Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
What, exactly, is a 5e "scimitar"?
Because the word "scimitar" means the same thing as a "sword", there are many different kinds of scimitars.
Where European swords tended to be double-edged and straight, some Central Asian swords were single-edged and curved. Horse riders introduced their to elsewhere outside of Central Asia. Eventually, Europeans came to use the term "scimitar" for any kind of curved blade. There are many different kinds. But medieval Europeans mainly encountered only one kind of scimitar, the one used by the Turkic or Mongel horse riders from Central Asia.
What kind of "scimitar" the 5e Weapons Table is statting is less clear. Its d6 damage, and finesse and light properties, suggest a small weapon, like a shortsword, about the bladelength of ones forearm.
However.
In a medievalesque context, from the 1200s onward, the term "scimitar" especially refers to the long sabers that the cavalries of Mongols or Turkics used. But this is a kind of longsword, and not at all what the 5e Weapons Table is describing.
For bladelengths, I find the Japanese unit of measurement most useful and most convenient (coincidentally about a foot or 30 cm).
• 1 foot or less = knife
• 1-2 feet (12-24 inches) = shortsword
• 2-3 feet (24-36 inches) = sword
• 3-4 feet (36-48 inches) = longsword
• 4 feet or more = crazy long
The scimitars that the Central Asian cavalries wield are between 30 inches and 40 inches. In other words, the "scimitar" is comparable to a "normal" knightly sword or else a longsword. The longer length helps reach from horseback.
But this sword-or-longsword isnt at all what the 5e Weapons Table is statting.
What is the Weapons Table statting?
Because the word "scimitar" means the same thing as a "sword", there are many different kinds of scimitars.
Where European swords tended to be double-edged and straight, some Central Asian swords were single-edged and curved. Horse riders introduced their to elsewhere outside of Central Asia. Eventually, Europeans came to use the term "scimitar" for any kind of curved blade. There are many different kinds. But medieval Europeans mainly encountered only one kind of scimitar, the one used by the Turkic or Mongel horse riders from Central Asia.
What kind of "scimitar" the 5e Weapons Table is statting is less clear. Its d6 damage, and finesse and light properties, suggest a small weapon, like a shortsword, about the bladelength of ones forearm.
However.
In a medievalesque context, from the 1200s onward, the term "scimitar" especially refers to the long sabers that the cavalries of Mongols or Turkics used. But this is a kind of longsword, and not at all what the 5e Weapons Table is describing.
For bladelengths, I find the Japanese unit of measurement most useful and most convenient (coincidentally about a foot or 30 cm).
• 1 foot or less = knife
• 1-2 feet (12-24 inches) = shortsword
• 2-3 feet (24-36 inches) = sword
• 3-4 feet (36-48 inches) = longsword
• 4 feet or more = crazy long
The scimitars that the Central Asian cavalries wield are between 30 inches and 40 inches. In other words, the "scimitar" is comparable to a "normal" knightly sword or else a longsword. The longer length helps reach from horseback.
But this sword-or-longsword isnt at all what the 5e Weapons Table is statting.
What is the Weapons Table statting?
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