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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Driddle" data-source="post: 1682799" data-attributes="member: 3447">As has been noted, sport epees are not edged weapons, nor are foils. And although they are considered "training" weapons in this day and age, the truth is that a skilled fencer -- and a sharpened weapon tip instead of a blunt scoring tip -- could do a lot more piercing damage than D&D's sense of "subdual." The biggest problems with a translation of current epees to rapiers of yore are those of manufacture and application. In the first case, current epees are made to be (compared with rapiers) very, very flexible. Even more so with foils. And because they're supposed to be used in a "safe" competition environment, they're not supposed to break easily from proper thrust attacks. I doubt our sports weapons could have been manufactured way back then with today's standards of use. But in the latter matter (that of application), anyone using a sport epee or foil in serious combat would necessarily be fighting in a style unlike anything we're used to imagining in a historic setting. Simply put, a sport blade couldn't stand up very well to hard parries from anything other than another sport blade. *Perhaps* it could stand up to a thin rapier, or be wielded with enough finesse to avoid the impact of blade-to-blade strikes (i.e. beat-attacks). If you've ever seen high-level athletes in foil competition, you know that many of their attacks are very whip-like, or what's referred to as "flick" attacks, at inobvious target zones. Other attacks are comprised of various combinations of straight lunges and beat-attacks (which displace the opponent's blade *just enough* to hit him before he can hit you). If an epeeist or foilist tried to adapt his weapons skills to mortal combat in a fantasy setting, he'd absolutely positively have to rely on a great sense of distance and quicker tempo than his heavy-handed opponent. He *could* be deadly, but only if he picked his enemy correctly, and picked his opportunities.Saber, the third sport weapon, is used for piercing and cutting attacks. Many of the same perspectives would apply there as well (DISTANCE!) but because of the parries you learn with saber, it would be difficult to train yourself out of blade-to-blade strikes.</blockquote>

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