middle age swords

[lukelightning]

Here are the official stats for middle age swords:

Take a sword and apply a -1 penalty to str, con, and dex, and +1 to int, wis, and cha.

Because it's middle aged. Badump-dump.

 

[Shadowdragon]

Here are the official stats for middle age swords:

Take a sword and apply a -1 penalty to str, con, and dex, and +1 to int, wis, and cha.

Because it's middle aged. Badump-dump.

I was waiting for someone to post something like this.

OK, I think I've been able to sort out some swords from the late middle ages (1300-1500)

Arming Sword: one-handed, equally good at slashing as it is at piercing
Cut and Thrust: one-handed, better at piercing than slashing
Estoc: can be used one- or two-handed, piercing only (although I guess it could be used as a club), low damage but has armour penetration
Falchion - one-handed, slashing/chopping sword
Longsword - can be used one- or two- handed, equally good at slashing as it is at piercing
War Sword - two-handed, better at slashing than piercing

 

[Slife]

Plus crowbars are pretty wicked. In crowbar vs. katana, my money would be on the crowbar(I mean hitting one with the other, not people weilding them).

I dunno, if you hit Gordan Freeman with a Samurai...

 

[Arkhandus]

Excuse me, but I almost have to assume this is a troll. Do you really mean all this stuff?

Nah. Celebrim's just usually like that. But not really a troll.

I don't agree with him much, but there's at least a grain of truth in what he says.

.....Just not a lot more than that. European martial arts aren't all that awesome either. They're generally less flashy and more efficient, I think, but they're not more effective; just more effective, perhaps, against some Eastern martial arts simply because they were devised for fighting different kinds of battles. It is the Eastern styles that spread further for use in self-defense by civilians, police forces, and others. Because they're still very effective at personal, close combat as one might face on the street. Or in any other small fight, not an open battlefield. You don't bring swords to a gunfight, so don't expect a close combat style to beat a ranged combat style when you start off more than a few feet away.

 

[Zaruthustran]

This site is a great resource in that it provides photos, weights, lengths of swords, grouped by style and time period. Biggest surprise, to me, was that real swords are light. As in: 2-3 pounds. Much lighter than the typical hunks of metal you see around cons and ren faires.

http://www.albion-swords.com/

WARNING: you may be tempted to spend a lot of money on a really nice hand-crafted weapon. These guys definitely are not peddlers of cheap Pakistani wall-hangers.

Also, google "Oakeshott Typology" if you want to get into the generally-accepted naming/typing conventions for swords.

-z

 

[pawsplay]

On two-handed swords.... used primarily for stabbing. This could be either a quick thrust to the face or a joint, or the classic "can opener" maneuver where you move the sword in a twisting motion down into the grill of the helmet or the shoulder, often grabbing the low (dull) part of the blade, extended grip, or crossguard for leverage.

The other basic movement is the power swing, executed about like you'd think, but as much up-down as you can manage, rather than side to side. Either the end of the blade or the point can be used to deliver the blow.

You can slash and fence with a greatsword, but in such a fashion, it is more of a defensive weapon than a longsword, as the edge of the blade is too easy to evade. A smart opponent will simply keep blocking and backing up until you leave an opening. You, in turn, will keep pressing the attack, possibly looking for an opening for one of the maneuvers mentioned above. Using a weapon in this way can be very tiring, especially as a four foot sword weighs anywhere from around 3 1/2 to 7 pounds, and you are probably wearing forty five pounds of armor.

 

[Darklone]

Excuse me, but I almost have to assume this is a troll. Do you really mean all this stuff?

If he's a troll, then the greenskinned regenerating sort of, not the small funny one with hat.

For the slow ones of mind: He's right.

...Using a weapon in this way can be very tiring, especially as a four foot sword weighs anywhere from around 3 1/2 to 7 pounds, and you are probably wearing forty five pounds of armor.

Sorry paw.

A few years ago we checked a medieval greatsword in an Italian museum. 1,5 kg with 1,60m length. These greatswords have been used pretty much like quarterstaffs... if you ever fought someone who knew how to use them, you'll never joke about them anymore.

My own bastard sword for practising with 1.5mm edge (that means it's lots too heavy) weights 1.3kg. A real bastard sword is hardly above 1.1 kg. Like a real katana would be.

That viking broadsword mentioned above... weight 800 grams. Yeah. Hardly more than a modern fencing sabre. With a cutting quality that Japanese high quality katanas reached 800 years later.

Can you imagine why rapiers haven't been that often used even while they have been known since 2000 BC (Kurgan bronze rapiers)? Most other weapons have been just as fast. Even greatswords. Only problem swords ever had: You have to learn how to use them and it's not easy to learn nor anything you can do in two weeks. But if you do it... you'll love it.

Edit: Another word about these 40 kg of armor. Yeah. Sounds like a lot till you had a guy wearing these suits making flipups and running after you. He won't do that for a long time sure... but fighting him is NOT fun. Try it and you'll believe me, I've always been a light armored fighter. And trust me, I like longbows. Keeps the tin cans out of reach.

 

[MarkB]

I dunno, if you hit Gordan Freeman with a Samurai...

"Minor fracture.

Morphine administered.

Have a very safe day."

 

[Thunderfoot]

And just as a side note on armor - the 40 kgs that has been quotes - a modern infantryman carries a base load of approximately 75 lbs of gear (existance, and light combat gear to move from place to place) - a TYPICAL fighting load (minus existance gear plus added ammunition, rations & subsistance and mission specific ordance and tools) runs about 120 lbs. (that just a typical rifleman, you really don't want to be a machine gunner or mortarman - ) No, I did not mis-type that.

The 40 kgs armor was also distributed over the body and rested on an arming coat, what is typically thought of as padded armor in D&D. (I love seeing idiots wear chain maille on clothing and then complain who it tangles.) Chain was the LEAST balanced of the armors, resting a great amount of the distributed weight SOLEY on the shoulders, earlier banded versions and later plate versions had better weight distribution, so even with the added weight the soldier inside tired much later than their counterparts in chain alone.

Yeah, a man in armor could (and can) move much faster, quicker and longer than you think he can, especially when he trained to do just that.

As far as swords being the 'typical weapon' of a fighting man, the mace was much more often the preferred 'side arm' with the spear, pike and other pole arms being the typical main infantry weapon. To this day, the regimental sergeant major of the 3rd infantry (US) in ceremony carries an infantry spear circa 1770 (yes even during the age of 'real' firearms, the infantry carried spears.) The only troops that carried swords other than knights, who received a metric butt ton of training on how to use them and not skewer themselves, their horse of their comrades I might add, was the archer, the next step in the 'military chain' of training, freedmen that were professional soldiers in support that needed a weapon to pull and use to defend themselves if the enemy closed to within melee, often they too carried maces or even a lowly club, but the long dagger or 'short sword' (a modified and updated gladius) was the 'official' weapon of the Medieval artillerist.

 

[Nyaricus]

You can't report your own post--he could report someone else's post and do the same thing, though.

I've reported it already, anyway.

lol, I was going to bed then, and cme upon this thread. I usually would've reported it myself, anyway. But sleepy-time came a-calling