Weapon check...

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For all you fans of 2-handers, let me remind you all that a katana deals as much damage as a 2 handed sword, has a lower speed factor which gets the job done quicker and you can even dual wield it with something else for more attacks a turn!
Or use a shield for a lower AC and better protection.

 

Which in short is a load of crap. A 2H sword is heavier thus it should do more damage. A Katana is by defination a long sword. It is true that most Katanas would be 'weapons of quality' but that is another matter all to gether.

The problem is that too many people have the romance with the eastern fighting style. A properly make Katana is a better weapon than a normal long sword, but you are talking about the 'high quality' ones. D&D in 3E was masterwork weapons to reflect this fact. But the price should also be take into accound that fact that a real katana takes years to make. Let's keep you propective here folks.

 

And aren't Katana's actually supposed to be 2-handed weapons ? Or at least swords too heavy to dual-wield properly ?

 

Yes, and it's not surprising that people are taken in by Oriental fighting styles. The grace, the beauty, and yet the utter deadliness.

Contrast this to crude European fighting styles and their unwashed diseased fighters (the pox).


P.S, j/k!

 

I like my crude, lumbering fighting style, thank you very much!

Seriously though...Since starting Tang Soo Do 9 months ago, I have to admit, oriental fighting styles in general tend to be much more graceful than the western fighting traditions...

And having held both a bastard sword and a katana in hand, I would say the katana is a sleeker, more elegant weapon...But a bastard sword just feels nice and heavy in my hands...Ready to cleave someone (or something in two!)

Thus, I stick with what I know best...

 

Hmm, actually I think a bastard sword is not bad. Quite good actually.

 

You are all missing the point!

Darien, anybody.

 

I think it's the bastard in bastard sword which makes me like it.

 

ahh, but when it is the lady's job that gets done quicker...

 

Oh good lord!

*thinks to herself that quicker is NEVER better*

[This message has been edited by Darien Noella (edited March 23, 2001).]

 

Weirdness!

 

It's ALL weird!

 

*rereads Shura's opening post and blushes at the image*

 

Blast yer fine swords. There be nothing better than a good solid crossbow in yer hands, string humming with the tension almost at breaking point. Except perhaps the weight of a good honest forge hammer as ye heft it at a foeman's skull!

 

Shura is laughing at all you two-handed fans.
And I agree!

Truthfully, I think that my favorite medieval weapon is the glaive. Yes, it is an Eastern weapon (I believe it's from Korea). It's simply a bo staff (or a jo staff) with an eight inch dagger blade at the top. Fast enough that the rattan shaft could shatter your skull, and nice for disemboweling as well.

But my favorite bladed weapon is the English Short Sword. It's generally a rapier with a shorter and wider blade.

 

Don't forget the dual wielding....

 

Let's not forget about the durability of the weapons.

A common katana is VERY hard to break, due to the hundreds and hundreds (literally) of alternating metal layers. Medieval western weapons, on the other hand, could be shattered if they did not make contact with an armored target correctly.

I'm not speaking of the high-quality weapons in either case. I'm talking about the weapons that a common foot soldier would have used.


[This message has been edited by Playa hata (edited March 24, 2001).]

 

A katana used by common foot-soldiers?? Forgive my ignorance but I thought they were Samurai only - obviously I need to know more about feudal Japan, or Kara-Tur. Anyway, I don't care for elegance or grace so long as the job gets done. Heck, I'd take a machine gun down a dungeon if I had one.