I recently swapped out my desktop wallpaper with the artwork from the cover of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. I was looking at the picture, and...
Skip Brickard, halfling fighter (I found his name in the book itself) is on the left of the group of adventurers, but I have no idea what weapon he's holding. It looks like half of an axe attached to part of a warhammer. Is that something that exists in D&D, or something the artist came up with or pulled from some other source?
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=========================== Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters: Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
I think it might have been something from the Sword Coast Legend game. Not sure though as I only playtested it a bit and did not focus much on the halfling.
In previous versions - or possibly Pathfinder, some of the races had their own race specific weapons. Much like the Elven double scimitar, the Dwarves and Gnomes had one and I think Halflings did too, but don't remember the names.
It appears to be some sort of axe/hammer combination, though it might just be an oddly foreshortened halberd. Doesn't correspond to any of the exotic weapons from 3.5e or pathfinder as far as I can find (no halfling specials in either edition).
I'm just thinking the character behind the main cluster of characters is about to go house on all of then with a Celestial Q-tip (home brewers, challenge issued, builds expected by months end, option to create either or both a "clean" swab as well as one that has taken on additional properties or adulterated existing properties after being used against direction to clear Bahamut's ear canal ... platinum wax awarded at DM discretion).
For the halting, meh, some sort of ax, proportioned oddly for artistic effect.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I was kinda hoping it existed in 5E. An axe/hammer hybrid would make a really cool weapon for my dwarf characters.
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=========================== Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters: Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
I think the closest RAW weapon might be a halberd? I know irl halberds are axes attached to spears, but in 5e it's simply defined as "reach, two-handed, slashing damage", which to me looks like it would fit for that weapon. Flavor and mechanics are two different things a lot in this game, so maybe it's simply a flavor-altered halberd where mechanically it's the same (would not translate to irl) but flavor-wise it's an axe attached to a hammer.
Looking at it again, it probably can't accomplish "reach", so more likely a flavor-adjusted battleaxe. I have a friend that's a massive medieval weapons nerd that would probably have a fit looking at that image, and I'm not him, but looking at that I can't think of any feature of that thing that would make it mechanically unique from a battleaxe.
In previous versions - or possibly Pathfinder, some of the races had their own race specific weapons. Much like the Elven double scimitar, the Dwarves and Gnomes had one and I think Halflings did too, but don't remember the names.
Dwarves had the Urgosh (a Battleaxe with a spearhead attached to the other end) and the gnomes had the Hook-Hammer, which was a light military pick and a light hammer glued together. The Urgosh wasn't great, but the Hook-Hammer was pathetic and useless- it had tiny damage dice and depended on critical hit power, which was not a viable strategy in 3rd Edition.
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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.
It's just nonsense artwork. There are no special weapons really in 5e. It's just a battleaxe with the head attached wrong.
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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.
It looks like something that exists purely in the realm of fantasy. Such a weapon would not have been terribly effective in a historical setting and one thing that has remained true of most, though not all, weapons in D&D's history is that they tend to be weapons that actually saw use in the real world.
It looks like something that exists purely in the realm of fantasy. Such a weapon would not have been terribly effective in a historical setting and one thing that has remained true of most, though not all, weapons in D&D's history is that they tend to be weapons that actually saw use in the real world.
Well, sort of.
Back in older editions they did have a tendency to claim that what was historically three names for the same polearm were actually three different weapons with slightly different stats. And there were a lot of exotic weapons that were frankly nonsense- 2nd Edition had a canon weapon that was basically a crank-powered chainsaw, while 3rd Edition had its ever-increasing roster of double-weapons that would have been impossible to use for anything except hitting one's self. Case in point- the Dire Flail from the 3.0 and 3.5 PHB. I blame Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace for the obsession with two-ended weapons in that edition.
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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.
The artist seems to have had a bad day while painting this.
Apart from the weird halfling weapon, there are a few other things that are "odd".
