Top 10 odd D&D weapons

[shilsen]

I designed some weapons for the Sahasra mythos for DogSoul Publishing and was surprised to see some of the strange weapons from Indian hindu lore.

I'm personally quite fine with fantasy weapons that aren't realistic or historical, but once one starts looking around, one finds a lot of seriously weird weapons out there. Some of the more interesting ones from Indian history figure in the martial art of Kalaripayattu.

Check out the spinning sword or urumi. I can just imagine all the whining about realism if someone introduced this as an exotic weapon in D&D

 

[Mad Mac]

Two-bladed Sword is the only feasible double weapon in the PHB. It's not a practical weapon, but it can be made/used and similar weapons pop up in history from time to time. The Dire Flail, Double Axe, and Hooked Hammer on the other hand...

 

[Pure Puppet]

And I'd have done Xena's whizzing frizbee of death, too, had that been around when I was 14...

Frisbee of death? No no no. It's called a chakram. It's an actual weapon from India, like so many other mentioned in this thread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakram

Also, it was statted out in the Arms and Equipment Guide, anyway. Exotic Small Ranged Weapon, 1d4 slashing.

And my vote for most ridiculous weapon? Elven Double Bow. It's a bow with an extra bowstring! You can fire TWO arrows at once! I'm assuming if you have the Multishot feat, you can fire FOUR arrows at once. Just forget about anything like, I don't know, actually AIMING for anything! But who cares? FOUR ARROWS!

Bleah. A piece of equipment that mimics a feat is just a bad idea. You should not be able to BUY feats.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Nothing, NOTHING, is as stupid as one of the weapons from Sword and Fist. Can't remember the name of the thing, but it was a sword...with a flail attached to the hilt.

Say what you like about the impracitaclity of the double-bladed sword, it's a least concievable that someone could use it effectively. This sword/flail thing, though...I honestly can't picture how anyone could use it without beating themself unconscious.

Sounds like a prototype of a sword-chuck the thought of wielding two swords linked togeather by a chain (at either tip or pommel) makes me simile.

I suppose with a long thin chain connecting the pommels it would be only slightly more awkward than wielding 2 swords. otherwise its all bad.

and for my own suggestion the Singham-
try googling it, or finding any historical record that is not linked to D&D
its just a well need a light piercing weapon that monks can use with one hand. trationally this is a spear, not a sharp stick.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Monastic Orc Shot-put Master: "When you can snatch the Shot-put from my hand, young stinky bug, you will be ready to leave my tent."
Enthusiastic Pupil: You're On! *Grabs shot-put in two-hands and begins yanking hard.*
"Auuugh! Come on! What'd you do, superglue it to your hands?"
"With Age comes Wisdom and..."
"Seriously, I can see the glue, all over your hands. You friggen nutcase! Arrg! *Plants foot in elders face and begins pulling with all his strength*

tears of joy.

 

[lukelightning]

I believe even the non-returning kind is called boomerang (what would be the alternative: curved throwing stick?) ). I read that boomerangs used to hunt small birds actually return - if they miss their intented target.

There are arguments over what is a boomerang and what isn't; most anthropologists use boomerang to mean the returning things, and throwing stick for everything else (which has the advantage of not being closely associated with Australia, as non-returning flatish aerodynamic throwing sticks have shown up all over the world).

And no, boomerangs were not used to hunt, not even birds. It's a nice, fanciful notion, but there is no advantage to a returning boomerang other than hoping it returns, and there are many drawbacks.

It is incredibly hard to aim a stick that goes in a circular trajectory enough to hit a small target. You have to see the bird, then move to the exact correct spot to be the right distance away for a circular path (hoping the bird doesn't see you and fly away), and hope there is nothing in the way of the path, which is harder to determine than just throwing something straight at the bird.

And the path of the boomerang would be much longer than a straight path, giving the bird much more time to notice the spinning thing coming at it. A half second delay is all it takes for your lunch to take off.

 

[Dioltach]

No-one's mentioned the gae bolga? AFAIK, this hasn't been updated for 3e yet. It's a spear you throw with your feet and it used to do 1d8 damage (or 1d6/level if you had a certain proficiency from the Celts historical supplement).

It's in the Slaine book: damage 1d8, crit. x4, range increment 20 ft., piercing damage. The description includes rules for additional damage caused by the barbs if the Gae Bolga sticks in the wound, and for delayed healing. It's also primarily a melee weapon now.

 

[lukelightning]

On a slight tangent, I hate D&D bucklers. Bucklers are meant to be held in the hand, not strapped on the arm.

 

[Zander]

Mercurial Swords: Explain the attraction of a using a deliberately unbalanced weapon...

Although there never were swords with mercury, it does seem that there were swords with a moving weight that slid along the blade. There are several illustrated in 15th c. treatise on knightly combat. We don't know what these types of swords were called and there are none extant.

The weight would help to deliver a forceful initial blow either designed to penetrate armour or to set an opponent's weapon aside. These swords are illustrated with a large pommel/spike suggesting that after the initial swing, the attacker would close and perform a pommel strike.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm just waiting or the sword from Sword and the Sorcerer or the sword form the end of Brotherhood of the Wolf to make it into the books. Both completely and utterly ludicrus weapons and both style you just KNOW someone has tried to create in real life.

Well, the latter has been detailed by Andy Collins, on his website.