Are swords worth it?

[JoelSammallahti]

I'm starting a fantasy campaign in which the players have to purchase their gear with their characters' starting money. (Yes, that's rules as written, but it's a first for me! I've always more or less winged stuff before based on Status and abstract Wealth.)

So, looking over the weapon tables with a penny-pinching PC in mind, I got to thinking: are swords worth it at the price?

I've got a 150-point game here, with fighting characters generally having ST in the 11-16 'realistic' range. So, comparing the prototypical sword, a Thrusting Broadsword, with what I see as its main competitors as primary melee weapon, Axe, Mace, and Spear, I did some quick calculations on how much injury you can expect to deal.

Some assumptions:

-ST is evenly distributed from 11 to 16. Higher ST leaves spears behind because they don't get swing damage, which increases much more than thrust with higher ST. It further favors swords, because the difference in adds is reduced in importance as base swing increases.

-DR is evenly distributed from 0 to 6. Again, we're in the realistic/low-level range. At huge DRs, thrusts become less able to penetrate relative to swings, but on the other hand, they can target chinks and gaps.

-We're just looking at average injury from a hit. On the one hand, if you surpass the Major Wound threshold, you've got a much better chance to take a guy out, which means we should emphasize high-variability damage that can reach this threshold more often. On the other hand, the shock penalty caps out at -4, so each +1 injury past 4 should count for less than each +1 up to 4. I'll call this a wash.

-We're only counting injury from torso hits. Impaling attacks can get more injury by targeting the vitals at a lesser penalty than other attacks, which need to go for the neck or skull (or face for better knockdown), but then again the neck and face especially are often unarmored, and impaling attacks suck against the limbs. So I'll ignore this too, another wash.

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So, here are the injury means per attack for swords of different qualities:

6.3 (thrust) or 6.9 (swing) for Cheap ($360) or Good ($600)
8.1 (thrust) or 8.3 (swing) for Fine ($2,400)
10 (thrust) or 9.8 (swing) for Very Fine ($12,000)

But for $320, less than the price of a Cheap sword, you can get a Balanced, Fine spear that does 8.1 injury on average (17% more), is much, much less likely to break, hits more often, and may give you a better parry. The sword has a couple of advantages, of course: you can Fast-Draw it, and cut against Unliving and Homogenous targets. But then again, the spear can be used 2-handed for more reach and damage, or thrown.

For less than the price of a Good sword, you can get a Fine axe ($500). Now, it can't stab and of course has a severe limitation in the U parry. But you get 9.8 injury on average (a whopping +41%), and again, are less likely to break your weapon. And that much cheaper Balanced, Fine spear is still superior to the sword for injury, skill and breakage.

Looking at the Fine sword's price range, you can a Balanced, Very Fine spear ($2,160). That's 10 injury on average (+21%), +1 to skill, and less likely to break. Or, for just a little more, get a Balanced, Very Fine axe ($2,700) and swing for 11 injury (+32%). Again, the U parry might be a deal-breaker... But if you're using Defensive Attack from Martial Arts, you can match the sword's Attack maneuver for damage and parrying, and still enjoy the skill bonus and low breakage chance.

At a Very Fine sword's cost, you've exhausted the options for spears and axes. But you're still doing only as much damage as the spear option above, or less than the axe, at a lower effective skill. And the other options leave you enough cash to beef up your armor, or mount, or secondary weapons, or house or whatever. $10,000 is a lot!

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So, what gives? It looks to me like a broadsword is a chump's choice. Shortswords are even worse. A greatsword is a different beast entirely, much more attractive especially at high strength.

Obviously, swords have the status thing going for them, but if the game stats don't support it, it's harder to sell the idea that everybody who's anybody wants a sword.

I'm thinking of buffing swords somehow to make them more attractive to players. Some things I'm considering:
-A Parry bonus of +1. Swords particularly good at defense in comparison with other weapons? I could buy that.
-Reduced Breakage. Swords are made from better-grade steel than spears and axes, and don't have wooden hafts.
-Halved penalties for Rapid Strike and multiple parries, like fencing weapons. Again, swords handling better with speed sounds reasonable enough. I don't have TL4 stuff available in the campaign so it's ok if rapiers and sabres lose their special lustre.

Any ideas or advice?