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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5569195" data-attributes="member: 58197">Real-world swords spanned an incredible variety of sizes and shapes. I would say that the "greatsword" is something akin to the two-handed Highland claymore, while the "fullblade" is more like the zweihänder others in this thread have mentioned. Both are quite big weapons, but the zweihänder is noticeably bigger; a shade under five feet for the claymore, up to six feet for the zweihänder.As for speed and reaction time, keep in mind:a) Real fighting swords are much lighter than people think. Even those giant zweihänders only weighed about six or seven pounds. (The ten-pound weight given for the fullblade is pushing the edge of plausibility, and some of the weights given for big swords in earlier editions are frankly ludicrous--1E, home of the 25-pound two-handed sword, I'm looking at you.)b) Fighting techniques with big swords covered a lot more than "put both hands on the hilt and hack." Medieval fighting manuals demonstrate an amazing variety of grips and moves. You can put one hand on the lower part of the blade, giving you finer control in a thrust and the ability to use it like a quarterstaff when parrying or disarming. You can flip the weapon around, put both hands on the blade, and use the cross-guard like a warhammer*! You can bash with the pommel. European knightly combat was every bit as much a martial art as anything you'd find in Japan.[size=-2]*Sturdy gauntlets highly recommended.[/size]</blockquote>

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