Nyaricus
First Post
A Response to Scimitars vs Longswords
okay, id like to clarify something that was obviously not obvious in the initial post (and in regards to the scimitar/longsword etc debate).
Cultures from all over the world have all come to very similar ends in regards to weapon cratfing > swords, spears, bows, polearms etc > in all nationalities, a variant or two has been created.
But, say you are (in D&D and Weapon group terms) a Fighter (class) in the crusades, a knight if you will. You are from France, and are a 4th level Fighter with the following profs: Basic Weapons, Hammers, Heavy Blades, Light Blades and Spears. Now, your family has a tradition of using warhammers, after the famous Charlemagne, as a knight you are used to using the lance, and as a crusader, you have taken up the use of swords, a familiar symbol of knighthood. These are all reasonable regional weapon group selections.
For fighter feats, you took toughness, weapon focus (heavy blades) and weapon spec (heavy blades). You are a strong fighter who has a great respect for the power of a sword.
Now, assuming you made it accross the Mediterranian Sea, you get to where all those "infidels" are, wielding scimitars and such. In a great battle, in the midst of a great melee, your sword is perhaps sundered, or knocked from your hands into a river or a well, but a great many infidels are nearby, most dead but more lives ones are closing on you and your companions. You are a crusader, and will thus fight to the death, even if it means weilding an infidels weapon to the death. you quickly grab a scimitar off of a fallen foe, and rely on your training in heavy blades to guide your sword arm. Now, what happens? you could argue this way and that, but the fact is, both a scimitar and a longsword are a chopping blade, and are quite effective at what they do. But you would not be familiar enough to gain all of your fighter benefits.
Now, if using Weapon Group Profs, this optional system already opens up many doors for your character > you could pick up a longsword or a greatsword (assuming this is the same crusader) and have a +1 to hit and +2 damage with both, but with a foriegn weapon, we can always go back to a staple in 3.x weapon profs: Exotic Weapon Prof feat. Simply, if your character is from an inappropriate Region where either longswords (etc) or scimiatrs (etc) would not be common, you would have to take exotic heavy blades prof to gain all your normal benefits. This would have to be after your character creation (meaning that if you took exotic heavy blades prof to use a bastard sword at first level (assuming you are from an approproate Region) you would have to take the feat exotic heavy blades prof to be able to use a scimitar, falchion, etc. Say you have another character from North-Western Europe (ie, france, germany, england, etc) and you liek to use light blades. A character from those areas would not be familiar with the rapier (a weapon from italy) or the kukri (a blade from asia [cant remeber exactly where at the moment, or the katar/punching dagger. say you travel to italy, and become entranced with the duelist-style that uses rapiers. you take Exotic Light Blades Prof (since these would be an exotic weapon for you) and can now utilize the rapier with your other feats weapon focus (light blades) and weapon spec. (light blades). now, your adventuring party goes to India. there, after being attacked by an assassin dual-wielding Katars, you wish to use one of these in your off hand. Now, strictly speaking from a rules POV, youd have to take another feat. but since taking a whoel feat to gain the use of a rapier isnt really fully worth the feat, you could say it was a 1/2 feat > and just let the character use the Katar in his off hand. Honestly, this wont affect game balance much, and in standard D&D this wouldnt be an issue at all (what with just simple, martial and exotic profs) but those didnt make sense either, so that is why i use the Weapon Group Profs.
*************
In conclusion, i think weapon groups goes a long way to really make weapon proficientcies shine, and if you wish to, you could delve in deeper and make Regional Profs. I wouldn't go as far as to have disparate weaopns in each group (like having shortsword, shortbow, club and light hammer in the same weapon group profs). But if you are from a middle-east country, heavy blades may only grant Scimitar and Falcion proficiency. all other heavy blades would be exotic to such a character, and he would have to take the appropriate feat after level one.
