What is the Best Weapon?

[Edena_of_Neith]

We know that the quality of weapons evolved from bronze to iron to iron and steel to steel.
Likewise, armor evolved into heavily and harder versions.
Historys' battles are full of attempts to use the right weapon to defeat the defense, and the defense was always changing.

I have heard that the medieval sword was primarily a hacking weapon. If it couldn't penetrate the opponents' mail, it could stove his ribs in. A blunt hit to the head might not decapitate a foe, but turning his head into a spewing mess still got the job done.
Then they came up with pikes, and long bows, and steel weapons, and as mentioned the arms race was on. Results varied. Longbows slaughtered the French Knights in Normandy. Swiss pikemen defeated their German opponents.

But this is Dungeons and Dragons. And here we have a variety of cultures, and each one has a different level of technology.
Some can build steel weapons. But some can only build iron weapons bearded with steel. Some can only build iron weapons. Some can only build bronze weapons. Some can only build weapons out of copper, or even wood or stone.
Some cultures make the best of armor (the maximillian stuff.) Some make pretty poor armor, if they make it at all.

So each nation and city state and culture and whatever, must determine the best weapon it can produce, consider the opponents it faces.
What is that Best Weapon?

For example, the Hylar of Thorbardin can build weapons of fine steel, plate armor of fine steel, and ride horses. They tend to fight draconians a lot. What is the best weapon for them, against draconians?
The people of Estwilde can build weapons of iron, wear mail of iron, and tend to fight mounted Solamnic Knights. What is their best weapon against them?
The Elves of Evermeet can build weapons of fine steel, and tend to wear mail of fine steel. They often fight on ships to protect their island home. They face pirates, sea monsters, sea races, and the occasional human invasion by sea. What are their best weapons?
The Halflings of the Chondalwood can build weapons of bronze (I believe) and do not tend to wear much in the way of armor. They face human enemies on all sides, and maurading monsters. What are their best weapons?
The hapless warriors of Nyrond must use and wear second-hand equipment, which may or may not be of steel and may or may not be in usable shape (the kingdom is broke.) They face demons, devils, monster mauraders, and human mauraders. What are their best weapons?

The best weapon is not typically made out of the best material available. Nor is it necessarily the most advanced design, since the culture cannot produce it.
Netheril could produce 10th and 11th level spells, but it could not produce anything made out of iron for an extremely long time.
The Dwarves of Thorin could produce iron weapons and good iron mail when their neighbors were still waving copper swords around and wore no armor whatsoever.
The Halflings of Luiren must face adamantine weapons given to their enemy Dambrath by the drow.
The Knights of Keoland had to face down giants invading in force. Rel Astra has had to face endless brigand attacks. Tehn is overrun by howling barbarians great in strength but not necessarily carrying very advanced weapons.

So ok, why is your typical elven longsword, your typical elven longsword? Why do they favor that weapon? Why are they limited to steel in sword production? (why don't they make swords out of mithril? Or, am I mistaken, and they actually can only make iron weapons?)
Why do dwarves favor battleaxes? Why not pole arms? Why not crossbows?
Why do the Knights of Solamnia favor the lance? (nevermind the honor thing, and nevermind the dragonlance.)
Why don't the Orcs of the Faerunian North favor the longbow? Given their numbers, massed archers would serve them much better than blindly charging entrenched foes.
What kind of weapon is the best kind of weapon for the hapless halfling? (expecially those from realms that have little or no skill in weaponsmithing.)
If the drow have weapons of adamantite, the hardest and heaviest known substance, why don't they wield battle axes and morning stars?

The armor and weapons particular to a culture, and the composition of those weapons and armor, help define cultures in the warlike settings of Dungeons and Dragons.

Just food for thought.

Edena_of_Neith

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

What?

 

[Oberyn]

Brilliant article, most of the time when things dont make sense they try and say its either tradition or thier best fighting style or them not being able to fight as effectivly with heavier weapons. frankly i love this article and might give it to all my players just to make them think.

 

[Siochain]

Well written And something I'll need to think about before I get a good response back - but an interesting topic for sure!

 

[diaglo]

the charcoal stick, the quill, the pencil, the pen...

all of them are mightier than the sword.

edit: but obviously the best weapon is a sharp mind.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I once read an article that discussed weapon (offensive) technology was in direct relationship to armor (defensive) technology, stating that the level of weapon was designed to overcome the level of armor. I think this is why you really can't compare weapon vs weapon unless it is from the same period for the same purpose.

 

[Driddle]

the charcoal stick, the quill, the pencil, the pen...

all of them are mightier than the sword.

edit: but obviously the best weapon is a sharp mind.

Such a rapier wit.

