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Old 06-25-2022, 05:14 AM   #1
jacobmuller
 
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Default Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Or even a baseball bat with nails (Stranger Things, season 2 style).
I was looking for stats for something like a sawfish sword or Aztec obsidian bladed club but crocodile teeth in wood or bone.
I was thinking it would be similar enough to a baseball bat with nails that I could use those numbers but I can only find a regular bat.
I guess it's just a light, spiked mace, but macuaitl(?) stats would also be nice.
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Old 06-25-2022, 05:58 AM   #2
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacobmuller View Post
Or even a baseball bat with nails (Stranger Things, season 2 style).
I was looking for stats for something like a sawfish sword or Aztec obsidian bladed club but crocodile teeth in wood or bone.
I was thinking it would be similar enough to a baseball bat with nails that I could use those numbers but I can only find a regular bat.
I guess it's just a light, spiked mace, but macuaitl(?) stats would also be nice.

For a baseball bat with nails, you can consider it having Flanges, Spikes, or End Caps (Low-Tech Companion 2, p.14): +1 cr damage, +40% cost.

For a crocodile teeth sword, you can use the stats of Macuahuitl (Low-Tech, pp. 59, 65) or Macuahuilzoctli (Low-Tech, pp. 59, 69) but made of Horn/Teeths (Low-Tech, p. 71): Tooth-edged clubs are possible; these do cutting damage equal to a steel weapon, but with armor divisor (0.5). On any successful attack or successful parry against an armed attack, roll 1d; on 1-2, the edge breaks, reducing the weapon to a club that does crushing damage. Double-edged models can be reversed (a free action) to use the other side until it, too, breaks! 20%. Base cost for either is 20% of that listed for a good quality weapon; weight is unchanged.
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Old 06-25-2022, 06:09 AM   #3
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Awesome! Thank you.
It definitely helps to have the right name for it when searching.
Edit: according to this nahuatl dictionary (University of Oregon?) the blades were glued in with turtle dung... Eeugh. Reality defeats imagination.
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Last edited by jacobmuller; 06-25-2022 at 06:57 AM.
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Old 06-25-2022, 09:15 AM   #4
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

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Originally Posted by jacobmuller View Post
Awesome! Thank you.
It definitely helps to have the right name for it when searching.
Edit: according to this nahuatl dictionary (University of Oregon?) the blades were glued in with turtle dung... Eeugh. Reality defeats imagination.
You're welcome.

I've to say I'm not sure if a crocodile-teeth sword would do cutting damage in put on a baton or club. Crocodile teeth are very tough and resilient (on contrary, shark teeth are quite brittle), but they aren't sharp like shark teeth. In fact, crocodile teeth aren't sharp at all. Maybe the weapon should be considered doing sw crushing instead of sw cutting (0.5), and the crocodile teeth should be considered like Flanges, Spikes, or End Caps but with TL 0 and, on any successful attack or successful parry against an armed attack, roll 1d; on 1, the edge breaks (instead of 1-2), removing the +1 cr damage (this represents both the chipping of the teeth tips and the breaking away of the glued tooth base from the weapon). When both edges fail, the weapon become a normal club without +1 cr damage bonus.

Crocodile teeth may be more functional if used to make an arrow tip or a spear tip rather than a non-metallic sword edge.

Last edited by Rasna; 06-25-2022 at 09:22 AM.
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Old 06-25-2022, 09:28 AM   #5
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

If I recall correctly there was a Pacific Islander version that used shark's teeth...
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Old 06-25-2022, 10:03 AM   #6
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Crocodiles don't bite or chew. They swallow their prey whole. Their teeth are designed to latch on so that the prey can't escape while it gets dragged under water. A weapon made with embedded croc teeth would still do crushing damage.
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Old 06-25-2022, 10:43 AM   #7
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

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If I recall correctly there was a Pacific Islander version that used shark's teeth...
Yes, there was indeed. There were two-hedged and four-hedged versions of the weapon, sometimes featuring a spike on top for thrusting.
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Old 06-26-2022, 01:19 AM   #8
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Treating it as a spiked mace, so Sw+2 Cr.
But taking the Mac-notes into account for durability. Slight upgrade on the Mac-zoc - teeth are set into grooved blocks that are glued then bound in rawhide. Heavy, striking pommel*. Essentially Fine & Balanced mace (HT13, - 1 to break; +1 skill) that may leave snapped off teeth in wounds.
Maybe have them getting stuck, as for picks, but only for any attacks that succeeded by 5 or more (or high dam rolls?); weapon HT check or it leaves some teeth in the wound.
Sw+1 Cr with missing teeth.
*Punch +1 Dam (Hammer-fist but Th-1).
Edit: my croc sword folk may not be dextrous enough for this - maybe it's child's work. First "swords" must have been whole jaws - now that's Cheap & Improvised.
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Last edited by jacobmuller; 07-01-2022 at 05:16 AM.
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Old 06-26-2022, 04:15 AM   #9
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jacobmuller View Post
Treating it as a spiked mace, so Sw+2 Cr.
But taking the Mac-notes into account for durability. Slight upgrade on the Mac-zoc - teeth are set into grooved blocks that are glued then bound in rawhide. Heavy, striking pommel*. Essentially Fine & Balanced mace (HT13, - 1 to break; +1 skill) that may leave snapped off teeth in wounds.
Maybe have them getting stuck, as for picks, but only for any attacks that succeeded by 5 or more (or high dam rolls?); weapon HT check or it leaves some teeth in the wound.
Sw+1 Cr with missing teeth.
*Punch +1 Dam (Hammer-fist but Th-1).
The effect of a Pick, including impaling damage, would be possible if the main striking surface of the weapon is a single long tooth with an artificially sharpened tip. In that case the weapon would be effectively a Pick, but made of Horn/Tooth, dealing sw+1 (0.5) impaling. If you have multiple heads on the same striking side, then crushing damage is more appropriate.*
Maybe you can consider the weapon dealing crushing damage, but with the possibility to doing also the Hook technique. Adding a blunt Hook is +$25 (Low-Tech Companion 2, p. 14).



* It's possible for a mace to inflict open wounds and penetrating wound especially for a flanged mace or for a mace with long spikes, but for the sake of simplicity the damage is still considered being mostly crushing.
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Old 06-26-2022, 05:55 AM   #10
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Default Re: Are there stats for a crocodile tooth sword?

Definitely going with Crushing. Seems strange but that's what the teeth being used are rated as. The getting stuck thing would just be adding a touch of Horror to the gumbo: big old, dirty tooth stuck in a victim's body - but the "bites" are only on one side... That Crippling wound you took won't heal until you get that tooth out of the bone...
But, Impaling for a single tooth: would it work as a shiv? Maybe a poor qualiy small knife, Th-2 Imp, no cut option. Perhaps Th-1 (0.5) Imp.
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