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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 687332" data-attributes="member: 2020">The sword.  In various incarnations, one of History's more popular weapons.    Anyone who has seen Apocolypse Now, or who has worked in a slaughterhouse, knows one of the primary ways in which a sword does it's work.  Early swords were made of bronze.  They had a bad tendency to bend, after being used to whack someone.  Then, they had to be straightened out (as one might straighten out a bent metal device by hand) so they would be useful once more.  Then they started making swords out of iron.  They made swords out of iron, for over a thousand years.  Iron swords, tended to be blunt.  Against an unarmored person - against weak, soft human flesh - they made excellent meat cleavers.  Against a foe armored in mail, they operated as crushing instruments.  So, bigger swords were better.  Nothing quite like stoving in the ribs of an opponent to puncture lungs or lacerate the heart, no?  Against a foe in plate armor, such iron swords weren't so effective.  They tended to clang right off heavy armor (so, they invented heavy pole arm weapons, and axes, and longbows, to take care of armored foes.)  Later on yet, they bearded iron swords with steel edges, and eventually they made crude steel swords ... then they made very fine steel swords.  Better for chopping people up like one would chop up live meat in a slaughterhouse.  Eventually, it would appear, they gave up on the concept of chopping flesh apart, and concentrated on stabbing through it ... thus we gained the rapier, the foil, and the saber.  Whatever ...  Take a good steel sword, and use it to whack at a hedge.  Probably, it would make a crude but effective hedge-trimmer (electric ones would be better.)  Take a good steel sword, and hit an interior building door with it.  You will have a ruined door (but I prefer the golf club used in Caddy Shack, if I must ruin interior doors.)  Now, take your steel sword, and whack a pine tree with it.  You'll make some cuts in the wood, and have a ruined sword for your efforts (better hope that pine tree is not an Ent, too.)  Take your steel sword, and whack an oak tree with it.  You'll scratch the bark.  And have a blunted, probably ruined weapon, for the trouble.  Try to hit soft stone, such as limestone.  CLANG!  Time to resharpen the sword.  Try to hit granite.  CLANG.  You now have a bent and ruined piece of steel.  Better yet, try to whack a modern I-beam with a steel sword.  You will not even scratch the I-beam, but you will destroy your sword.  How quickly you destroy your sword, depends on how quickly you get the message that swords will not damage I-beams.  All of which is applicable to the dungeon experience.  Dungeon floors and walls are often made of hard stone.  Dungeon doors are usually made of hardwood, reinforced by iron.  And opponents are usually armored.  Some opponents, are sheathed in armor as hard, truly, as any I-beam (such as a mature dragon of any type.)  - - -  But LO ... you have a + 1 long sword.  A nice, 3 1/2 foot long weapon, made of superior grade steel (Toledo quality steel or better), which has this enchantment on it that, among other things, lets you whack wraiths, spectres, and other + 1 or better to hit beasties.  + 1 long swords must be one of the most popular, and common, weapons in D&D.  Well, fine.  But what does the + 1 mean, other than it increases your BAB by 1, and your damage per attack by 1?  (Against those guys that do hundreds of points of damage per round, that seems rather insignificant.)  What can a + 1 sword do, against mail, that a normal steel weapon cannot?  What will it do against plate armor?  What about interior decorating and interior doors?  What about pinewood, and oakwood?  What about sandstone, and granite?  What about I-beams, and Dragonarmor?  What is your take on this?  For that matter, what does a + 2 sword do, in addition to what a + 1 sword does?  Where does the + 3 chime in, in importance?  Why are + 4 weapons (like Sting or Glamdring) so special?  What makes a + 5 weapon such a supreme affair? (any fighter worth his salt can dish out an extra 5 points of damage per strike, at higher levels.)  Why is the + so special?  I have my take on this matter.  But what is yours?</blockquote>

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