Look at the character with the 2 daggers. One of them is pointing down, the other one is pointing a bit in the viewers direction. Now imagine he turns that latter dagger downwards. It will be quite a bit longer then his other dagger.
Then there is the orc (?) in the foreground holding his weapon towards the group. He is obviously much closer to us then the adventureres, yet his weapon is not much larger then the dual-daggers. Once he's at the same distance his "sword" would be at max the same size as those daggers. While dagger and shield might be an option, it surely is an odd option.
I don't know if these creatures are really supposed to be orcs. If so, one has to wonder why they carry torches. Doubly so since it looks like this fight is happening in daylight (which would be an odd choice for orcs). But no matter what they are, why carry torches in daylight ?
The artist seems to have had a bad day while painting this.
[snip]
I don't know if these creatures are really supposed to be orcs. If so, one has to wonder why they carry torches. Doubly so since it looks like this fight is happening in daylight (which would be an odd choice for orcs). But no matter what they are, why carry torches in daylight ?
Either those are Orc weapons set ablaze by some effect of the Celestial Q-Tip also in scene, or the Celestial Q-Tip has fire vulnerability that makes carrying torches in daylight worthwhile.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
This may seem strange to people but most axes are not actually double bladed. They did exist as weapons, but only around 3000 BC, long before the medieval period. They existed in the modern era as lumberjack's tools but in that case one edge was sharp for chopping and felling and the other rounded, for splitting.
Similarly heads with axe / spike or axe / hammer) arrangements are a thing since it is two tools in one.
In history, most battleaxes had a spike opposite the blade to be used against armored opponents. The double-bladed axe is based more on the labrys, which was generally a ceremonial piece rather than a weapon.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
My guess is that is just an oddly drawn axe, but that isn't interesting so I have a more interesting guess: It is a Rod of Lordly Might, an adventurers swiss army knife. A mace/flaming sword/axe/50' ladder/battering ram/compass. "If you press button 2, the rod's flanged head folds down and two crescent-shaped blades spring out, transforming the rod into a magic battleaxe". The halfling has just pressed the button and the axe head is in the process of emerging whilst the mace head is folding down.
I recently swapped out my desktop wallpaper with the artwork from the cover of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. I was looking at the picture, and...
Skip Brickard, halfling fighter (I found his name in the book itself) is on the left of the group of adventurers, but I have no idea what weapon he's holding. It looks like half of an axe attached to part of a warhammer. Is that something that exists in D&D, or something the artist came up with or pulled from some other source?
===========================
Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters:
Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer
Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
I think it might have been something from the Sword Coast Legend game. Not sure though as I only playtested it a bit and did not focus much on the halfling.
In previous versions - or possibly Pathfinder, some of the races had their own race specific weapons. Much like the Elven double scimitar, the Dwarves and Gnomes had one and I think Halflings did too, but don't remember the names.
It appears to be some sort of axe/hammer combination, though it might just be an oddly foreshortened halberd. Doesn't correspond to any of the exotic weapons from 3.5e or pathfinder as far as I can find (no halfling specials in either edition).
I'm just thinking the character behind the main cluster of characters is about to go house on all of then with a Celestial Q-tip (home brewers, challenge issued, builds expected by months end, option to create either or both a "clean" swab as well as one that has taken on additional properties or adulterated existing properties after being used against direction to clear Bahamut's ear canal ... platinum wax awarded at DM discretion).
For the halting, meh, some sort of ax, proportioned oddly for artistic effect.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I was kinda hoping it existed in 5E. An axe/hammer hybrid would make a really cool weapon for my dwarf characters.
===========================
Laugh at life or life will laugh at you.
