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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreyLord" data-source="post: 9756812" data-attributes="member: 4348">Once they did away with the Bastard Sword and basically made the Long Sword of 5e the same thing as the Bastard Sword from earlier editions (especially more like what you had in BECMI), they needed something to fit the role where the Long Sword used to be.They should have called it an Arming Sword or something like that, but went with the term Rapier.Rapiers were swords (not those thin little things that they using in fencing...the foil...if anything they were more like the saber but thicker and larger and more robust).They may be a little thinner than your typical arming sword, but they are full on swords that are sturdy and able to take a lot of punishment.They became popular for good reason.However, the real reason I think they came into being was to fill the role that the Long Sword used to fill as the Long Sword moved to filling the same role that the Bastard Sword used to fill (can't use that B word anymore I suppose, has too many bad connotations.  Plus, you always had those debates on whether Bastard swords actually really existed, what long swords really were and that they should be called Arming Swords...etc...etc...etc.  Ironically, even as they tried to go with making long swords more akin to what they were historically, they still left in the two handed Great Sword which is FAR more of an abomination in relation to what historically swords were used as than anything the Long Sword was in past editions).</blockquote>

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