Talk:Weapon Alternatives (5e Other)

I think the distinction of whether a blade is curved or not matters a great deal. A curved blade is designed to kill by slashing; a straight blade is designed to kill by thrusting. Technically, the odachi/nodachi doesn't fit into a pre-existing category here, because there are no two-handed slashing weapons in the core book. (Which is, I think, an absolute shame.) --Kydo (talk) 02:35, 17 July 2016 (MDT)

Um. The greatsword is a two-handed slashing weapon.

Most straight-edged swords were cut-and-thrust [1]. Many bastard swords had blunt tips and were only used for slashing, and as far as I can tell larger swords were only swung. Marasmusine (talk) 03:37, 17 July 2016 (MDT)

Huh! I've looked at that item like a million times now and always "seen" piercing! Interesting! Yes. Particularly large swords were only swung. The only instances I've ever read of a great sword being used to stab, refer only to very long ones which were being used in a role similar to a spear, and even those only appeared shortly before the rise of gunpowder, rendering them irrelevant. Bastard sword was just a late medieval or renaissance description for a long sword. It was still primarily a thrusting weapon, like any medieval European straight sword born from the siege warfare arms race. --Kydo (talk) 09:02, 17 July 2016 (MDT)

I have protected the page to autoconfirmed status for 1 week so I will not be engaged in an edit war. If you would like to discuss the bastard sword entry, please do so here, but don't just remove content because you disagree with it without saying anything. --Kydo (talk) 13:37, 14 December 2016 (MST)

Karambit?

in my opininion the gadder section could use a karambit, in my opinion it would just have to be a dagger with slashing instead of piercing

It does make sense that a Karambit would be a dagger, but I don't think it would have to be slashing. As most daggers, a Karambit can slash or cut, but its curved, short blade make it a lot better at piercing. Some Karambit techniques involve hooking around joints and cutting tendons or arteries, but a Karambit can do the most damage when used as a tiny war pick. Suracha (talk) 04:48, 20 January 2021 (MST)

Small sword

A small sword is not a short sword derivative, it'd be better suited to being a rapier variant as that is the weapon it descended from.

Agreed, same with the side sword and Walloon sword. Many of the weapons in the Shortsword category seem misplaced. Arming swords are more similar to D&D longswords, as are basket-hilted swords or broadswords, which are one and the same (with Sinclair/Schiavona and back sword referring to specific hilts and blades for this type of sword, respectively), while chokutou are basically the same size as a katana, but straight-edged. The Khyber knife is pushing it a bit, but it could be seen as a shortsword; the katar, however, is a dagger. It's even described as a dagger in the page. If anything, I believe the only weapons that should remain in this category are the Xiphos and Gladius, which are quintessential shortswords, as well as the Katzbalger and Wakizashi for regional flexibility. There is no shortage of real, historical shortswords - Cinquedea, Baselard, even a particularly long dirk or a Langseax. No point in adding weapons from other categories to the list. Suracha (talk) 04:48, 20 January 2021 (MST)

A Few Notes

A backsword is much more suited as a rapier than a shortsword. A "basket-hilt sword" is not a more technical term for a shortsword as many blades without basket hilts could be called short swords. A broad sword (more specifically scottish broadswords) would encompass a mortuary sword and basket-hilt sword. If the katar is a "push dagger" why is it categorized under the shortsword category? I'm tempted to say a sidesword is more akin to a rapier, but it's honestly a transition between an arming sword and rapier. Sinclair is a hilt design and was sometimes mounted on curved blades, making the "sinclair" a tad redundant to put in the shortsword category. A "flanged mace" seems more akin to a morningstar than a warhammer.

PunnyDM12 (talk) 17:09, 19 November 2018 (MST)

Wakizashi

I think a wakizashi should be listed as a scimitar variant as opposed to a shortsword variant. From my understanding of the statistics, a scimitar and a shortsword are effectively identical aside from damage type (and likely weight): both have the light and finesse properties, and both deal 1d6 damage; the scimitar deals slashing and the shortsword piercing. Unless my knowledge is lacking, I believe a wakizashi is more often used for cutting rather than thrusting, so I would expect it to deal slashing damage, like a scimitar. - Alice-chan (talk) 14:58, 27 December 2018 (MST)

This is honestly perfectly fair and accurate. Suracha (talk) 04:48, 20 January 2021 (MST)