Anyways, i hope you enjoyed my foray into the balance issues raised by my prof-system, and such, and i welcome comments, etc
okay, id like to clarify something that was obviously not obvious in the initial post (and in regards to the scimitar/longsword etc debate).
Cultures from all over the world have all come to very similar ends in regards to weapon cratfing > swords, spears, bows, polearms etc > in all nationalities, a variant or two has been created.
But, say you are (in D&D and Weapon group terms) a Fighter (class) in the crusades, a knight if you will. You are from France, and are a 4th level Fighter with the following profs: Basic Weapons, Hammers, Heavy Blades, Light Blades and Spears. Now, your family has a tradition of using warhammers, after the famous Charlemagne, as a knight you are used to using the lance, and as a crusader, you have taken up the use of swords, a familiar symbol of knighthood. These are all reasonable regional weapon group selections.
For fighter feats, you took toughness, weapon focus (heavy blades) and weapon spec (heavy blades). You are a strong fighter who has a great respect for the power of a sword.
Now, assuming you made it accross the Mediterranian Sea, you get to where all those "infidels" are, wielding scimitars and such. In a great battle, in the midst of a great melee, your sword is perhaps sundered, or knocked from your hands into a river or a well, but a great many infidels are nearby, most dead but more lives ones are closing on you and your companions. You are a crusader, and will thus fight to the death, even if it means weilding an infidels weapon to the death. you quickly grab a scimitar off of a fallen foe, and rely on your training in heavy blades to guide your sword arm. Now, what happens? you could argue this way and that, but the fact is, both a scimitar and a longsword are a chopping blade, and are quite effective at what they do. But you would not be familiar enough to gain all of your fighter benefits.
Now, if using Weapon Group Profs, this optional system already opens up many doors for your character > you could pick up a longsword or a greatsword (assuming this is the same crusader) and have a +1 to hit and +2 damage with both, but with a foriegn weapon, we can always go back to a staple in 3.x weapon profs: Exotic Weapon Prof feat. Simply, if your character is from an inappropriate Region where either longswords (etc) or scimiatrs (etc) would not be common, you would have to take exotic heavy blades prof to gain all your normal benefits. This would have to be after your character creation (meaning that if you took exotic heavy blades prof to use a bastard sword at first level (assuming you are from an approproate Region) you would have to take the feat exotic heavy blades prof to be able to use a scimitar, falchion, etc. Say you have another character from North-Western Europe (ie, france, germany, england, etc) and you liek to use light blades. A character from those areas would not be familiar with the rapier (a weapon from italy) or the kukri (a blade from asia [cant remeber exactly where at the moment, or the katar/punching dagger. say you travel to italy, and become entranced with the duelist-style that uses rapiers. you take Exotic Light Blades Prof (since these would be an exotic weapon for you) and can now utilize the rapier with your other feats weapon focus (light blades) and weapon spec. (light blades). now, your adventuring party goes to India. there, after being attacked by an assassin dual-wielding Katars, you wish to use one of these in your off hand. Now, strictly speaking from a rules POV, youd have to take another feat. but since taking a whoel feat to gain the use of a rapier isnt really fully worth the feat, you could say it was a 1/2 feat > and just let the character use the Katar in his off hand. Honestly, this wont affect game balance much, and in standard D&D this wouldnt be an issue at all (what with just simple, martial and exotic profs) but those didnt make sense either, so that is why i use the Weapon Group Profs.
*************
In conclusion, i think weapon groups goes a long way to really make weapon proficientcies shine, and if you wish to, you could delve in deeper and make Regional Profs. I wouldn't go as far as to have disparate weaopns in each group (like having shortsword, shortbow, club and light hammer in the same weapon group profs). But if you are from a middle-east country, heavy blades may only grant Scimitar and Falcion proficiency. all other heavy blades would be exotic to such a character, and he would have to take the appropriate feat after level one.
Anyways, i hope you enjoyed my foray into the balance issues raised by my prof-system, and such, and i welcome comments, etc
