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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cap'n Kobold" data-source="post: 6960822" data-attributes="member: 6802951">The scimitar issue is taking a mechanical abstraction (the weapon statistics,) of another mechanical abstraction (hit points,) intended for one context (quick and easy combat resolution at the expense of detail) and applying it to a completely different context (character image and concept.)We know that scimitars, sabres, tulwars etc were used in our world. That would appear to indicate there there are factors in play that aren't covered by the rules - a fact that we're all already aware of: D&D just isn't granular enough to cover the sort of intricacies that lead to the development of different weapons, armour, fighting styles etc.A player might take the inspiration of their character from this, perhaps envisioning their fighter having a whirling, athletic fighting style that fits well with the shape of a scimitar and that it is the traditional weapon of their culture.To them, the 0.65 DPR damage potential difference is less important than their enjoyment in playing a character with a strong image that they like.Would you really want to be the sort of person to accuse them of 'bad roleplaying' because the rules say that their character is proficient in longswords as well and they are playing a stupid character if they don't start using them because they would do 0.65 DPR more if they switched to longsword?Note that this a different issue than the option of reskinning: You can quite happily say that their heavily curved sword is considered a longsword in the game. This would be quite acceptable, and assuming there was some reason you couldn't just kick them from the game, would hopefully silence the player making those accusations. At least until they started on feat choice, subclass and ability picks, and any other decision that the other player makes where they made something other than the mathematically optimal choice.</blockquote>

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