Hmmm. ... Rapier, of course!

 

[NewJeffCT]

We know that the quality of weapons evolved from bronze to iron to iron and steel to steel.
Likewise, armor evolved into heavily and harder versions.
Historys' battles are full of attempts to use the right weapon to defeat the defense, and the defense was always changing.
<snip>
So each nation and city state and culture and whatever, must determine the best weapon it can produce, consider the opponents it faces.
What is that Best Weapon?

The best weapon is not typically made out of the best material available. Nor is it necessarily the most advanced design, since the culture cannot produce it.
Netheril could produce 10th and 11th level spells, but it could not produce anything made out of iron for an extremely long time.
The Dwarves of Thorin could produce iron weapons and good iron mail when their neighbors were still waving copper swords around and wore no armor whatsoever.
The Halflings of Luiren must face adamantine weapons given to their enemy Dambrath by the drow.
The Knights of Keoland had to face down giants invading in force. Rel Astra has had to face endless brigand attacks. Tehn is overrun by howling barbarians great in strength but not necessarily carrying very advanced weapons.

So ok, why is your typical elven longsword, your typical elven longsword? Why do they favor that weapon? Why are they limited to steel in sword production? (why don't they make swords out of mithril? Or, am I mistaken, and they actually can only make iron weapons?)
Why do dwarves favor battleaxes? Why not pole arms? Why not crossbows?
Why do the Knights of Solamnia favor the lance? (nevermind the honor thing, and nevermind the dragonlance.)
Why don't the Orcs of the Faerunian North favor the longbow? Given their numbers, massed archers would serve them much better than blindly charging entrenched foes.
What kind of weapon is the best kind of weapon for the hapless halfling? (expecially those from realms that have little or no skill in weaponsmithing.)
If the drow have weapons of adamantite, the hardest and heaviest known substance, why don't they wield battle axes and morning stars?

The armor and weapons particular to a culture, and the composition of those weapons and armor, help define cultures in the warlike settings of Dungeons and Dragons.

Just food for thought.

Edena_of_Neith

Good post. I think somethings stay with cultures out of tradition – the elven long sword and long bow, for example. However, if the elven kingdom was suddenly threatened by a massive hobgoblin empire featuring a lot of heavily armored mounted hobgoblins with lances, I would suspect that in addition to fighting them with the long bow, the elves with adapt and learn to use the pike as well.

Pikes did not suddenly come around with the Swiss in the Late Medieval Era, or from William Wallace. They were used in ancient times by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great to great effect. The Macedonian phalanx with pikes was one of the most feared offensive forces in those times. However, their big weakness was in preparation time. It literally took hours for thousands of Macedonian pikemen to get in proper formation. When Rome was rising, they basically defeated the Macedonian pikemen this way. If I recall, both sides were somewhat surprised, but the more adaptable Roman legionnaire was able to prepare for battle much quicker, and their smaller units were more able to work much more independently than a huge phalanx of pikemen… so, some of the Roman infantry just circled around back of the Macedonians and literally slaughtered them like sheep. The Macedonians were so forward focused that they could not easily swing their pikes around and face the new threat from behind…to swing a pike around if you are in formation involves dropping the pike, turning around, then picking the pike up and then turning it around. Not easy to do with Roman legionnaires hacking up your compatriots.

Thus, the pike was gone from the battlefields of Europe for a good 1,500 years. It did not make a comeback until the really heavy fully-plated knight came onto the battlefield with extra long lances. They wielded longer lances that allowed the knights to get in the first strike against set spear-armed infantry that had normally been able to stand up to older style heavy cavalry with shorter lances. Thus came the need for longer spears – or pikes. And, voila, pikes are back on the battlefields of Europe. The return of the pike the rise of gunpowder weapons around the same time basically led to the demise of the heavy knight. In the 1,500 or so years in between, the pike was not needed on the battlefields of Europe.

That being said, a good general will adapt if they want their troops and their nation to survive. If Halflings are fighting drow armed with adamantite weapons and armor, they will have to adapt or be destroyed. It is possible that adapting could mean moving to a safe haven as well.

 

[Umbran]

to swing a pike around if you are in formation involves dropping the pike, turning around, then picking the pike up and then turning it around. Not easy to do with Roman legionnaires hacking up your compatriots.

That sounds... wrong. There's no reason to drop the weapon.

You point the pike skywards, pivot around, and then lower the point again. This should be reasonably quick. Your hands never leave the weapon, and you don't have to turn the weapon around.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(look of gratitude)

Thank you for the compliments.

I really just hope there is a lot of commentary on this thread.
I mean, we have so many different cultures in the D&D settings, and they all feature their own weapons, armor, and differing levels of metallurgy.