Wither the cutlass?

[Snapdragyn]

Does anyone know of a 3.5 source for the cutlass? I have a character wielding one in a campaign that's (finally!) updating to 3.5, & would like a source to show the DM since he's tightening rules a bit with the conversion. I'd previously sourced it from a 3.0 book owned by someone else in the campaign (don't recall which book).

 

[Sammael]

In 3.0, the cutlass appeared in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting as a separate weapon (with a bonus against disarm attempts, IIRC). AFAIK, it hasn't been "converted" to 3.5 yet, but the lates book that I have that mentions it is the Arms and Equipment Guide, which lists "cutlass" as being equivalent to scimitar.

 

[reanjr]

Does anyone know of a 3.5 source for the cutlass? I have a character wielding one in a campaign that's (finally!) updating to 3.5, & would like a source to show the DM since he's tightening rules a bit with the conversion. I'd previously sourced it from a 3.0 book owned by someone else in the campaign (don't recall which book).

If you go outside of Wizards, Kingdoms of Kalamar: Salt and Seadogs and the Kingdoms of Kalamar DM Shield both have it. I'm pretty sure it's a slashing shortsword.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Mechanically, the cutlass and the sabre are both equivalent to the scimitar. (Though you might also give a cutlass wielder the option of making a gauntlet-style punch with the hand guard, if he wants.)

But there's no real need for a totally seperate weapon listing. In the abstract combat of D&D, all these curve-bladed weapons are more or less the same.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

In my "X Marks the Spot" pirate article in Dragon 318, there are 3.5 statistics for both the cutlass and the hook.

 

[Snapdragyn]

Well, we likely misinterpreted this, but based on what we'd seen in that other player's book (I believe it was FRCS now that I think about it), we'd thought the cutlass was a light weapon. This was rather crucial to the current char build, as I've taken Weapon Focus (cutlass) with the idea that I can duel-wield them at only a -2 (TWF + light (we thought?) weapons). If cutlass is, in fact, a one-handed weapon (as scimitar is), then I'm going to need to switch to a dagger in offhand (need slashing weapons for a feat I'm planning, Snowflake Wardance from FB).

Also, based on what we'd pulled from FRCS, cutlass was slashing & piercing, making it superior to scimitar when fighting underwater.

Edit: THANK YOU, Mr. Brunner! Whee, duel-cutlass-wielding bard/rogue/swashbuckler/warchanter -- AAARGH in the key of G-major as he wardances around the tavern!

 

[Will]

Mechanically, I would treat a cutlass as a short sword. Maybe provide a bludgeoning gauntlet-like damage by 'punching' with the guard, if you really wanted.

Then again, I'd probably allow a number of light weapons to be used that way for, oh, +5 or +10 gp on base price. For the cost of a more elaborate guard.

 

[Jolly Giant]

I can't remember where I saw it, but it was a WotC book... It listed the cutlass as identical to scimitar, except the hand-guard gave a +2 bonus against disarm attempts. That's how we've used it in our current pirate campaign...

 

[Voadam]

FRCS it was its own weapon.

In Sword and Fist it was covered by scimitar proficiency and had no mechanical differences.

I would check Complete Warrior to see if there was a 3.5 conversion or the conversion documents.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Here's an abbrievated (flavor-text wise) version that appeared in Goods and Gear: the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide.

PDF preview is here.

Long associated with the ocean, the cutlass is a shorter iron sword with a curved, single-edged blade and a half-basket hilt...

Martial Weapon: One-Handed
Cutlass
Region/User: Any
Cost: 12 gp
Damage (S): 1d6
Damage (M): 1d8
Critical: x2
Range: -
Weight: 2 lb.
Slashing