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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 9758408" data-attributes="member: 15538">Anyhow, moving on from trying to explain repeatedly to people that the term rapier comes directly from the Italian and Spanish word ropera  ("for dressing") and not from some arbitrary sword classification, and how transitional forms appear later in the 15th century and the rapier proper only in the the early 16th century, and becoming popular much later outside the Romantic cultural sphere...It has just struck me that a one-handed finesse sword intended primarily for civilian defense, almost universally acknowledged as unsuitable for the battlefield, used primarily to thrust with some limited cutting capability, is a strange thing to bring to a dragon fight. It's not long enough to kill, and not durable enough to weaken. Other D&D type fights:Bandits: Kind of a wash. The German and English masters in the 15th century on still argued for the superiority of the broadsword. This particularly makes sense if your party is outnumbered and the bandits are using any kind of armor or shields. However, in a fairly open environment, with mostly one-on-one engagement, the rapier masters would prefer the rapier, and staked their life on it. So, if they aren't right, they were at least not consistently wrong.Pirates: There is no fencing square on a moving boat. People on boats used cutlasses. Officers might use sabers or broadswords. Only a dandy would use a rapier in a pirate fight.Zombies: I'm going to argue here that a typical arming sword or any other medieval type sword is going to be much better here than a rapier. Poking holes in a dead person just isn't a convincing tactic, and if they just keep coming, a rapier's reach isn't going to help much.Ogre: The rapier is arguably not a bad choice here. A torso kill is certainly possible. Still, I would prefer a typical cut-and-thrust sword in case I need to target their limbs or try to deflect or parry. Really, I want a zwiehander or some kind of spear in this situation. This is also a good situation for the heavy crossbow or even a human-portable arbalest of large size.Giant scorpion: I don't want to use a rapier to fence with a giant scorpion. I don't even want to think about it. Spears, tridents, long axes, crossbows, longbows all seem like incredibly better choices. If I do need to use a blade, a typical arming sword would be okay but I would really prefer a scimitar or falchion with some reach, because I need something I can fend with. I really want to lop off the stinger entirely before I get close.Golem: A rapier is not going to help you here. Some kind of two-handed maul seems like the only thing that is really going to get some purchase here. Warhammer/war pick would also be okay, if I had some way to get close. If I had a longsword and nothing else, I might turn it around and try to use the murderstroke (using the pommel as a mace, basically) to try to get some momentum. Bow is probably not going to do much here, but a heavy crossbow or arbalest might be able to damage some golem types.Frost giant: LOL. Any type of melee here seems crazy, but the rapier seems especially crazy. There is no way to lunge and stab a giant through the heart, so I hate the rapier for this. Definitely I want something with a lot of hacking or smashing potential. Realistically, a shield doesn't seem like it would help much, but maybe a magic shield would be somewhat effective.</blockquote>

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