I think it would be easier to just say that your "rapiers" look more like longswords.. The lack of weapon variety in 5e sort of bothered me for a long while.. Untill I realised they're just base stat blocks.. I'm sure any DM would be fine with your having a weapon that uses the rapier stat block but looks nothing like a rapier.. I mean why not?
If I were to DM I'd allow you to to fight with shards of glass and use dagger stat blocks... Hell I'd allow a player to fight with almost anything if it fit their concept well enough.
I guess the only thing that still bothers me is the lack of finesse two handed weapons
A true longsword is primarily a 2 handed sword, although it can be used with single handed techniques. It's a heavy, primarily slashing sword which relies on strength. That's what the 5e DnD longsword is. 5e seems to have tied weapon names to late middle ages, early renaissance Europe. So, the 1 handed, arming sword that previous editions erroneously called a longsword...isn't a longsword any more. The one handed arming sword doesn't meet the criteria of a longsword, therefore...it's a shortsword. Much like the same sized scimitar, the arming sword was demoted from a d8 weapon to a d6 weapon and made light. And when compared to a true longsword, the arming sword is...short. Additionally, while early arming swords such as the spatha and viking swords were primarily slashers, late arming swords were heavily pointed to attempt to defeat plate armor. So, a 30 inch thruster...when compared to a longsword...is short. In game, this is a finesse weapon.
To get a dex d8 weapon, there's the rapier. there's no need, or call...or even historical reason to have a finesse longsword.
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Firstly, you would need longswords to have lightandfinesse to dual wield them using dex, not just finesse.
Secondly, longswords are already 1d8/1d10 versatile weapons, giving them light and finesse is just too much.
Thirdly, looking at the official art, Drizzt isn't using longswords but shortswords or possibly scimitars. His weapons are both arm-length, single grip weapons, not double grip (or even one and half hand grip) long blades. Both shortswords and scimitars have light and finesse, meaning you can dual wield them using dex.
RAW, in game a 1 handed light slasher is a scimitar regardless of whether the blade is straight or curved. I'm just the messenger on that. Everything is supposed to be refluffed. Those are clearly a slashing sword, so in game, they are Scimitars, even if I'd call them arming swords or side swords.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
The D&D longsword includes the sword that is wrongly called a longsword − this is an agile (finesse) weapon.
The D&D longsword also includes the true longsword − this is the hand-and-half weapon (albeit whose hilt might be one-handed, two-handed, or hand-and-half, depending on personal preference).
These swords are meaningfully different from each other, and deserve separate stats − as well as more accurate nomenclature for such a central historical weapon.
no, the D&D longsword does /not/ include the 1 handed slasher that previous editions called a longsword. That weapon does not have a hilt long enough to use with two hands, therefore it does not have the versatile property...and is not a longsword.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
no, the D&D longsword does /not/ include the 1 handed slasher that previous editions called a longsword. That weapon does not have a hilt long enough to use with two hands, therefore it does not have the versatile property...and is not a longsword.
To some degree I agree:
The D&D longsword should not include the normal sword. The normal sword is the viking sword, the spatha, the knightly arming sword.
Yet, the viking sword is so different from the langseax, and the spatha is so different from the gladius, the katana is so different from the wakazashi, and so on.
Neither can the D&D shortsword include the normal sword.
There is a normal "sword" that is meaningfully between the D&D shortsword and the D&D longsword.
it shouldn't but that's what we have: shortsword, scimitar and longsword. the definition for the cruciform medieval arming sword for early period (the slashers) is scimitar and for the late middle age cut-and-thrust variety is shortsword. The classic transitional sword isn't covered....unless you accept that by the late medieval period, the 30-inch sword was short.
At the end of the day, it doesn't much matter. Pick the one you want, and skin it in your mind. My belief this is all because Drizzt uses two scimitars in fiction, so the 1 handed blades from those novels that are common DW weapons were demoted from d8 to d6. The transitional swords were lumped in with them so that the straight blade fans could DW out of the box too.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
it shouldn't but that's what we have: shortsword, scimitar and longsword. the definition for the cruciform medieval arming sword for early period (the slashers) is scimitar and for the late middle age cut-and-thrust variety is shortsword. The classic transitional sword isn't covered....unless you accept that by the late medieval period, the 30-inch sword was short.
