I want to make a fishmonger NPC who dual-wields one of these in one hand and a frozen haddock in the other.
It's interesting - the whippy, flexible blade and lack of a stabbing point make me think it would be a terrible sword, but if you were in the mob, it would be a good terror weapon, something the Thieves' Guild would use on informants (like chainsaws in Miami back in the 80's). It can't go through bone (it's designed not to) so you're not going to kill anyone right away, just slowly fillet them into a bloody mess.
Speaking of tool/weapons. Anyone who isn't familiar with a maguro bōchō (japanese tuna "knife") should give it a quick Google.
This gets comically close to how the Langmesser came to be. "Tis not a sword. That would be illegal for me, a commoner to own. 'Tis but a knife!"
There is a long history (which continues today) of trying to evade weapons restrictions via semantics. How well it worked depended on how much the people enforcing the law actually cared about the letter of the law vs the intent (try it in a LE hobgoblin camp it might work, in a CE orc camp it would fail).
I want to make a fishmonger NPC who dual-wields one of these in one hand and a frozen haddock in the other.
It's interesting - the whippy, flexible blade and lack of a stabbing point make me think it would be a terrible sword, but if you were in the mob, it would be a good terror weapon, something the Thieves' Guild would use on informants (like chainsaws in Miami back in the 80's). It can't go through bone (it's designed not to) so you're not going to kill anyone right away, just slowly fillet them into a bloody mess.
Whether or not they could, not many weapons were intended to go through bone, as that would likely damage the sword. Bludgeoning weapons, including heavier swords, were intended to crush/break bone, while lighter weapons were designed to pierce and slice flesh/arteries. So, while more flexible than a traditional sword, the Maguro Bocho, would be perfectly useable as a sword against fleshy opponents. There would just need to be some changes to technique to use it effectively.
Note: The Maguro Bocho most closely resembles a Ninjato, which has a straight edge, as opposed to the curved katana.
Speaking of tool/weapons. Anyone who isn't familiar with a maguro bōchō (japanese tuna "knife") should give it a quick Google.
This gets comically close to how the Langmesser came to be. "Tis not a sword. That would be illegal for me, a commoner to own. 'Tis but a knife!"
It wasn’t illegal for folks to have a sword, in fact they were required to by law, and to practice with it in case the town needed to levy for defense.
But the swordmakers guild basically had a monopoly on things (price fixing, etc) and a PR machine that a sword made by anyone else was crap, so the folks who didn’t want to pay them dues instead sold Messers that were not subjects to the swormakwrs’ guild’s crap, and were “as good as any sword!” 😉 (And most of the blades were actually manufactured by the swormakers and then sold wholesale to the knifemakers’ guild.)
A woodsman’s axe is not necessarily just a tool in my thinking. Woodsmen and hunters were the individuals who mythically left the trails and would come back with the stories. They carried with them some mystique, like the woman hermit unafraid of the woods. And many a conscript to the service of a lord in a war, took what he had to fight. This axe, to be enchanted, may herald back to beyond a families stories of war and even a trip into the fey. A woodsman was one of the old levels of Ranger in advanced D&D if I recall correctly. Lastly, I have several large collectible axes that have balance and craftsmanship above a maul. The great axe is both a reasonable and appropriate option without need to reskin if one wanted to keep it. A useful attribute missing would be the ability to shrink to the size of a Handaxe or shepherds axe/cane for when he is burdened with a load of wood:)
A woodman's axe to me is an Improvised Weapons i would treat as a Battleaxe weapon equivalent since it resembles such Martial weapon and thus would say it functions as that weapon and uses that weapon’s rules. Same for tools such as miner's pick or sledgehammer i could treat as War Pick or Maul for example.
please take note that the Viking war axe isn't much larger then a handaxe, while yes there were the larger ones but most of the axes the viking's used in combat were the ones they used for chopping wood for use in homes. just do a google search for viking war axe.
“Viking” wasn’t a nationality nor a culture, or anything else of the sort. It was a job title, it meant “raider.” Nationally they were Danish. As such, I would rather trust the National Museum of Denmark.
