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Old 09-12-2011, 07:22 AM   #29
Peter V. Dell'Orto
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Default Re: Rapier and Small spear

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeminai View Post
I have an incident where a character with the Rapier skill picks up a Halfling spear. The spear is small and of similar weight to Rapier. could the rapier weilder use the Rapier skill with this weapon?

If so, at what penlaty (if any)?
First, ask yourself the all-important question - does letting him do this make the incident awesome?

If so, then the answer is yes.

Just throw him a penalty, either large (say it's not a Rapier but a Broadsword default, so -4, and there is no F on the parry) or small (call it a -2 and let the parries work as written) and go for it.

Realistically, I'd say the large penalties are probably fair - you lose the parry benefit, and are forced to work off a lousy default. I don't see anyone abusing this with their Fine Balanced Small Spear that is mystically a better choice than an actual rapier or something like that, and it is cool.

And I am totally serious about that first question. If the game is meant to simulate gritty reality, penalizing him a lot is awesome. If it's more cinematic, letting him use it at nearly full skill is awesome. If you spend 20 minutes arguing about it, it's not awesome. The rule of awesome* is a handy guide for on-the-fly rulings. You can usually tell if it's awesome or not just by looking at it.


* stolen from Jim Wendler, a powerlifter.
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