D&D 3E/3.5 The bastard sword in 3E

[glass]

If that is the case in 3.5, then someone has screwed things up at WotC. The bastard sword is supposed to be a hand-and-a-half weapon; you can use it either one-handed or two-handed. Either.

True, and you can, regardless of what it's called.

I can live with them requiring a feat to use it one-handed, but saying that it isn't a two-handed weapon is just wrong.

Except that two-handed weapon is a game term with a specific definition; a tighter definition than the plain english meanings of the words.

Granted, it is not a particularly brillient choice of words, but 'someone screwed up' and 'just plain wrong' are overstating the case somewhat IMO.


glass.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Granted, it is not a particularly brillient choice of words, but 'someone screwed up' and 'just plain wrong' are overstating the case somewhat IMO.

I do that a lot. It's the only way to get people's attention sometimes.

 

[Rhun]

To me this always really begged the question, and it has been begged in my mind so many times, of what exactly a flamberge does damage wise. You know, the six foot long swords that weighed maybe ten pounds? The ones with two different crossguards and handles for convenience?

There were very few swords ever actually used for combat that weighed near ten pounds. Flamberge refers to a style, and means "Fire Blade" if I remember correctly. Flamberge is used to describe swords with a wavy blade. There were those that thought the wavy blade would cause worse wounds than a straight blade, but mainly it was just a style of decoration.

Most medieval long swords only weighed about 3 pounds, bastard swords 4-5 pounds, and even the two handers were generally in the 5-7 pound range.

 

[Numenorean]

Most medieval long swords only weighed about 3 pounds, bastard swords 4-5 pounds, and even the two handers were generally in the 5-7 pound range.

If you saw LOTR, both of Aragorn's swords and Gandalf's Glamdring were bastard swords. Comparitively Anduril (Narsil) was a LARGE bastard sword.

 

[Rhun]

If you saw LOTR, both of Aragorn's swords and Gandalf's Glamdring were bastard swords. Comparitively Anduril (Narsil) was a LARGE bastard sword.

Absolutely...if you check out the replicas of those blades, you'll see their size. Narsil is 52 7/8" long, Glamdring is 47 5/8" long, and Aragon's sword is 47 1/4" long, all of them having hand-and-a-half grips. The Witchking's blade is 54 1/2" long and has a true two-handed grip.

 

[S'mon]

I have all weapons do minimum +1 STR bonus damage when wielded 2-h, rather than needing STR 14 to do +1 damage. This works fine. Although in 3.5 the x2 Power Attack damage also helps, it's only w weak creatures under STR 13 that there's a problem.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I have all weapons do minimum +1 STR bonus damage when wielded 2-h, rather than needing STR 14 to do +1 damage. This works fine. Although in 3.5 the x2 Power Attack damage also helps, it's only w weak creatures under STR 13 that there's a problem.

Me too. I also have weapons do a minimum of -1 Str bonus damage when you'd get 1/2 Str.

 

[Zoatebix]

Ooh - those are good house rules. I may have to yoink them.

 

[S'mon]

To me this always really begged the question, and it has been begged in my mind so many times, of what exactly a flamberge does damage wise. You know, the six foot long swords that weighed maybe ten pounds? The ones with two different crossguards and handles for convenience?

I treat them as Exotic greatswords that get a Sunder bonus vs wooden weapons.

Edit: Actually I haven't used them yet - if I increased damage I'd make them Exotic. Anyway those zweihanders (flamberge or straight) aren't really a suitable dungeoneering weapon, they're a specialised battlefield weapon for cutting heads off pikes. IMC greatswords are like historical greatswords (typically 4' blade & 1' haft) or claymores, rather than like historical zweihanders (5' blade & 18" haft).

 

[S'mon]

Many people have pointed out that IRL it's pretty easy to wield a typical bastard sword 1-handed. As others have pointed out, the Feat requirement to wield d10 bastard sword 1-h is to keep it game-balanced w d8 longsword. If you remove the requirement, no one will use d8 longswords.

If you want complete realism, I suggest eliminate the feat, reduce bastard sword damage to d8; making it just a longsword with a longer hilt. Or increase longsword damage to d10. And use rule that 2-h weapon always does at least +1 STR bonus extra dmg.