Medieval weapons: why so many? And how do they differ?

[dragoner]

Yeah, spear/pike until replaced by gun, incidentally for the same penetration/crush type of injury. Swords for authority. I used to have a photo catalog of weapons and armor from the Vienna Military History museum, very interesting, except mostly bespoke weapons and armor for the wealthy. However, what would be seen on the battlefield would probably be used in a dungeon, excepting that dungeons in dnd are largely just fantasy too - so fantastic weapons for a fantasy environment.

 

[Hand of Evil]

it all comes down to the defense of the 'foe'. What are the other guys wearing? Weapons and armor are used to defeat each other and improvements come to either give the edge over the other. Another point is mass production and training.

 

[Derren]

Yeah, spear/pike until replaced by gun, incidentally for the same penetration/crush type of injury. Swords for authority. I used to have a photo catalog of weapons and armor from the Vienna Military History museum, very interesting, except mostly bespoke weapons and armor for the wealthy. However, what would be seen on the battlefield would probably be used in a dungeon, excepting that dungeons in dnd are largely just fantasy too - so fantastic weapons for a fantasy environment.

That actually did not happen.
Pikes and guns existed alongside as combined arms. This time in warfare was called pike&shot after all. The ration of pike vs gun steadily shifted towards more guns the more advanced they became and pikes mostly disappeared once you had reliable guns + bayonets.

 

[dragoner]

pikes mostly disappeared once you had reliable guns

 

[Derren]

It would be nice if you quoted the complete sentence...

Bayonets were the main reason armies could fully switch to guns. Without them you would have seen pikes until rifles became common.

 

[dragoner]

It would be nice if you quoted the complete sentence...

So? You write a paragraph, to end with what I wrote in one sentence 1st. Bayonet would still be part of gun as well, so ... spear/pike until replaced by gun, is correct. At least for small arms, artillery is different. Some soldiers still carry swords, why? As sign of authority.