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Roman Gladius
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<blockquote data-quote="clark411" data-source="post: 1304817" data-attributes="member: 4768"><p>I think all this amazing historical knowledge is pretty bluntly boiling down to the fact that the Roman Gladius (note: thread topic) isn't something special in any mechanical sense. The best bet is either slashing / piercing the craft DCs and times on them, making them far cheaper, or incorporating Roman type feats that extend beyond your usual Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization to allow something extra, like perhaps using 1.5 strength bonus with the lil bugger to represent the efficiency and power of the Roman wrist twist stabbing style. Balance be damned if weapon quality niftiness based on illusion is what is sought.</p><p></p><p>Also, as a note, Romans excelled in combat due to their study and rationalization of war. Some sources I've seen show diagrams depicting the exact timing of a pilum toss. The Romans were capable of, en masse, performing maneuvers that would send dozens upon dozens of breaking iron/stick spears into their foes ranks and draw weapons in time to clash. It's pretty amazing to see how they timed it all to the second with exacting precision. Beyond specifically setting their charge speeds to match their speed with drawing melee weapons, and timing their pilum to land where their foes would be rather than where they currently were at the time of their being tossed, Pilum, mechanically, were far more ingenious than the gladius any day of the week... designing a weapon that your enemy can't pick back up and toss back at you- genius.</p><p>/anotherhistorydorkmodeoff</p><p></p><p>(ps. and any snarkiness was np.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clark411, post: 1304817, member: 4768"] I think all this amazing historical knowledge is pretty bluntly boiling down to the fact that the Roman Gladius (note: thread topic) isn't something special in any mechanical sense. The best bet is either slashing / piercing the craft DCs and times on them, making them far cheaper, or incorporating Roman type feats that extend beyond your usual Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization to allow something extra, like perhaps using 1.5 strength bonus with the lil bugger to represent the efficiency and power of the Roman wrist twist stabbing style. Balance be damned if weapon quality niftiness based on illusion is what is sought. Also, as a note, Romans excelled in combat due to their study and rationalization of war. Some sources I've seen show diagrams depicting the exact timing of a pilum toss. The Romans were capable of, en masse, performing maneuvers that would send dozens upon dozens of breaking iron/stick spears into their foes ranks and draw weapons in time to clash. It's pretty amazing to see how they timed it all to the second with exacting precision. Beyond specifically setting their charge speeds to match their speed with drawing melee weapons, and timing their pilum to land where their foes would be rather than where they currently were at the time of their being tossed, Pilum, mechanically, were far more ingenious than the gladius any day of the week... designing a weapon that your enemy can't pick back up and toss back at you- genius. /anotherhistorydorkmodeoff (ps. and any snarkiness was np.) [/QUOTE]
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