Sage... Dragon... Advice... what?

[Saeviomagy]

Somehow I doubt doing Sage Advice is what pays his rent. He does a service for the gaming community and gets little in return, and he ain't perfect, just like most people. Even HS has been wrong on occasion.

OTOH, HS does his job for free, answers some really hard questions and gets most of them right and perhaps most importantly consults with others, and when he's wrong, he'll admit it.

I've yet to see a retraction from the sage, or any published letters telling him that he's directly contradicted the rules (letters which DO get published when regarding other aspects of the magazine). Maybe people don't send them in, but I really doubt that...

 

[Hypersmurf]

... when he's wrong, he'll admit it.

Well, sometimes

-Hyp.

 

[jgsugden]

I've yet to see a retraction from the sage, or any published letters telling him that he's directly contradicted the rules (letters which DO get published when regarding other aspects of the magazine). Maybe people don't send them in, but I really doubt that...

I can safely say that there have been numerous letters to the sage regarding his advice that violates the rules.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I can safely say that there have been numerous letters to the sage regarding his advice that violates the rules.

[curious]Ever get a reply?[/curious]

-Hyp.

 

[AuraSeer]

Seems funny to me that a human cannot weild a longsword in two hands and get all the benefits, while a halfling could weild that same exact longsword in two hands and get the benefits. If their strengths were the same, the halfling would be doing MORE DAMAGE and be harder to disarm with the same weapon.

Exactly. This looks like the right answer, in terms of real-world physics*.

The human has his right hand on the hilt, and his left hand wrapped over the right. The extra hand doesn't give him any extra leverage on the hilt. If someone tries to disarm him by twisting the sword out of his hands, he can still only resist the rotation with his wrists.

A halflng wielding an identical sword would put his hands adjacent to each other-- like the standard grip on a baseball bat. That small separation between the hands lets him use the hilt as a lever. When subject to a disarm attempt, he is able to use all the muscles of his arms to maneuver the sword and resist the rotation. You've specified that he is just as strong as the human, so by using more muscles he is able to apply more total force, and thus has a better chance to avoid being disarmed.

Similar physics apply when you look at damage. The halfling's separated grip means he has a longer lever to use, which means he can apply more torque, and get the tip of the sword moving faster. Faster = more energy = ouch.

(*Of course, D&D doesn't necessarily use real-world physics. I'm just pointing out that we can't rely on gut feeling or the "common sense" answer, which are based on IRL experience and aren't even correct there.)

 

[Nik_the_Pig]

Granted, the fact that you're using a one-handed weapon in two hands might help you against disarm attemps. I might give a +2 or even a +4 bonus IMC, or I might not (considering that the weapon wasn't made to be wielded with two hands...). Anyway, we're rapidly approaching house rules here

On top of that I'd be inclinded to give a penalty to anyone attempting to hold on to a 2-handed weapon with 1 hand. Thise things are big and unwealdly after all.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

The only signifigance is that this kills all of the one-handed-lance-with-power-attack cheese, which any sensible DM would do anyways.

It is hardly more sensible if the end result is the PC just uses the lance with two-hands. Flat out stupid is not much an improvement over something a bit marginal.

 

[Hypersmurf]

You've specified that he is just as strong as the human, so by using more muscles he is able to apply more total force, and thus has a better chance to avoid being disarmed.

But he doesn't, since he takes a size penalty.

Similar physics apply when you look at damage. The halfling's separated grip means he has a longer lever to use, which means he can apply more torque, and get the tip of the sword moving faster. Faster = more energy = ouch.

But the damage is the same.

The halfling's average damage is higher over the course of a long combat, since he has a +1 attack bonus from size. But the average damage per successful hit is identical.

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

I've yet to see a retraction from the sage, or any published letters telling him that he's directly contradicted the rules (letters which DO get published when regarding other aspects of the magazine). Maybe people don't send them in, but I really doubt that...

I've seen publicly printed retractions from the Sage, one just recently. And at least one of the FAQ answers was changed when the FAQ was updated.

The sage get's things wrong sometimes, I'll be the first to admit that. But overall he's just as accurate as Hypersmurf or myself. He just get's a bigger spotlight shone on him when he's wrong.

 

[jgsugden]

[curious]Ever get a reply?[/curious]

-Hyp.

To some, yes. To others, no.

When I pointed out areas where he was clearly wrong, I don't think I received replies. I chalked it up to him being overwhelmed by letters on the idea.