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<blockquote data-quote="JohnSnow" data-source="post: 4070633" data-attributes="member: 32164">Well, from what I've learned in my study of European Martial Arts, an estoc is more like an iron bar with a point. 'Sidesword' is a recently-coined &quot;calque&quot; (a direct English translation) of the Italian spada da lato. Which was the term actually used in England during the 15th and 16th centuries for the sword that was the precursor to the so-called &quot;true rapier.&quot;The sidesword was a direct descendent of the arming sword (what D&amp;D calls a &quot;longsword&quot;) and both coexisted with both the longsword (what D&amp;D calls a bastard sword) and the greatsword.Confusing matters are the shortsword, which D&amp;D actually got right, and the Backsword (a single edged heavy combat sword), which D&amp;D doesn't really touch on at all. And don't even get me started on the smallsword (which is far too late for D&amp;D).Hopefully, they'll keep rapier a more generic term to represent the entire category of light and quick cut-and-thrust swords. For example, if you make a rapier a light blade that does damage like a (D&amp;D) longsword, that's probably an improvement worth spending a feat (like &quot;fighter training&quot;) to get.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JohnSnow, post: 4070633, member: 32164"] Well, from what I've learned in my study of European Martial Arts, an estoc is more like an iron bar with a point. 'Sidesword' is a recently-coined "calque" (a direct English translation) of the Italian [i]spada da lato.[/i] Which was the term actually used in England during the 15th and 16th centuries for the sword that was the precursor to the so-called "true rapier." The sidesword was a direct descendent of the arming sword (what D&D calls a "longsword") and both coexisted with both the longsword (what D&D calls a bastard sword) and the greatsword. Confusing matters are the shortsword, which D&D actually got right, and the Backsword (a single edged heavy combat sword), which D&D doesn't really touch on at all. And don't even get me started on the smallsword (which is far too late for D&D). Hopefully, they'll keep rapier a more generic term to represent the entire category of light and quick cut-and-thrust swords. For example, if you make a rapier a light blade that does damage like a (D&D) longsword, that's probably an improvement worth spending a feat (like "fighter training") to get. [/QUOTE]

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