Just wanted to revive a rather old discussion regarding the possibility of making fighting with a two handed weapon (no shield, no dual wield, no light or held item) a reliable option, not only for staffs and spears (in wich it is the only option
).
i wanted to bring this subject up because the image of a knight wielding a two handed sword, or a barbarian with his large battleaxe, is very strong at least in my imagination, and could be brought to solace. I have scarce ideas about the system to suggest for this, but i trust that our creative player base could bring much more up on the subject
As for now, id like to express what is on my mind.
wielding just one weapon has already itseld one advantage and disadvantage itself. the advantage is that you only need to find one good limited powerfull etcetcetc weapon, instead of two. this is also the disadvantage because you wont get the dam/hit and other bonuses from both weapons, as you just wield one.
Ideally one can consider other advantages and disadvantages of fighting with two weapons and with one alone. Advantages are that you need only concentrate on that weapon you wield, and likely you will be able to manage it with more skill then you can with two at once. Also, you can put greater force in each strike as you are wielding it with both hands. the great downside is you preform much less atacks, and depending on the weapon, it can be heavy and as you would be preforming instead of many smooth atacks as with dual wielding weapons, less more brutal strikes. as a consequence you can lose some control, and be able to parry less efficiently.
Well. re-reading my own script i think its quite confusing, so ill just put out what i can suggest to express what i think would make inserting two-handed weapon fighting with swords/axes/maces interesting and reliable.
weapons could be arranged acording to their weight relative to the wielders strength into light, normal, two-handed and heavy weapons.
a light weapon can only be used with one hand (such as a dagger)
a normal weapon hand be used with one hand alone, but also can be wielded with both (a showrtsword or scimitar). a two handed weapon can only be used with both hands, just as a heavy weapon.
But then there would be complications. For example, a two-handed weapon must be managed with both hands, but it can be well managed. the wielder could get bonuses for parrying with it because he only needs to focus on that one weapon. This would differ from the heavy weapon wich would be simply brutal. it would be like a barbarians giant axe or sword or hammer. he does not get parry bonuses but would get a greater damage from this weapon alone, almost (or perhaps more then) compensating for not wielding a second weapon.
This would come in addition with a notion that a same weapon, if wielded with one hand or with both, wouldent have the same efficiency. A sword could therefor have two damage and hit ratings. one for when wielded with one hand, and one for when wielded with two hands. (or wielding a weapon with both hands could just double or increase its dam and hit by 50%) this would represent the greater force that can be applied on a weapon when wielded with both hands.
agh. im not nearly finished... but the text is huge. well, ill just leave that for now, to see if someone actualy reads it
, and to see if the discussion is worthwhile, and taking the right direciton. Anyhow, its worth saying thta i play dungeons and dragons when i can, so many ideas are inspired on that games rule sistem.
good luck enduring the time solace is down to all.
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