[Low-Tech/Basic] Pick: War Club or Pickaxe

[Blind Mapmaker]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

A cheap mattock these days is cast rather than drop-forged. It makes them brittle - I've broken one and shattered another (a piece went into my calf). You can't really tell whether they are cast or forged until they are broken - where you can see the crystalline structure of the cast items.

Ouch, that does not sound good. Seems like there are plenty of opportunities for cheap quality (materials) tools from TL 5 onwards.

Originally Posted by tbone

It looks like another example of how names get applied somewhat loosely to weapons and weapon-like things. There's also a dolabra writeup on (for what it's worth) the Deadliest Warrior Wiki, proclaiming the dolabra to be a pick.

Not sure where that image on Deadliest Warrior is from, but it does look a bit wonky and not at all like the dolabrae I saw so far. Sort of pick-like, but then again not.

Originally Posted by tbone

Well, whatever sort of axe/adze/pick/hammer combo weapon head falls under a given name, it's nice that GURPS will handle it.

While we're talking pick stuff:

1) I've poked around at creating a more universal setup for hand weapons vs hand weapon-like tools (maces vs hammers, warhammers vs pickaxes, etc.), but have nothing exciting to report. Like many commenters here, I'm still pondering what exactly defines the differences.

(The model I'm leaning toward: Tools like logging axes and pickaxes are generally very robust – they "attack" trees, stone, etc., not thin armor and flesh – and are heavier than weapon counterparts. More to the point, weapons stick to reasonable minimum ST for combat nimbleness, whereas tools typically have minimum ST greater than user ST. That high minimum ST isn't a problem at the slower, regular pace of labor, but isn't suited to the frantic needs of combat. That's what currently seems sensible to me, anyway.)

I'd be very interested in seeing your setup if when it's finished. I think the model of extra minimum ST is a very sensible way of doing this without needing extra rules. raising the two-handed pick to ST 14 means that the grunts of the slave rebellion will have a disadvantage, while the big burly hero-types don't. It might go against the grain of the usual tropes that the troops quickly want to upgrade their weapons while the leader is fine with what they have, but it makes for a good and sensible narrative.

Originally Posted by tbone

2) Should anyone want 'em, I recently added light and heavy versions of the one-handed melee pick on my page of new weapons. Oh, and throwing versions of the same, too. (Was a throwing pick ever a thing? Probably not. But why let that stop us? : )

Those are perfectly good write-ups for DFRPG, but I disagree with the throwing pick. I still think that LTC2's +$10 to make weapon types that are sometimes throwable into throwing weapons is cheap, but in this case I'd really think the +9 CF from that book is appropriate. Not that I'd use it in DFRPG, but at least +3 CF seems better for a silly, but not that ineffective weapon.