Current D&D Characters:
Kromen Flintfist, Hill Dwarf Order of the Scribes Wizard/Armorer Artificer
Eiphrok, Half-Orc Oath of Glory Paladin/Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer
I think the closest RAW weapon might be a halberd? I know irl halberds are axes attached to spears, but in 5e it's simply defined as "reach, two-handed, slashing damage", which to me looks like it would fit for that weapon. Flavor and mechanics are two different things a lot in this game, so maybe it's simply a flavor-altered halberd where mechanically it's the same (would not translate to irl) but flavor-wise it's an axe attached to a hammer.
Looking at it again, it probably can't accomplish "reach", so more likely a flavor-adjusted battleaxe. I have a friend that's a massive medieval weapons nerd that would probably have a fit looking at that image, and I'm not him, but looking at that I can't think of any feature of that thing that would make it mechanically unique from a battleaxe.
Dwarves had the Urgosh (a Battleaxe with a spearhead attached to the other end) and the gnomes had the Hook-Hammer, which was a light military pick and a light hammer glued together. The Urgosh wasn't great, but the Hook-Hammer was pathetic and useless- it had tiny damage dice and depended on critical hit power, which was not a viable strategy in 3rd Edition.
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.
It's just nonsense artwork. There are no special weapons really in 5e. It's just a battleaxe with the head attached wrong.
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
It looks like something that exists purely in the realm of fantasy. Such a weapon would not have been terribly effective in a historical setting and one thing that has remained true of most, though not all, weapons in D&D's history is that they tend to be weapons that actually saw use in the real world.
Well, sort of.
Back in older editions they did have a tendency to claim that what was historically three names for the same polearm were actually three different weapons with slightly different stats. And there were a lot of exotic weapons that were frankly nonsense- 2nd Edition had a canon weapon that was basically a crank-powered chainsaw, while 3rd Edition had its ever-increasing roster of double-weapons that would have been impossible to use for anything except hitting one's self. Case in point- the Dire Flail from the 3.0 and 3.5 PHB. I blame Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace for the obsession with two-ended weapons in that edition.
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.
The artist seems to have had a bad day while painting this.
Apart from the weird halfling weapon, there are a few other things that are "odd".
Look at the character with the 2 daggers. One of them is pointing down, the other one is pointing a bit in the viewers direction. Now imagine he turns that latter dagger downwards. It will be quite a bit longer then his other dagger.
Then there is the orc (?) in the foreground holding his weapon towards the group. He is obviously much closer to us then the adventureres, yet his weapon is not much larger then the dual-daggers. Once he's at the same distance his "sword" would be at max the same size as those daggers. While dagger and shield might be an option, it surely is an odd option.
I don't know if these creatures are really supposed to be orcs. If so, one has to wonder why they carry torches. Doubly so since it looks like this fight is happening in daylight (which would be an odd choice for orcs). But no matter what they are, why carry torches in daylight ?
Either those are Orc weapons set ablaze by some effect of the Celestial Q-Tip also in scene, or the Celestial Q-Tip has fire vulnerability that makes carrying torches in daylight worthwhile.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It's a glaive. It's supposed to be angled back so visually shorter.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
A glaive is a type of polearm, it doesn't have a hammer-sized block of material below the head.
To me it looks like the bastard child of a maul and an axe.
That's the rocket motor the increased slashing damage.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
In history, most battleaxes had a spike opposite the blade to be used against armored opponents. The double-bladed axe is based more on the labrys, which was generally a ceremonial piece rather than a weapon.
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.
My guess is that is just an oddly drawn axe, but that isn't interesting so I have a more interesting guess: It is a Rod of Lordly Might, an adventurers swiss army knife. A mace/flaming sword/axe/50' ladder/battering ram/compass. "If you press button 2, the rod's flanged head folds down and two crescent-shaped blades spring out, transforming the rod into a magic battleaxe". The halfling has just pressed the button and the axe head is in the process of emerging whilst the mace head is folding down.
My crazy mind is imagining it as a crutch combined with an axe. Perhaps Skip Brickard is disabled.
It's a +2 halligan tool.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale