Is my Staff a Stick?

[MacGregor]

I'm trying to make a cool Quarterstaff for a DF game I'm running, so I'm looking through the weapon modifiers. Under Balanced, it says "All weapons except sticks and improvised weapons".

So what weapons count as 'sticks'? Only pieces of wood that haven't been shaped or carved or made into a weapon? Or any weapon made entirely out of wood?

Mostly I'm wondering about Staffs, but other melee weapons come to mind. Clubs, tonfas, lances, batons, wooden stakes, sharpened sticks, etc...

For the moment I am assuming that a Staff is not a Stick. At least until I hear some other opinions.

Thank you

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by MacGregor

I'm trying to make a cool Quarterstaff for a DF game I'm running, so I'm looking through the weapon modifiers. Under Balanced, it says "All weapons except sticks and improvised weapons".

What book/page is that?

[Stone Dog]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

What book/page is that?

DF- Adventurers. p26.

I'm pretty sure that fighting sticks and staffs and the like are already as balanced as they are going to get.

[nanoboy]

I took "stick" to mean something picked off of the ground that has a basic staff-like shape but no refining into a fighting weapon. I suppose one could by chance find one perfect for fighting, but that would be an exception.

[Not another shrubbery]

That should be the Throwing Stick, mentioned in Basic as a specialty for Thrown Weapon, but statted in Martial Arts p231.

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by Stone Dog

DF- Adventurers. p26.

I'm pretty sure that fighting sticks and staffs and the like are already as balanced as they are going to get.

So DF changes the rules from the Basic Set?

Why do they try to package it as GURPS then?

[Kromm]

There are no rules for the "balanced" property – meaning "like 'fine,' but +1 to skill instead of +1 to damage" – in the Basic Set. That's something we invented for Martial Arts and that I copied verbatim into Dungeon Fantasy. Since we invented those rules after the Basic Set, we don't have to worry much about the Basic Set's take on them. And all versions of said rules omit sticks from the class of weapons that can be made more expensive to get +1 to skill. This includes staffs, batons, light clubs, etc. Such weapons are regarded as too simple to benefit from the rule. A GM is welcome to invent expensive versions with adjustable weights and grips that can benefit, of course.

And in case it isn't clear, "balanced" here does not mean "the opposite of a weapon with a U on its Parry stat." It means "made so well that any user gets +1 to skill." We're using "balanced" in the sense of "a variation on 'fine'" and not in the sense of "the opposite of unbalanced."

[SuedodeuS]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

So DF changes the rules from the Basic Set?

Why do they try to package it as GURPS then?

"Balanced" wasn't even an option in Basic Set. Only materials and presentation qualities could be modified.

Martial Arts, p.216, explicitly states that quarterstaffs (amongst other sticks) cannot have Fine (balance). It doesn't explain why, but I'd say Stone Dog's idea is probably about right - sticks with Good (balance) are about as balanced as sticks get.

EDIT: Maybe I should stop posting replies based on MA. If I don't get ninja'd by one author, I get ninja'd by the other.

[Figleaf23]

Ah -- I was thinking balanced in terms of readiness after a parry.

[Flyndaran]

So the height of man-made objects is equal to that of a carved twig?
I get it.... but I don't get it, if you get what I mean.