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Railstar · 12-14-2015, 07:38 PM

Question #1: I would use full DR because of draw-cuts – a slice across the target can be capable of cutting through flesh and into bone (say 4 points of cutting damage, x 1.5 for cutting modifier = 6 HP of injury = enough to cripple an arm or leg) is not necessarily going to inflict massive bruising against a cut-resistant target.

Question #2: I think the longsword not gaining bonus swing damage when used two-handed is deliberate. The longsword does not suffer the 0U Parry when used one-handed, so it already has an advantage over the bastard sword. I think doing less swing damage than a thrusting bastard sword is there to avoid the longsword being generally better than the bastard sword and making it obsolete.

Question #3: The terms “longsword” and “bastard sword” are labels of convenience, not meant to be a perfect match of real-world sword names. A medieval knight might see a GURPS bastard sword and a GURPS greatsword and call them both “swords of war”, despite there being a size-difference between the two. The terminology that works for historians is not necessarily the terminology that works for game-designers.

Going by your classifications, 40-50 inches for longswords and bastard swords allows a variation of 10 inches; 25% of 40 inches and 20% of 50 inches, this is not an insignificant difference. Think of the statistic line for “longsword” as representing a sword closer to 40 inches, and for “bastard sword” as representing a sword closer to 50 inches (in the 44-50 inch region where according to your classifications longsword & greatsword overlap). It's not a bug, it's a feature, because it allows “smaller longsword” and “bigger longsword”, even if it doesn't quite use those terms.

12-14-2015, 07:38 PM	#9
Railstar Join Date: Jul 2012	Re: Question batch #1 Question #1: I would use full DR because of draw-cuts – a slice across the target can be capable of cutting through flesh and into bone (say 4 points of cutting damage, x 1.5 for cutting modifier = 6 HP of injury = enough to cripple an arm or leg) is not necessarily going to inflict massive bruising against a cut-resistant target. Question #2: I think the longsword not gaining bonus swing damage when used two-handed is deliberate. The longsword does not suffer the 0U Parry when used one-handed, so it already has an advantage over the bastard sword. I think doing less swing damage than a thrusting bastard sword is there to avoid the longsword being generally better than the bastard sword and making it obsolete. Question #3: The terms “longsword” and “bastard sword” are labels of convenience, not meant to be a perfect match of real-world sword names. A medieval knight might see a GURPS bastard sword and a GURPS greatsword and call them both “swords of war”, despite there being a size-difference between the two. The terminology that works for historians is not necessarily the terminology that works for game-designers. Going by your classifications, 40-50 inches for longswords and bastard swords allows a variation of 10 inches; 25% of 40 inches and 20% of 50 inches, this is not an insignificant difference. Think of the statistic line for “longsword” as representing a sword closer to 40 inches, and for “bastard sword” as representing a sword closer to 50 inches (in the 44-50 inch region where according to your classifications longsword & greatsword overlap). It's not a bug, it's a feature, because it allows “smaller longsword” and “bigger longsword”, even if it doesn't quite use those terms.