At the end of the day, it doesn't much matter. Pick the one you want, and skin it in your mind. My belief this is all because Drizzt uses two scimitars in fiction, so the 1 handed blades from those novels that are common DW weapons were demoted from d8 to d6. The transitional swords were lumped in with them so that the straight blade fans could DW out of the box too.
it shouldn't but that's what we have: shortsword, scimitar and longsword. the definition for the cruciform medieval arming sword for early period (the slashers) is scimitar and for the late middle age cut-and-thrust variety is shortsword. The classic transitional sword isn't covered....unless you accept that by the late medieval period, the 30-inch sword was short.
At the end of the day, it doesn't much matter. Pick the one you want, and skin it in your mind. My belief this is all because Drizzt uses two scimitars in fiction, so the 1 handed blades from those novels that are common DW weapons were demoted from d8 to d6. The transitional swords were lumped in with them so that the straight blade fans could DW out of the box too.
I would actually argue, what we have is:
shortsword−rapier−longsword
which is wrong for so many reasons, but is defacto.
then they'd have to extend the reach on polearms and great weapons. I get why they did what they did. I don't like it, but I get it. The reason you have to count scimitar is it's the only 1 handed slash weapon, shortsword is pierce (even though things like the gladius had a reputation for being great choppers)
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
then they'd have to extend the reach on polearms and great weapons. I get why they did what they did. I don't like it, but I get it. The reason you have to count scimitar is it's the only 1 handed slash weapon, shortsword is pierce (even though things like the gladius had a reputation for being great choppers)
Sounds good to me. Besides, I would prefer to see the spear, especially, as a reach weapon, then things like pikes beyond even that.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
D&D 5E weapons are just sticks with numbers on the end. They are modelled by three categorisations and some optional tags (finesse, reach, etc).
First, weight: Light: Weapons small and/or light enough that you can use two at the same time. One-Handed: Weapons that are too big to be dual-wielded but that have handles that are too small for a two-handed grip. One-Handed Versatile: Weapons that are too big to be dual-wielded but that have handles with enough length for a two-handed grip. They can used effectively both one-handed and two-handed (when two handed then they do a little more damage and are a harder to disarm). Two-Handed: Big and/or heavy weapons that need the leverage of two hands to use them, but that can still be used by Small figures. Two-Handed Heavy: Weapons too massive for Small figures to use effectively.
Second, skill (which mostly serves to restrict weapons by class and archetype): Simple: Anyone can learn to use these weapons. Martial: These require a high degree of skill to even learn how to use them.
Third, damage (which has little impact on the game): Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing; plus a dice expression.
What the game calls a longsword is just a one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10). Incidentally, so is a battleaxe (in D&D there is no difference between the two).
If you want your character's one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10) piece of equipment to look like a katana, then go for it. My character's one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10) piece of gear might look like Elric's sword stormbringer. Doesn't matter. :-)
What I find really interesting is that not every combination of characteristics is covered. For example, there are no one-handed or two-handed slashing weapons. There are no simple two-handed heavy weapons (I guess massive weapons require martial training). Apart from handaxe and sickle (both one-handed light, simple) every slashing weapon requires martial skill.
that's really what it is. The historical designations really mean nothing. It's a light d6 slasher. A light d6 thruster. A d8/d10 versatile slasher. etc.
Something that I have found helps me to not be annoyed is to just customize the name of my weapons in DDB. For example, I tried to make a roman legionary, and I was super annoyed with the fact that I was stuck with a d6 weapon for thematic reasons. Eventually, I equipped a rapier and renamed it to gladius, and I was suddenly pretty happy with it. Reading something other than "rapier" on my character sheet made all the difference in my mind.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
The flashiness a la Drizzt the OP is looking for goes to scimitars even beyond Drizzt cannon. It's likely why the College of Swords Bard is given the scimitar as an additional proficiency when a Bard chooses the college. I also use the scimitar for a stand in for sabres, basically a slashing rapier.
i think it should, small swords are more technical weapons, and makes sense since a rapier weights the same as a longsword (rapiers have most of its mass on the blade) (would be cool if WotC released an advanced D&D rulebook for 5e, with plenty of optional rules for those who crave a more difficult or realistic approach but aren't willing enough to go to older editions)
Are you sure? Aren't scimitars the swords sailors use?
