[Basic] Is a quarterstaff obviously a weapon?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Which doesn't make a lot of sense (it's actually probably more appropriate to apply a (0.5) armor divisor than a -1 damage, but that's even worse).

Thou shalt not retroactively invalidate prior published stuff. Also, it makes no sense for a hard wooden object to have a worse penetration than a kick or a skilled punch (the default around which other damages and penetrations seem calibrated).

[a humble lich]

Historically, was a staff made iron shod to make it more dangerous as a weapon, or to make it more durable?

It seems Martial Arts in general does not have a damage penalty of a staff that is not iron shod. It has several staff weapons that are not generally iron shod and do the same damage as a the quarterstaff.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by tanksoldier

”I told you to take the wizard’s staff

Wormtongue’s orders were sufficiently specific, he just left soldiers at the door instead of his own thugs... soldiers who didn’t particularly want to follow his orders.

Yes, he said "wizard" after the fact... but did he do so in the initial order? Do these soldiers even recognize "wizard" as a thing? (Did Wormy even tell them which guy is the wizard?)

Who knows what he told them. I'm guessing it was vague to them and they halfway shrugged it off as something unimportant. (Especially if they didn't like taking orders from Wormy in the first place, as you suggest.)

[gruundehn]

Originally Posted by Refplace

The typical cane the VA seems to hand out is a metal cane and I havent tried but I bet I could get through TSA with it. Of course my legs make it appear I might need one, though I usually go without the cane.

I do not know about TSA but every metal detector I have to go through, I have to surrender my cane to be run through the X-ray. I can either take a few steps without it or use it for those few steps and beep.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by tbone

Following that thinking, any guards would of course understand a staff as a potential weapon, but not much of one (compared to a sword), and barely a weapon at all in the hands of a generic old man.

Unless they'd had their ears bent long enough by sufficiently geeky Masters of Defence geeks. Unlikely in Middle Earth, of course.

Incidentally, I can see metal shodding making a staff more effective on the thrust, but on the swing? The target will surely usually be clobbered by some length of the shaft near the end, not by the very tip.

I also seem to recall that somebody analysed records of deaths in medieval England, and a terrifyingly high proportion seem to have resulted from brawls with blunt instruments. The ad hoc staff was in practice a known bloody menace.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Unless they'd had their ears bent long enough by sufficiently geeky Masters of Defence geeks. Unlikely in Middle Earth, of course.

I don't recall a single staff in LotR, other than those of wizards. Of whom there were five in all of creation...*

So it's easy for me to imagine that warriors in Middle Earth didn't take the staff seriously because of that. Also because they didn't pay GURPS, which makes the staff a nice head-cracker. (They probably played D&D: "1d6 damage? Yawn.")

*No, I'm not suggesting there were five quarterstaffs on Middle Earth. It's an amusing thought, that's all. (One would think that Tolkien, what with the "let's make a mythology for England" thing and all, would have handed out that classic English weapon to more characters!)

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by gruundehn

I do not know about TSA but every metal detector I have to go through, I have to surrender my cane to be run through the X-ray. I can either take a few steps without it or use it for those few steps and beep.

...but they give it back on the other side. That's the point.

You go thru the security checkpoint... and are given back your weapon on the other side.

[tanksoldier]

Originally Posted by tbone

Yes, he said "wizard" after the fact... but did he do so in the initial order? Do these soldiers even recognize "wizard" as a thing? (Did Wormy even tell them which guy is the wizard?)

I told you to take the wizard’s staff seems fairly straightforward...

...not "I told you to take all the pointy things"...

...not "I told you to take all the weapons"...

...very specific: "I told you to take the wizard's staff"...

...and Gandalf was well known to the Rohirrim.

[tbone]

Yes, Wormtongue said that he said that... and the whole point of the character is that he's a liar, anything but straightforward.

I have no idea what he did or didn't say to the guards, or whether Generic Guard Man would know a Gandalf from the local baker. All I know is that the guards didn't seem to consider him or his stick a threat.

Taking this back to the OP question: FWIW, in any place where people recognize a big stick as a potential weapon, I suppose I would game lax guards as willing to allow a shuffling old man his "walking stick", especially if he made a good reaction roll. But I would surely have those guards take it away from a young, healthy man.

(A stick is such a basic tool, though, that other ruses could work. Hang a basket of stuff off each end of the staff and carry it on a shoulder; there, you're just a laborer trying to deliver some goods. Or carry a bundle of staffs; you're just a carpenter bringing in some materials.)

[Phantasm]

I've got a 5' long sassafras walking stick I picked up at a Ren Faire (I'd ASSume it'd use the Jo stats if I used it in a fight); it's got a small metal cap on the more slender end, but that end is the end generally hitting the dirt. The top end is thicker and rounded; I'd imagine it'd hurt in a fight.

Is it obviously a weapon? I think not. I might get some stares if I walked along with it outside a Ren Faire, because of culture*, but I've leaned on it for balance more than a few times at home when my hip (old "war injury" from my Gulf War service days) acts up.



* Because it's a walking stick instead of a cane, I don't take it very far normally. It might not be out of place in a TL5 or early TL6 setting, though, or in the less developed countries of South America and Africa.