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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TimSmith" data-source="post: 2099752" data-attributes="member: 10322">The fencing angleAs an experienced fencer (but sadly less fit than when I was younger and had more time to train before starting our family), I can chime in with some observations.In fencing, muscular strength IS important, but not in the way you are thinking of. It is more to do with endurance to keep going and also strength in the legs to lunge swiftly. So, my arm might get tired quicker when holding my epee/rapier out in a forward guard position if my strength is less, BUT my accuracy of attack is not affected at all (unless I am too tired to continue to fence well due to my endurance waning). Most D&D fights are over well before I would be too tired to fence properly, at 6 seconds per round.So, if my accuracy is not improved by brute STR (as opposed to lithe DEX strength), is my attack harder to parry if I am a very strong fencer? The answer is "not at all" because a skillful parry does not rely on opposition to the opponents blade, but deflecting it. (This is made even more effective because you ideally parry the top third of their blade with the bottom third of yours, so you have superior leverage). Admittedly, their are maneuvers which use opposition in both attack and defence (especially in epee) but these still rely on leverage, not strength. Arnold Shwarzenegger could not successfully avoid his blade being easily parried in this way by a 10 year old child (as long as they did it right).Now obviously this depends on the style of swordplay. Others have spoken eloquently of their Kendo experiences. I wouldn't fancy trying to parry a Katana with my epee, but with training in the appropriate techniques I am sure the appropriate deflection parries, feints, or even just keeping out of the way whilst waiting for the right moment to strike could work.To answer the original question, though, I am for keeping things as they are, even if one sometimes wonders. As others have said, the strength helps you get through the armour, which is represented abstractly as AC score. As for weapon finesse requiring a feat to use the fencing type of style , whereas plain bashing away doesn't, I think that is correct. After all, the intuitive untrained type of fighting is beating at the other. Strength IS more important there. If you want to learn sneaky combat maneuvers letting you use your DEX, you need to learn Weapon Finesse. General skill and experience at fighting is represented already in the Base Attack Bonus too, lets not forget. THAT doesn't require good strength and will be quite significant for fighter types, such that a skilled fighter will be  better at hitting than an equally strong rogue, for example. That should probably take care of the skill vs strength argument anyway!</blockquote>

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