Difference between Greatsword/Thrusting Greatsword

[Boberama]

What's the difference? The same goes for all the other types of swords. I don't know of any sword that would do a ton more damage from a succesful thrust.

What's the difference between these?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Boberama

What's the difference? The same goes for all the other types of swords. I don't know of any sword that would do a ton more damage from a succesful thrust.

What's the difference between these?

The Thrusting Broadsword, Thrusting Bastard Sword, and Thrusting Greatsword have points. The 'normal' Broadsword, Bastard Sword, and Greatsword do not. Stabbing people works a lot better when you're not doing it with a blunt sword-tip.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Boberama

What's the difference? The same goes for all the other types of swords. I don't know of any sword that would do a ton more damage from a succesful thrust.

What's the difference between these?

The one mentioned by Ulzgoroth. If this of some help, try imagining the difference between being hit by a sports foil, with its blunt tip, and being skewered by a sharp-pointed smallsword. I gave fencing a try when I was a boy, and I remember that if I was hit by a good lunge, I could very well feel that blunt tip's impact, even through the padding.

[Pomphis]

And from another angle: whether you do Impaling or crushing damage when you thrust.

[Gudiomen]

Another visual aid...

Imagine being hit on the chest by a staff, with a blunt, flat tip.

Now imagine being hit by a sharpened staff, or a spear.

A lot more damage, no?

[Gurps Fan]

This is a non-"Thrusting" sword.

This is a "Thrusting" sword.

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

This is a non-"Thrusting" sword.

This is a "Thrusting" sword.

I'm sorry to be an ass but one is a blunt fencing version of the other and both are modled after swords with sharp thrusting points, it's just that one is designed to not go through people when it thrusts them. I'm not sure what consistutes a non-thrusting sword in GURPS terms, are there any historical examples?

[Grouchy Chris]

I don't know much about swords, but to me, these swords look like they aren't nearly as good for thrusting as these are.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Grouchy Chris

I don't know much about swords, but to me, these swords look like they aren't nearly as good for thrusting as these are.

<shrug> Yes, some are pointier than others, but I've never seen one that was actually blunt like a pool cue and _that_ is basically the standard for Thrust/Crush.

[safisher]

Originally Posted by Boberama

What's the difference between these?

Look here:
http://www.vikingsword.com/virtmus.html

Some swords simply had a "butter knife" sort of end, like the one at the top. That is not a very useful stabbing instrument. I don't expect that these were common, in the whole schema of swordom, but they certainly did exist. On down the page you can see the more aggressively-pointed swords, which I expect were more common, generically speaking.

This does not mean, though, that one could not stab and cause great damage with a butterknife (I suspect such a blow would rip and rend flesh and cause bleeding) but simply that an ice pick or dagger would punch much deeper, possibly deep enough to reach vital organs and puncture them. Thus your crush versus impale effect.