Weapons with an Arabian/Calimshan flavour

[GandhitheBFG]

Other than the scimitar and falchion, can anyone give me any ideas for weapons (or other equipment) with an Arabian flavour?

The character using them is a fighter (Thug variant from UA) hailing from Calmishan in the Realms.

 

[sjmiller]

Well, a Jambiya is a curved, double edged, heavy dagger used quite extensively in the Arabian regions of the world for many hundreds of years. Ancient Egyptians used a kopesh, which would be a cool and exotic weapon, if a bit old fashioned. If I was at home I could come up with some other obscure Middle Eastern weapons, so that is all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Thanael]

Tulwar , yatagan, kukri, jambiya, katar (punching dagger), razor (a barber's), cutlass, great scimitar, ankus, tufenk.

The 3E Conversion of Arabian Adventures has 3E stats for some of those

http://www.al-qadim.com/weapons.html has a list of what weapons are available in The Land of Fate.


You might also want to look up where the word Thug comes from (Thuggee) and then consider using the garotte-like scarf and multiclassing to rogue and assassin, though that's more indian in flavor.

 

[GandhitheBFG]

That is an awesome idea, but I think I'll save it for another game.

Thanks for all the information guys!

 

[sjmiller]

Tulwar , yatagan, kukri, jambiya, katar (punching dagger), razor (a barber's), cutlass, great scimitar, ankus, tufenk.

The talwar (later evolving linguistically to tulwar) is of Indian origin, as are the katar and ankus. The kukri is Nepalese. I am actually not sure what the tufenk is, I will have to go hunt that down somewhere.

The jambiya, as I said before, would be a good weapon, as would the cutlass, and the great scimitar. The yatagan is a nice looking Turkish sword, and would also fit in nice, as you said.

You might also want to look up where the word Thug comes from (Thuggee) and then coonsider using the garotte-like scarf and multiclassing to rogue and assassin, though that's more indian in flavor.

I agree that someone using a scarf-like weapon and killing people is more of an Indian origin than Arabian. It would not fit in, if you asked me.

 

[pbd]

Also, I know this is nit-picky, but the Falchion is a single handed sword of European origin. DnD mistakenly describes it as a two-handed scimitar.

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

 

[interwyrm]

Pretty sure javelins are appropriate as well.

 

[Voadam]

Recurved bows (composite). Lances. Spears. Bunch of shorter polearms would not be amiss.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Recurved bows (composite). Lances. Spears. Bunch of shorter polearms would not be amiss.

Spears yes, but not lances. AFAIK the Europeans were the only ones to couch their spears. An uncouched lance is a spear for all intents and purposes in D&D.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Also, I know this is nit-picky, but the Falchion is a single handed sword of European origin. DnD mistakenly describes it as a two-handed scimitar.

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

Thanks PBD for bringing this up in a much more polite form than I would have. IMHO the biggest brain fart that Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams have had in their career is calling a two-handed scimitar a falchion. Up until 3rd edition, D&D had a fairly good record on historical arms & armor (albeit based on some antiquated sources, but legimate sources at the time). Gary's knowledge of polearm nomenclature is lejendary in roleplaying games. Whereas a simple fact check would have turned up the falchion as being nothing even close to being a two-handed scimitar. In fact, wasn't the falchion in the 2nd Ed. Player's Option: Skills & Powers?

I cannot think of another goof which has mislead thousands of gamers as this one. The martial artist as monk was bad enough but at least the class name derived from Shao-Lin Monk.

Did Jonathan, Monte, or Skip ever stop to think that for many youngsters, D&D is their first glimpse into historical arms & armor? That carries a certain responsibility which was taken more seriously in earlier editions. Why in the world could they have not called the two-handed scimitar as a two-handed scimitar? How hard is that?

It's like calling a Galil a Desert Eagle. Hey what's the big deal? They're both produced by IMI, used by the Israeli army, and have a gas blow-back design. But of course the gun nuts and players of modern-setting RPG would scream bloody murder. One is a pistol and one is a rifle. Well there's even more differences between a falchion (1-handed European sword) and a scimitar. Somehow this is OK?

Diablo II (CRPG) got it right but D&D 3.x can't? I can only hope and pray that 4th edition will not continue this downward spiral.