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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dorian_Grey" data-source="post: 7150174" data-attributes="member: 6801878">I disagree on the speed factor. If I have a dagger and can hit you, then I'm close enough to you that your long sword is no longer an effective weapon. To better represent that we would need to break out ranges to "Grapple", "Arms Length" and "Reach (5' to 10')" for melee combat. Grappling would represent shield locking or smashing, but would require shorter weapons to be effective. You can use the hilt of a longsword at such range, but you're probably not going to effectively be swinging the blade. Arms length is where your sword duels take place. Reach is for polearms/spears.Even ignoring range and reach, speed factor is still important in these situations. This is for 2e of course, but could easily apply to 5th edition. For example:Raf the Fighter has responded to an alarm bell. Orcs are storming the castle! He enters the hallway and sees an orcish assassin attempting to cause mischief. His sword in hand he yells out something brave and courageous and attacks. There is no surprise as the assassin was pretty far away and the hallway is well lit. Raf also made a bunch of noise opening doors and such. Rolling for initiative, Raf gets a 4 + 5 for his longsword or 9 total. The orc roles a 5 and is wielding a dagger in each hand. The dagger speed factor is 2. The orc throws his dagger on 7 and can throw the second one on 9. So Raf is closing while the Orc holds his ground and throws both daggers. One hits and one misses (for arguments sake). The second one flies past his head as he ducks to the side and strikes at the orc causing some damage. Enraged the Orc draws a new dagger and jumps forward as well. In close combat the orc stabs again on 7 causing Raf to grunt in pain and begin to panic! He needs to break away to use his sword! Raf manages to twist out of the hold and shove the orc back a step before swinging his sword. The orc manages to block the blade and closes in again.Now, add reach into that scenario. The orc is on top of Raf using a weapon that is effective in that situation. Raf would need to constantly assert space to use his long sword. In terms of simple easy rules? Not sure yet, but I'm working on it!</blockquote>

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