D&D (2024) Longsword finesse when used 2H

[Charlaquin]

Depends what you are cutting. I learned to grind a progressive bevel so that it’s nearly 90 degrees at the very edge, but you’d need a microscope to see it. The majority of it is about 17-24 degrees per side, so 34-40 degrees total.

(Then again my blades are for cutting meat without armor over it.)

Yeah, it does depend what you’re cutting. You can polish a 90 degree edge until it’ll shear flesh easily, but even at that degree of sharpness it’s going to take an awful lot of force to cleave bone with.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah, it does depend what you’re cutting. You can polish a 90 degree edge until it’ll shear flesh easily, but even at that degree of sharpness it’s going to take far more force than any human’s muscles can produce to cleave bone with.

i just deleted a paragraph of pedantry. It’s really not important.

 

[Charlaquin]

i just deleted a paragraph of pedantry. It’s really not important.

I also edited my post. “More force than a human’s muscles can produce” was unhelpful hyperbole.

 

[Horwath]

This could be sorted with a feat.

It would be a boost to dex fighters, but it would come at a cost.

Feat:
Agile versatility( or something)
+1 dex or +1 con
you treat Versatile weapons that you wield in 2 hands as finesse weapons.

Not a great feat, but it expands the base of finesse weapons for your character to pick from.

 

[Bill Zebub]

This could be sorted with a feat.

It would be a boost to dex fighters, but it would come at a cost.

Feat:
Agile versatility( or something)
+1 dex or +1 con
you treat Versatile weapons that you wield in 2 hands as finesse weapons.

Not a great feat, but it expands the base of finesse weapons for your character to pick from.

How is it a boost to Dex fighters?

 

[Marandahir]

Not really. The weight of most swords pretty much caps out at about 3 lbs, or around 1.3 to 1.4 kg. Only dedicated two-handed swords like Zwihanders really get much heavier than that, and even those are a lot lighter than you’d think because the blades are really thin (which makes edge alignment that much more important for such big swords). Turns out, 3 lbs is the sweet spot for optimizing strike force, giving you the most mass without sacrificing the ability to accelerate it by muscle power. The difference tends to be in how that weight is distributed (hence the very long blades also being very thin).

I guess that's a matter of perspective - that's a lot heavier than one-handed arming swords or rapiers or the like…

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I guess that's a matter of perspective - that's a lot heavier than one-handed arming swords or rapiers or the like…

Both one-handed arming swords and rapiers weigh over 2lbs. That isn't that much lighter.

 

[Minigiant]

I could see Finesse Longsword as an Advanced Fighting style like Monkey Grip Greataxe and Zen Archery.

 

[CleverNickName]

In my last campaign a "katana" was just a Longsword with the Finesse property. It was also a Monk weapon.
It didn't break the game.

 

[Clint_L]

Seems like a solution in search of a problem, and it chips away at what little remains of strength as a viable stat. If it's just a flavour option, then just say that your rapier is a long sword and keep using the rapier rules.