<----- Scimitar
"Scimitar" is actually a generic catch-all for any sword that has a curved blade that's sharp only on one side. It's more typically applied to Asian swords, but historically there was no actual limit so it did apply to cutlasses, and katanas are also technically scimitars.
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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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If you read the story it flat out says he uses scimitars
I answered the poll, Yes.
But longswords (versatile), No.
And normal swords (finesse without versatile), Yes.
Also, I feel the versatile property should be adding +2, rather than +1.
Here the longsword has a bladelength more than 3 feet.
By contrast, the normal sword is like the viking sword, the knightly sword, and so on.
he / him
Bladelength
Upto 1 foot (30 cm): dagger
1 to 2 feet (60 cm): shortsword (gladius, seax, machete, most ancient swords, etcetera)
2 to 3 feet (90 cm): sword (normal, viking, knightly, spatha, most medieval swords, katana, etcetera)
3 to 4 feet (120 cm): longsword (bastard, claymore, hand-and-half, mainly renaissance but some earlier experiments, etcetera)
Over 4 feet: greatsword (zweihaander)
Note the bladelengths dont include the hilt length, which can be anything.
he / him
I think it would be easier to just say that your "rapiers" look more like longswords.. The lack of weapon variety in 5e sort of bothered me for a long while.. Untill I realised they're just base stat blocks.. I'm sure any DM would be fine with your having a weapon that uses the rapier stat block but looks nothing like a rapier.. I mean why not?
If I were to DM I'd allow you to to fight with shards of glass and use dagger stat blocks... Hell I'd allow a player to fight with almost anything if it fit their concept well enough.
I guess the only thing that still bothers me is the lack of finesse two handed weapons
No.
A true longsword is primarily a 2 handed sword, although it can be used with single handed techniques. It's a heavy, primarily slashing sword which relies on strength. That's what the 5e DnD longsword is. 5e seems to have tied weapon names to late middle ages, early renaissance Europe. So, the 1 handed, arming sword that previous editions erroneously called a longsword...isn't a longsword any more. The one handed arming sword doesn't meet the criteria of a longsword, therefore...it's a shortsword. Much like the same sized scimitar, the arming sword was demoted from a d8 weapon to a d6 weapon and made light. And when compared to a true longsword, the arming sword is...short. Additionally, while early arming swords such as the spatha and viking swords were primarily slashers, late arming swords were heavily pointed to attempt to defeat plate armor. So, a 30 inch thruster...when compared to a longsword...is short. In game, this is a finesse weapon.
To get a dex d8 weapon, there's the rapier. there's no need, or call...or even historical reason to have a finesse longsword.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
RAW, in game a 1 handed light slasher is a scimitar regardless of whether the blade is straight or curved. I'm just the messenger on that. Everything is supposed to be refluffed. Those are clearly a slashing sword, so in game, they are Scimitars, even if I'd call them arming swords or side swords.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
The D&D longsword includes the sword that is wrongly called a longsword − this is an agile (finesse) weapon.
The D&D longsword also includes the true longsword − this is the hand-and-half weapon (albeit whose hilt might be one-handed, two-handed, or hand-and-half, depending on personal preference).
These swords are meaningfully different from each other, and deserve separate stats − as well as more accurate nomenclature for such a central historical weapon.
he / him
no, the D&D longsword does /not/ include the 1 handed slasher that previous editions called a longsword. That weapon does not have a hilt long enough to use with two hands, therefore it does not have the versatile property...and is not a longsword.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
To some degree I agree:
The D&D longsword should not include the normal sword. The normal sword is the viking sword, the spatha, the knightly arming sword.
Yet, the viking sword is so different from the langseax, and the spatha is so different from the gladius, the katana is so different from the wakazashi, and so on.
Neither can the D&D shortsword include the normal sword.
There is a normal "sword" that is meaningfully between the D&D shortsword and the D&D longsword.
he / him
it shouldn't but that's what we have: shortsword, scimitar and longsword. the definition for the cruciform medieval arming sword for early period (the slashers) is scimitar and for the late middle age cut-and-thrust variety is shortsword. The classic transitional sword isn't covered....unless you accept that by the late medieval period, the 30-inch sword was short.