Since this thread has already been necroed, I want to respond to this: "viking" did not mean "raider." It actually meant a person who rows a longboat, or the act of rowing the longboat. While there certainly was a lot of raiding involved in that, because they loved raiding, it wasn't all they went viking for. The Norse would also go out viking to fish for cod, hunt seals, or trade with their neighbors. Raiding also wasn't a full-time occupation for them, either. It was something they did in times of year when they didn't need to be working the farms or building ships.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
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Speaking of tool/weapons. Anyone who isn't familiar with a maguro bōchō (japanese tuna "knife") should give it a quick Google.
I want to make a fishmonger NPC who dual-wields one of these in one hand and a frozen haddock in the other.
It's interesting - the whippy, flexible blade and lack of a stabbing point make me think it would be a terrible sword, but if you were in the mob, it would be a good terror weapon, something the Thieves' Guild would use on informants (like chainsaws in Miami back in the 80's). It can't go through bone (it's designed not to) so you're not going to kill anyone right away, just slowly fillet them into a bloody mess.
This gets comically close to how the Langmesser came to be. "Tis not a sword. That would be illegal for me, a commoner to own. 'Tis but a knife!"
There is a long history (which continues today) of trying to evade weapons restrictions via semantics. How well it worked depended on how much the people enforcing the law actually cared about the letter of the law vs the intent (try it in a LE hobgoblin camp it might work, in a CE orc camp it would fail).
Whether or not they could, not many weapons were intended to go through bone, as that would likely damage the sword. Bludgeoning weapons, including heavier swords, were intended to crush/break bone, while lighter weapons were designed to pierce and slice flesh/arteries. So, while more flexible than a traditional sword, the Maguro Bocho, would be perfectly useable as a sword against fleshy opponents. There would just need to be some changes to technique to use it effectively.
Note: The Maguro Bocho most closely resembles a Ninjato, which has a straight edge, as opposed to the curved katana.
It wasn’t illegal for folks to have a sword, in fact they were required to by law, and to practice with it in case the town needed to levy for defense.
But the swordmakers guild basically had a monopoly on things (price fixing, etc) and a PR machine that a sword made by anyone else was crap, so the folks who didn’t want to pay them dues instead sold Messers that were not subjects to the swormakwrs’ guild’s crap, and were “as good as any sword!” 😉 (And most of the blades were actually manufactured by the swormakers and then sold wholesale to the knifemakers’ guild.)
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A woodsman’s axe is not necessarily just a tool in my thinking. Woodsmen and hunters were the individuals who mythically left the trails and would come back with the stories. They carried with them some mystique, like the woman hermit unafraid of the woods. And many a conscript to the service of a lord in a war, took what he had to fight. This axe, to be enchanted, may herald back to beyond a families stories of war and even a trip into the fey. A woodsman was one of the old levels of Ranger in advanced D&D if I recall correctly. Lastly, I have several large collectible axes that have balance and craftsmanship above a maul. The great axe is both a reasonable and appropriate option without need to reskin if one wanted to keep it. A useful attribute missing would be the ability to shrink to the size of a Handaxe or shepherds axe/cane for when he is burdened with a load of wood:)
A woodman's axe to me is an Improvised Weapons i would treat as a Battleaxe weapon equivalent since it resembles such Martial weapon and thus would say it functions as that weapon and uses that weapon’s rules. Same for tools such as miner's pick or sledgehammer i could treat as War Pick or Maul for example.
Look in the PHB.
Pick an axe. Any axe.
Describe it as a woodsman's axe.
Since this thread has already been necroed, I want to respond to this: "viking" did not mean "raider." It actually meant a person who rows a longboat, or the act of rowing the longboat. While there certainly was a lot of raiding involved in that, because they loved raiding, it wasn't all they went viking for. The Norse would also go out viking to fish for cod, hunt seals, or trade with their neighbors. Raiding also wasn't a full-time occupation for them, either. It was something they did in times of year when they didn't need to be working the farms or building ships.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.