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Why a rapier is bad for an adventurer
- Thread starter Quartz
- Start date
A lot of weapons in D&D have the stats they have because of the history of D&D more than any serious consideration of the weapons.
Bows for instance do damage based on the draw weight of the bow and the weight of the arrow. If D&D was real then the weapons the adventures would use would vary with the campaign style and themes.
Dungeon heavy campaigns, or with a lot of fighting in confined spaces would use shorter weapons and shorter bows. A longbow is a very awkward thing to use in small spaces.
The rapier developed out of the arming sword due in no small part to the rather fractious nature of Italian street politics.
As it evolved into a duelling weapon it eventually ended up as the small sword.
Honestly, I hate the rapier. Part of it is the name (why not rename it to, um, the canol-ier?). Part of it is because in 5e, it was the dexterity weapon of choice, and there were more rapiers in 5e than longswords in 1e.
Speaking of names, we should bring back the Bastard Sword. Maybe call it the Illegitimate Offspring of a Paramour Sword. Has a ring to it.
MGibster
Legend
When we played 2nd edition, every barkeep in every tavern kept a sawed off bastard sword behind the bar.
There was I time when I could tell you where the word rapier came from and now I cannot, at least not without looking it up.
The bastard sword was as far as I know a D&D name for the longsword with the regular knightly sidearm being what is nowadays referred to as an arming sword.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Rapiers look cool. If you're a swashbuckler or a bard, that's a large part of what you want a weapon to do.
As if I needed more reason to hate them.
Rapiers and bards go together like vaping and that guy in the fedora who wants to tell you about NFTs.
I was thinking more of Errol Flynn.
Yeah, the AD&D books weren't super-accurate about the weapons. There was many an early cleric that used the Lucern Hammer.
I wrote a short essay a while back about how a simple mistake in weapons and history is the reason that scimitar (?!?) ended up being an iconic druid weapon.
D&D General - Druids and Path Dependency: Why the Scimitar Helps Illuminate D&D
In another thread, people are having a great discussion about what, exactly, a D&D (5e) scimitar really is. Like many D&Disms, the inclusion of scimitars is ... well, it's certainly a choice. But reading the thread, I saw a great comment by @Gradine ... They're swords that druids can use I...
www.enworld.org
Warpiglet-7
Lord of the depths
There are many reasons I like str more than dex and one of them is that I never want to be tempted to use a rapier.
In fact, I would use a s d6 shortsword well before a rapier.
I read something about the advantages of the Gladius recently and durability was one of them.
I get people like them but l like any weapon more. Logical? Maybe not. It’s one time when I prefer a d6 to a d8 and will eat that one point per strike every time just to imagine something cooler.
In fact, I would use a s d6 shortsword well before a rapier.
I read something about the advantages of the Gladius recently and durability was one of them.
I get people like them but l like any weapon more. Logical? Maybe not. It’s one time when I prefer a d6 to a d8 and will eat that one point per strike every time just to imagine something cooler.
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