08-18-2010, 02:12 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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[Edit] Personally I'd probably say that any sword with a 28"+ blade can be Reach 1,2 if the wielder has a long enough reach. After all, aren't most katanas under 28" in blade? and they're Reach 1,2 with Broadsword skill. Last edited by Ze'Manel Cunha; 08-18-2010 at 04:02 PM. Reason: wielder's reach |
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08-18-2010, 02:30 PM | #12 | ||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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Remember, punches are Reach C, so the blade really needs to add more than a yard to what a normal punch can reach. Full-extension lunges or jabs are All-Out Attack (Long) or Extra Effort: Great Lunge. Quote:
The Reach 1,2 example that weights 3.33 lbs. from the Basic Set is a nodachi or something very close to it. 36"+ inches in length. *i.e. that Reach is listed for an 'average' arm length and significant variation from this is worth points.
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08-18-2010, 03:18 PM | #13 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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Odachi are two-handed greatswords which aren't balanced one handed weapons, they weigh in at 3.75+ lbs and do have blades that are 36"+, by definition. Katanas, aka tachis, aka daitos, are paired to the wielder's height, someone below 1.65m (5'5") would wield a 28" katana, which historically was tall in Japan, so most katanas are under 28" in blade length. A 30" katana would be wielded by someone 6'. The biggest katanas made were 33"-34" in blade length and meant to be wielded by people over 6'4". You seem to be confusing the issue and mixing blades meant for taller people vs. normal blades used by average height wielders. |
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08-18-2010, 03:27 PM | #14 | |||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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I find the progression of tanto/shoto/daito logical enough. The famous swords would then be wakizazhi < tachi/katana (depending on how they are carried) < nodachi < odachi. But since this is clean and logical, it is likely to be ahistorical and an invention of latter-day scholars. No matter. Quote:
A typical GURPS character is not 5'5", he's 5'9". And when he wields a katana, it is Reach 1. That's the game rules and I agree that they represent reality well enough. I didn't write the stats for the Katana in GURPS. Nor did I write the explanatory note in MA that clearly states that these stats do not represent a typical historical katana, but instead a blade closer to a two-handed nodachi.
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08-18-2010, 04:01 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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MA decided to go with nodachi because that's become a common term, but the clarification which said "Also called an "odachi," in the Nodachi description got dropped during the weight revision which gave us the "Late Katana" and then made the katana in the Basic Set into an Odachi instead of the clarification that the Basic Set 5 lbs katana weight included a 2 lbs wooden sheath. Revising what I said earlier, the cut-off for 1,2 should be at 2 yards from tip of weapon to wielder's rear hip. |
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08-18-2010, 04:21 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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This produces reasonable results for most of the listed weapons, but ironically produces light-ish Japanese swords. It's perfectly reasonable to add up to a pound or so to them without changing the stats any (unless using some very precise rules for the effect of weight, either my house rules or something from CCoI). While arm length is does not cost points, I think that Reach should be calculated from a hypothetical 'average' combatant. And note that in order to quality for a given Reach, the vast majority of attacks must be possible at that Reach. Simply being able to stick the sword out a given length in full-extension does not imply being able to use it for all full-powered attacks. There are options to represent such a full-extension.
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08-18-2010, 07:32 PM | #17 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
I can't remember. Are there rules for negative sized weapon wielders adjusting reaches like the page for positive sized guys?
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08-18-2010, 07:36 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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The various weapon scaling systems, do, of course, make weapons scaled for smaller wielders have shorter Reach.
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08-18-2010, 09:23 PM | #19 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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My feeling is that a one-handed weapon becomes Reach 1, 2 around 40`` of total length. Add a few inches for a two-handed weapon.
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature Last edited by Polydamas; 08-18-2010 at 10:04 PM. |
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08-19-2010, 07:10 AM | #20 | |||
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: On Swords, Blades and the Song of Swords
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I think that this is partly realism and partly game balance. Using a weapon in a fencing stance and with a fencing grip probably should not allow for full Broadsword damage. While I allow the aformentioned Weapon Adaptation Perk, I reduce damage for any weapon used in a fencing mode to the maximum base damage of sw cut and thr+1 imp (other bonuses add normally). So a broadsword used with Weapon Adaptation would actually have the exact same stats as a Cut-and-Thrust Sword. The difference is simply that such a weapon (slightly shorter and broader than the Cut-and-Thrust Sword, by default) could also be used with Broadsword skill for a +1 to damage. Quote:
I'm hoping CCoI fixes this. It also depends on how it's used. In general, you need only a few inches of blade to make a thrusting attack, but you can't make a full-power swing at full-extension. So a weapon with Reach 1,2 for both the swing and the thrust needs to be longer than a weapon which gets Reach 1,2 only for the thrust and Reach 1 for the swing.
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