Author Topic: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?  (Read 1797 times)

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Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« on: December 30, 2021, 12:25:19 PM »
This may may the discussion all RPGamers had once, if not often. A debate on which weapon they give to their character, and how lovely, wonderful or just awesome it is.
So, what's yours? What do your players prefer? Feel fine to post in order to detail your most beloved weapons~

As for me, polearms all the way! I personally think there's nothing more versatile, convenient and efficient than polearms, not to mention the use variety there are! They're strong weapons, allowing one to hit from a (safe) distance, efficient in formations of many or as an individual, good offensive and defensive weapons. They're often derived from the spear, which is called "The King of Weapons" for a reason!
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.

Offline jdale

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2021, 01:33:12 PM »
I put "none" because that's my PC. But my players are fairly mixed. Looking at the combatants in the two parties: pole arm, two axes, 1H spear + shield, unarmed, flail + shield, bow, shortsword. There are actually no repeats whatsoever!
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Offline Hurin

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2021, 02:37:25 PM »
My players are partial to swords in general, though this campaign polearms (spears in particular) are edging out swords (see what I did there? :) ).

My personal preference is for hammers and maces. Krush criticals seem to have the most stopping power (bleeds are nice, but creatures often go down before the bleed has any significant effect), and I like to play tanks so I like weapons that are good against heavily armored opponents.
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Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2021, 03:56:39 PM »
My players are partial to swords in general, though this campaign polearms (spears in particular) are edging out swords (see what I did there? :) ).
Yay! All hail you, Hurin! \o/
Game-wise, though, my main complain would be how weak the spear table is, not being able to inflict an 'E' critical to AT20s, whilst the broadsword is, which is pretty much a nonsense. As such, I replaced it with the heavy spear table of The Armory…
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.

Offline luzbel

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2021, 04:08:03 PM »

Swords obviously! Everyone knows heroes wield swords!

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Offline Vladimir

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2021, 04:21:04 PM »
  I usually recommend players choosing both a melee weapon and a missile weapon, as you should always have the option to attack an enemy on your own terms.
  The above being said, it is simple physics: Mass equals greater kinetic energy at impact. Other than that, I leave players to choose their own weapons.

Guan Yu -He was such a badass that there are still temples devoted to him. He is the embodiment of courage, honor, loyalty and righteousness. Contemporaries considered him worth 10,000 men. His signature weapon is the guandao, which is a type of halberd. He is one of the historical personages in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and appears in several Chinese films, such as "Red Cliff".   
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Offline Spectre771

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2021, 04:51:31 PM »
I have one player is sword and board all day, all the way.  I have a few players who go with matches the PC.  One even took a halfling with a blow gun because it fit the persona and the race.  He did very little damage, but those Tiny crits and bleed per round add up.  A lot of the other players go sword and board but will vary with the choice; rapier, falchion, estock, main gauche.

I've been partial to the weapons that no one ever seems to take.  The Battle Axe, the Flail, Morning star.  High fumble range?  Bah!  Bigger risk, bigger reward!  One of my recent favorites is paired maces or paired morning stars.

My daughter has gone towards the rare weapons too.  Battle Axe, 2-H sword, and her personal favorite, the steel whip.  She has severed multiple limbs from many a poor foe with that bicycle chain. LOL
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Offline jdale

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2021, 05:54:57 PM »
>and her personal favorite, the steel whip

The martial artist in my game mostly uses sweeps & throws, but he has a chain whip too. He's been complaining bitterly about how it was a mistake to use a rare weapon, how he'll never find a magic version since no one else uses these (in this part of the world). Last session the party fought a cable spider -- it spun webs out of steel cables, and used them to grapple too. Afterwards, as they are surrounded by these magical steel cables, he's still complaining about never finding a better weapon, until I had to point out how this strong, flexible steel cable might somehow be relevant to his supposed problem....
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Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2021, 08:35:54 PM »
Afterwards, as they are surrounded by these magical steel cables, he's still complaining about never finding a better weapon, until I had to point out how this strong, flexible steel cable might somehow be relevant to his supposed problem....
Technically speaking, though it may depend on how thick the cables actually are, wouldn't they be more suitable as a rope dart's rope part than as a steel whip? To me, their flexibility and the way they'd physically act (i.e. more as a rope than a chain) wouldn't make them ideal steel whips…

Other than that, well, the drawback of using rare, exotic weapons is just that: they're rare and exotic, so being able to find one is hard, to find one enchanted is harder, and even finding someone to repair correctly one when it's damaged may be an adventure in itself! …they're cool to own and use, though.  ;D
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.

