Another weapon's rant by Storyteller... read at your own risk
Geoff Watson said:
Only if the greatsword wielder is incompetent.
Why do many people think two-handed weapons are slow? They weigh a bit more than one-handed weapons (not the hundreds on pounds that some people think), but the extra hand and leverage more than makes up for it.
Geoff.
Ditto.
Your comparing the skill of the fighters, not the weapon speeds. Compare two equally skilled combatants, and your dagger user is at a disadvantage. As mentioned earlier, he'd have to be more aggressive to hit the 2hd sword user, and STILL has to worry about the 2hd sword coming back in a reverse sliding cut. If he's smart, the 2hnd user will keep the blade between him and the dagger user. Let the 'Master of Daggers' worry about getting in close!
Also remember, daggers may have twice the speed, but not twice the control. The control is equivalent rifles and pistols. The changes are far more obvious on the larger weapon, but still exist in the smaller weapon (as evident by opponents being 10 ft, shooting pistols, and missing with every round).
Both edged weapons require the same amount of control to guarantee that the blade strikes true, rather than lodging/deflecting off bone, dense muscle, etc. Your dagger user will be targeting tendons, nerve clusters, bleeding points, etc that your 2hd sword user would have a difficult time targeting. On the other hand, your 2 hnd sword user can control the mass of his weapon to target most of these areas and still maintain the weapons postion between himself and the dagger user. The dagger user may have more manipulation options, but he still has to get through a 3' to 4' blade. Not to mention, both weapons will suffer from overswing if the attacker gets too crazy with their attacks.
Moral: The same degree of control is needed with either weapon.
As for using your knives as ranged weapons, I'll quote a Marine Corps drill instructor: WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD YOU
GIVE THE ENEMY YOUR WEAPON!!
And daggers of returning don't count. You could just as easlily enchant a 2 hnd sword of throwing and returning for the same effect.
Anyway....
Speed comes as much from technique as the properties of the weapons themselves. Mau thai artists (butchered the spelling) will generally get more attacks with a dagger than, say, karate. It's the primary weapon for the art, at least for those who learn the weapons aspect of it.
I believe it would only add another layer of complexity to an already huge rules system, and it wouldn't be truely realistic.
My four cents...
