Hamilton in the same year, and earlier in that century yet another duel is reported to have been fought in which the same technique was employed in a combat between an Italian officer and a Frenchman. Short of a stroke resulting in dismemberment, this technique would appear to be the only sure means of disabling instantly the musculature of the leg. "

As regards fantasy, this exact cut is described by M. John Harrison in "Viriconium's Knights"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Viriconium-Pastel-Nights-Fantasy-Masterworks/dp/1857989953

Vikings preferred to simply cut off the legs from under the adversary.

Other resources
http://www.iceweasel.org/fencing.html
http://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm

As a bonus, critical hits:
http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/bloody.php
http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/kill2.php
 

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