Roman Gladius

[Hand of Evil]

Standard short sword. If you wanted something special out of it I would think some fighting style/PrC level to enhance the use of it.


The secret to the Roman army was its organization, training and tactics, it was a machine.

 

[Tzeentch]

Pilums did not bend. Tests have shown that they either break or stay straight.

-- On a quick Google search I turned up some recreations who did build their own pilums, that did bend. It should be noted that the bending of a pilum was a happy additional capability. It was NOT their main purpose. They were armor-piercing weapons, not shield-destroyers.

About the reason why the Romans used shortswords instead of longer ones... They didn't. Later Roman soldiers used spatha, essentially longswords.

-- Source? Most note their use by late imperial calvary, not by infantry legions.

-- To tell the truth I'm not sure if the shield sticking aspect of the weapon can be modelled accurately in d20.
-- For reference here are the pilum rules from AD&D 2e (The Glory of Rome). It's pretty conventional in it's approach.

Pilum: The basic missile weapon of the legionary. It is a heavy javelin with a barbed iron head. The last segment of the pilum’s shaft up to the tip is constructed of soft metal rather than wood. Upon impact, the metal shaft bent. If the pilum stuck in a shield, this made it hard to pull out, and the pilum’s weight
would prevent the shield being used. If it missed, the bent shaft still disabled the pilum, preventing the enemy throwing the legion’s own volley back at
them. After the battle, the pilum shafts could be easily repaired by the legion’s armorers. If a pilum misses a shielded target by 1 or 2 on a d20, it has stuck in the shield. The shield is useless (no longer providing any Armor Class bonus) until the pilum is removed. Trying to remove a pilum from a shield requires a successful Strength check, with a -4 penalty. This takes one melee round per attempt, during which time the character can do nothing else. Costs 10 denarii, weighs 3 lbs. 1d6 damage, range increments 2/3/5.

-- Not sure the part about it bending if it misses being supported by either recreations or historical record.

 

[Darklone]

Right, the shield sticking aspect should be given to arrows and other spears as well... though you usually did something wrong if an arrow or spear stuck in your shield

 

[Rugger]

And that's called missing the joke folks...

... but you're forgiven because I would agree with you here. If you really want the gladius to be an exceptional short sword, make it masterwork. Much like a katana is a masterwork bastard sword.

WHAAATTT!?!?!

How do Ninja's chop through Tanks with a MASTERWORK bastard sword?

No way...Katanas need to be a super-duper-special-sword....



-Rugger
"I Kid!"

 

[dulsin]

The Legion didn't throw the Pilium they threw javelins. Simple light throwing spears with long soft iron points.


If you want to give the legion something special....

When fighting in tight formation, a warriors AC gets a +2 cover bonus as long as there is someone on his right and left. The guys at the flank are vulnerable and if the formation is split or scattered they loose the bonus. This makes your tight formation very vulnerable to a flank attack and shows you how important disciplined ranks were.

 

[DanMcS]

"When Marius fought against the Cimbri, he ordered that of the two nails or pins (pero/nai) by which the head was fastened to the staff, one should be of iron and the other of wood. The consequence was, that, when the pilum struck the shields of the enemy, the wooden nail broke, and as the iron head was thus bent, the spear, owing to the twist in the metal part, still held to the shield and so dragged along the ground" (Plut. Mar. 25).

That doesn't sound like the metal shaft was supposed to bend (which I do find slightly hard to believe, but which most people picture in their heads), but that the joint between the metal shaft and the wooden shaft was designed to act as a hinge. When the wooden pin broke, you're left with an elbow joint between the iron and wooden lengths of the shaft, it would just flop around and be useless if you tried to reuse it.

 

[Tsyr]

WHAAATTT!?!?!

How do Ninja's chop through Tanks with a MASTERWORK bastard sword?

No way...Katanas need to be a super-duper-special-sword....



-Rugger
"I Kid!"

Ninja don't use Katana, ninja use Ninja-To (Otherwise known as super-leet-fu-ninja-weapons)...

 

[Rel]

Ninja don't use Katana...

Also, they are mammals.

 

[jasper]

All of you are over thinking, feating, and skilling.
Either make it a masterwork short sword
Or for each 3 years of service add 1 fighter level to legion
or +2 circumstance bonus to hits, saves, ac, for being legion.
And remember the time period covered centuries and centuries so what was true in one year may be out dated in another century.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

There's a feat in Complete Warrior (apart from the +6 BAB one mentioned earlier) that would help replicate phalanx/close formation fighting. I think it's called Phalanx fighting, but I don't have my book handy.

If fighting with a shield and a light weapon, you get a +1 to AC, if fighting within 5' of someone with a shield, an additional +2, if that person also has the feat, you get an additional +2.

In other words, if you have a large shield and all the feats, you get a total of a +7 to your AC. Pretty good, I'd say. Add chainmail and you're talking AC 22, which will outclass most all other combatants on your average battlefield. And you can take it at first level.