Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lamoni" data-source="post: 1949796" data-attributes="member: 12680">Storyteller, You said that your personal range for a grip is between 1/4" to 3".  Lower than that and higher than that are too uncomfortable.  Does that mean that anything within that range gives you no penalty (you can fight just as effectively) and anything outside that range gives a huge penalty (it becomes unusable)?  Or would it be something more gradual?  A weapon with a grip normally 2" might be a little harder to use as it grows to 2.5" (but still quite effective), worse at 3" and finally almost not worth the effort at 3.5"... which could probably be represented with a -2, -4, and -6 penalties.It still seems to me that you are saying that if you can still use the weapon effectively that there should be zero penalty.  Do you also disagree with masterwork weapons?  A masterwork weapon is most likely much more like a normal weapon of its type than the same weapon made for a larger or smaller race.  So you switch weapons from a masterwork to one with the same material, grip, length, weight, but maybe the balance is off by 1/30"  This gives you a -1 to hit.  This doesn't make sense since the weapon should still be very effective.Oh wait, the weapon IS still effective.  It still does the same damage.  Taking a -2 penalty does not mean unusable.  The barbarian in our party has a +17 to hit.  They could easily pick up a large longsword and use it quite effectively.  If the barbarian was a halfling, they could still use a large creature's shortsword as a greatsword and still have a +14 to hit (added +1 due to being small).Have you tried wielding a longsword with a 1/4" grip?  How about a quarterstaff with a 3" grip?  You may be comfortable with that range, but I would guess that the optimal range is quite a bit smaller for any single weapon.  All your anecdotal stories about small people effectively wielding different weapons doesn't prove that they didn't just effectively wield them at a -2 penalty.  Again, -2 doesn't mean ineffective.  Someone with more dexterity or strength at the same level (training) can still have a greater attack bonus with an inproper sized weapon than someone with less dex or strength and a masterwork weapon.  The person and the training (level) still have more effect than any weapon size penalty.One last thing.  Sorry to repeat myself, but I don't know how often this comes up in your games.  PC's buy weapons properly sized for them and they fight with those weapons.  If I am a halfling, I won't be buying large sized weapons.  If I am an ogre, I will.</blockquote>

Verification