dreaded_beast said:
"Hassan chop!" (Well if you get this reference, it was probably a falchion)
AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Sorry, dreaded_beast, this isn't your fault. It's whoever decided how to name the weapons in 3E.
A falchion
is not a two-handed scimitar!! I don't know
why they decided to use that name, but it's no more accurate than calling a greatsword a "switchblade."
Historically, a two-handed scimitar is called... a scimitar. Or perhaps a two-handed scimitar.
A falchion is a sword sharp on one side, blunt on the other. Some are curved, and look somewhat like scimitars. Some are straight, and look more like cleavers. More importantly, the falchion was a
western European weapon. Not Middle Eastern, like the scimitar. You wouldn't see a guy on camel-back wielding one, but it would have been perfectly at home at the waist of a knight.
Again, not screaming at you; as you say, you got your info from D&D. I just really want to know why the heck Monte, Skip, and Jonathan--especially after fixing so many weapon mistakes from 2E, like the silly notion that crossbows do less damage than longbows--had to go and introduce all new ones.