At the end of the day, it doesn't much matter. Pick the one you want, and skin it in your mind. My belief this is all because Drizzt uses two scimitars in fiction, so the 1 handed blades from those novels that are common DW weapons were demoted from d8 to d6. The transitional swords were lumped in with them so that the straight blade fans could DW out of the box too.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I would actually argue, what we have is:
shortsword−rapier−longsword
which is wrong for so many reasons, but is defacto.
he / him
Ideally:
longsword is a reach-weapon.
rapier is a finesse reach-weapon.
If the D&D units are meters/yards, then the longsword and rapier are definitely reach-weapons.
he / him
then they'd have to extend the reach on polearms and great weapons. I get why they did what they did. I don't like it, but I get it. The reason you have to count scimitar is it's the only 1 handed slash weapon, shortsword is pierce (even though things like the gladius had a reputation for being great choppers)
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Sounds good to me. Besides, I would prefer to see the spear, especially, as a reach weapon, then things like pikes beyond even that.
he / him
Spears...need to be better than they are.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I look at it in a different way.
D&D 5E weapons are just sticks with numbers on the end. They are modelled by three categorisations and some optional tags (finesse, reach, etc).
First, weight:
Light: Weapons small and/or light enough that you can use two at the same time.
One-Handed: Weapons that are too big to be dual-wielded but that have handles that are too small for a two-handed grip.
One-Handed Versatile: Weapons that are too big to be dual-wielded but that have handles with enough length for a two-handed grip. They can used effectively both one-handed and two-handed (when two handed then they do a little more damage and are a harder to disarm).
Two-Handed: Big and/or heavy weapons that need the leverage of two hands to use them, but that can still be used by Small figures.
Two-Handed Heavy: Weapons too massive for Small figures to use effectively.
Second, skill (which mostly serves to restrict weapons by class and archetype):
Simple: Anyone can learn to use these weapons.
Martial: These require a high degree of skill to even learn how to use them.
Third, damage (which has little impact on the game):
Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing; plus a dice expression.
What the game calls a longsword is just a one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10). Incidentally, so is a battleaxe (in D&D there is no difference between the two).
If you want your character's one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10) piece of equipment to look like a katana, then go for it. My character's one-handed versatile, martial, slashing (1d8/1d10) piece of gear might look like Elric's sword stormbringer. Doesn't matter. :-)
What I find really interesting is that not every combination of characteristics is covered. For example, there are no one-handed or two-handed slashing weapons. There are no simple two-handed heavy weapons (I guess massive weapons require martial training). Apart from handaxe and sickle (both one-handed light, simple) every slashing weapon requires martial skill.
See the pivot table at https://1drv.ms/b/s!AljxpRFRXCKDkmKghjRydRYVfjZM.
that's really what it is. The historical designations really mean nothing. It's a light d6 slasher. A light d6 thruster. A d8/d10 versatile slasher. etc.
Something that I have found helps me to not be annoyed is to just customize the name of my weapons in DDB. For example, I tried to make a roman legionary, and I was super annoyed with the fact that I was stuck with a d6 weapon for thematic reasons. Eventually, I equipped a rapier and renamed it to gladius, and I was suddenly pretty happy with it. Reading something other than "rapier" on my character sheet made all the difference in my mind.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
The flashiness a la Drizzt the OP is looking for goes to scimitars even beyond Drizzt cannon. It's likely why the College of Swords Bard is given the scimitar as an additional proficiency when a Bard chooses the college. I also use the scimitar for a stand in for sabres, basically a slashing rapier.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
i think it should, small swords are more technical weapons, and makes sense since a rapier weights the same as a longsword (rapiers have most of its mass on the blade) (would be cool if WotC released an advanced D&D rulebook for 5e, with plenty of optional rules for those who crave a more difficult or realistic approach but aren't willing enough to go to older editions)
"Scimitar" is actually a generic catch-all for any sword that has a curved blade that's sharp only on one side. It's more typically applied to Asian swords, but historically there was no actual limit so it did apply to cutlasses, and katanas are also technically scimitars.
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.