Offline MisterK

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2021, 01:53:45 AM »
I've voted polarms because I have this image of a demure Phoenix girl wielding a naginata to deadly effect.

But I notice you didn't include the quarterstaff, which would have been my main choice, paired with a bow.

And about having trouble finding magical weapons, well, that's why you have alchemists, runemasters, and bladerunes.

Offline Spectre771

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2021, 04:55:38 AM »
>and her personal favorite, the steel whip

The martial artist in my game mostly uses sweeps & throws, but he has a chain whip too. He's been complaining bitterly about how it was a mistake to use a rare weapon, how he'll never find a magic version since no one else uses these (in this part of the world). Last session the party fought a cable spider -- it spun webs out of steel cables, and used them to grapple too. Afterwards, as they are surrounded by these magical steel cables, he's still complaining about never finding a better weapon, until I had to point out how this strong, flexible steel cable might somehow be relevant to his supposed problem....

The attack table and crits are well worth the rarity of the weapon.  There is a Slash crit she seems to get often which is "...sever foes arm at shoulder... foe dies..."  She's hit that one at least 3 times now.  She is level 5 and has a great OB so she's always dealing damage.  The steel spider cables that are available to your player now??? Yes please!!!  You've given me an excellent idea.  The group is in Quellbourne and facing groups of worshipers from the Spider Shrine.  That will be a great reward to give her.  Thank you :)
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Offline Wolfwood

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2021, 08:17:18 AM »
Depends on the character and setting. If the characters are part of a company or group of soldiers, they will have similar weaponry. But, even then, you can make slight differences - such as having a stronger character wield a schiavona and a more nimble character a rapier while others generally use regular arming swords.

I usually go for swords, but I've had character concepts wielding dual hand-axes, for example.

Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2021, 02:34:35 PM »
For you steel whip fans, here follows what my "Ancient Chinese Weapons" by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming says about them.

"Sectional Steel Whip (jie bian - 節鞭)
There were many kinds of sectional steel whips. Common varieties included three, five, seven, nine, ten or twelve steel bars chained together, with a wood or metal handle and a sharp metal head. Usually, the total length of the whip was equal to the user's height. Therefore the length of each steel bar depended on the number of bars; the fewer, the longer.
Because the sectional steel whip was very flexible, it could be easily hidden. It could be used effectively at long or short ranges, depending on which bar was gripped. It was exceptionally dangerous if the opponent was unfamiliar with it.
The sectional steel whip (except for one with only three sections) could be manipulated with the elbow, knee, foot or neck, and therefore the techniques were innumerable. The whips were best used as stabbing weapons. Sweeping was also a common technique with all whips.
To apply the stab or sweep technique, the steel whip was swung in circles. The direction of the rotation restricted the application of the weapon. For example, if the whip was rotating forward and backward, it was simple to stab (or spear) the enemy, but only if he remained in front. If he shifted to the side, the steel whip needed to be slowed and swung in another direction. Also, once the whip was swinging vertically, it was difficult to use a horizontal sweeping technique.
Use of the sectional steel whip began around the time of the Song Dynasty (960-1280 AD)."
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.

Offline Ecthelion

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2022, 03:35:01 PM »
We often pick our weapons based on the character build. E.g. if the PC is not primarily a front-line fighter but focuses on melee weapons and not missile combat, then we often pick pole arms, and there especially spears, which we allow to be wielded one handed and together with a shield, because pole arms can be used from the second row. Such a character usually has the tanks before him and is attacking from the second line. But if such formation combat is not possible he's still able to fight in the first line.

If the PC is supposed to do lots of damage and either is wearing heavy armor or can cast e.g. Bladeturn then we often pick a two-handed weapon. There it's usually the 2-hand-sword or the battle axe that gets picked. Weapons of other front-line fighters vary more. There we often had broadswords, long swords, bastard swords, war hammers, hand axes or falchions.

If the PC isn't supposed to engage in melee combat at all, only in case he needs to defend himself, then we pick a weapon with a low fumble range, f.e. the mace or short sword.

Those who choose to play a PC that is using a ranged weapon mostly choose long bow or composite bow. Crossbows or thrown weapons I haven't seen as primary weapon yet, only as secondary weapon.

