Always did like the look of that weapon in the movies. Can see a use for it with a dervish style character, dancing around, spinning the blade two-handed, using momentum and movement to carry it more than raw strength. Maybe the falchion should be a versatile Scimitar, similar to a bastard sword?
D&D 5E Falchion & Finesse?
Gargoyle
Adventurer
Name of the sword aside, I think from a game design standpoint a two handed finesse weapon could have its place in the game, but without precedent in the PHB, I am of the opinion that it should cost something. The old Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat seems to fit. If you wanted it to be biased toward elves you could do it this way, otherwise remove the elven references, and of course, call it what you like.
Elven Glaive (Exotic Melee Weapon)
This finely crafted curved sword features a long handle and a graceful design.
2d4 slashing, Finesse, Two-Handed
High Elves treat this as a martial melee weapon.
Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat
Gain +1 to Strength or Dexterity.
You gain proficiency with an exotic weapon of your choice. You can select this feat more than once, but each time you choose this feat, select a different exotic weapon.
Of course, the simpler way to do it is just stat the weapon up like you want and play with it to see if it's a problem or not. As long as everyone isn't using it, it's probably fine. I am betting we will see stuff like the above in future books, but keeping things simple has its merits too. I dislike long lists of feats and the analysis paralysis that results in character creation, and would only add something like this if I felt it was important to the setting or a particular player.
Edit: It occurs to me that backgrounds would be a good place to give Exotic Weapon proficiency
Elven Glaive (Exotic Melee Weapon)
This finely crafted curved sword features a long handle and a graceful design.
2d4 slashing, Finesse, Two-Handed
High Elves treat this as a martial melee weapon.
Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat
Gain +1 to Strength or Dexterity.
You gain proficiency with an exotic weapon of your choice. You can select this feat more than once, but each time you choose this feat, select a different exotic weapon.
Of course, the simpler way to do it is just stat the weapon up like you want and play with it to see if it's a problem or not. As long as everyone isn't using it, it's probably fine. I am betting we will see stuff like the above in future books, but keeping things simple has its merits too. I dislike long lists of feats and the analysis paralysis that results in character creation, and would only add something like this if I felt it was important to the setting or a particular player.
Edit: It occurs to me that backgrounds would be a good place to give Exotic Weapon proficiency
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R
RHGreen
Guest
Falchion
Scimitar
Shamshir
Edit: Though Wiki calls this style a Kilij
Scimitar
Shamshir
Edit: Though Wiki calls this style a Kilij
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R
RHGreen
Guest
A falchion is way too heavy to be a finesse weapon. It was used in the middle-ages as more of a bludgeon than a sword. I can see it having Versatile and Brutal, but not finesse.
I always saw it as a slashing/cleaving weapon, there is no finesse in that.
As was pointed out to me a few weeks ago, there are a few unexpected synergies that make a 2-handed finesse weapon disproportionately powerful:
* finesse weapons can be used for sneak attack
* two-handed weapons can benefit from the great-weapon fighter ability.
A Fighter 1/Rogue x, then would be in a position to re-roll all 1s and 2s on SA dice (doubling when crated), which would be much more effective than any other weapon in the game. In addition, the proposed damage of the falchion (2d4) means that there will be even more 1s and 2s.
Obviously, both of these could be removed (sneak attack dice do not benefit from the GWF ability; GWF only re-rolls when total damage = 1 or 2, not each die), but seeing the way others have understood these abilities, it's clear that there is not unified opinion on these boards about the rulings in any case, and this makes things worse (i.e. more imbalanced).
So in addition to the real-world simulation reasons that have been described, there are very practical reasons why there are no two-handed finesse weapons.
* finesse weapons can be used for sneak attack
* two-handed weapons can benefit from the great-weapon fighter ability.
A Fighter 1/Rogue x, then would be in a position to re-roll all 1s and 2s on SA dice (doubling when crated), which would be much more effective than any other weapon in the game. In addition, the proposed damage of the falchion (2d4) means that there will be even more 1s and 2s.
Obviously, both of these could be removed (sneak attack dice do not benefit from the GWF ability; GWF only re-rolls when total damage = 1 or 2, not each die), but seeing the way others have understood these abilities, it's clear that there is not unified opinion on these boards about the rulings in any case, and this makes things worse (i.e. more imbalanced).
So in addition to the real-world simulation reasons that have been described, there are very practical reasons why there are no two-handed finesse weapons.
GameDoc
Explorer
I don't have a link to an image, but if I recall correctly, D&D orcs in recent years have been described in places as equipped with scimitars with the art depicting a weapon that looks a big cleaver, basically the historical falchion. In 3e/4e, any single edged sword is generically a scimitar. I thought the 4e khopesh, mechanically met the feel of a historical falchion.
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