Offline Spectre771

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2022, 06:06:09 AM »
My NPCs are a little different.  I often give them all the weapons no one ever takes.  I've thrown javelins (no pun intended) at them, bolas, nets, thrown hand axes, thrown daggers, paired hand axes, etc.  Often times, the baddies want the PCs alive so they have nets and bolas as secondary weapons, or they are nomadic or non-city dwellers so it would make sense for them to have a means to hunt/trap animals or to be proficient with hand axes just for survival.
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Offline Jengada

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2022, 11:42:21 AM »
My party is now 10th level. They started out with scimitars, bows, morning stars, and staves. But the campaign has taken them to entirely new cultures, where the weapons used are very different. They have found it hard to find anyone to train them in their own weapons (but now at 10th I'm allowing self-training) and are reluctant to take on a new weapon, for fear they'll go back home and have no one to train them with it there. The newer weapons include steel scourge/scorpion, and a custom weapon called a geleis that's basically a flamberge rapier with side-prongs for disarming. They like the weapons, but haven't committed any development points yet.
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Offline Spectre771

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2022, 03:51:40 PM »
My party is now 10th level. They started out with scimitars, bows, morning stars, and staves. But the campaign has taken them to entirely new cultures, where the weapons used are very different. They have found it hard to find anyone to train them in their own weapons (but now at 10th I'm allowing self-training) and are reluctant to take on a new weapon, for fear they'll go back home and have no one to train them with it there. The newer weapons include steel scourge/scorpion, and a custom weapon called a geleis that's basically a flamberge rapier with side-prongs for disarming. They like the weapons, but haven't committed any development points yet.

Which manner of similar weapons grouping do you use?  We use the broader groupings of weapon categories from one of the Companions.  (I'll have to look it up.)  I don't recall if it breaks it down further to single edged and double edged, but it's basically 1H Slash, 1H Krush, 2H Slash, etc.  Any weapon listed in the category can be used without penalty.  I know other methods allow partial skill ranks to carry over if the PC takes on a new/different weapon.  The players should be happy to be able to get a new weapon in their repertoire! :)


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Offline pantsorama

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2022, 04:00:58 PM »
Does no one use slings?

Offline Jengada

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #18 on: January 03, 2022, 04:14:38 PM »
I'm pretty general about the similar weapons, so for example, the bard who's proficient with morning star can use his bonus on the scourge. No one seems to want the geleis  :( If I rule a weapon is a similar weapon, then a character who has DP invested in the new weapon can use it at half their better weapon bonus, plus class level and stat bonuses. Eventually, that brings the similar weapon up ahead of the half-rank old weapon bonus. If they don't put DP in, then they use the similar weapon at its own rank, even if it's 0. I find this makes an incentive for learning the new weapon to some degree, but still allows the occasional random weapon pick-up.
My party is now 10th level. They started out with scimitars, bows, morning stars, and staves. But the campaign has taken them to entirely new cultures, where the weapons used are very different. They have found it hard to find anyone to train them in their own weapons (but now at 10th I'm allowing self-training) and are reluctant to take on a new weapon, for fear they'll go back home and have no one to train them with it there. The newer weapons include steel scourge/scorpion, and a custom weapon called a geleis that's basically a flamberge rapier with side-prongs for disarming. They like the weapons, but haven't committed any development points yet.

Which manner of similar weapons grouping do you use?  We use the broader groupings of weapon categories from one of the Companions.  (I'll have to look it up.)  I don't recall if it breaks it down further to single edged and double edged, but it's basically 1H Slash, 1H Krush, 2H Slash, etc.  Any weapon listed in the category can be used without penalty.  I know other methods allow partial skill ranks to carry over if the PC takes on a new/different weapon.  The players should be happy to be able to get a new weapon in their repertoire! :)
We ask the hard questions here, because they keep us too busy to worry about the hard questions in the real world, and we can go with the answers we like the best.

Offline OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol

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Re: What is you and your players' favourite weapon (type)?
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2022, 02:17:39 AM »
We use the broader groupings of weapon categories from one of the Companions.  (I'll have to look it up.)
RoCo. V?

Quote
I don't recall if it breaks it down further to single edged and double edged, but it's basically 1H Slash, 1H Krush, 2H Slash, etc.  Any weapon listed in the category can be used without penalty.
Okay, mayhap not RoCo. V, as it does "break it down it down further to single edged and double edged". As far as I'm concerned, I use the RoCo. V categories, though I added a couple for polearms, which doesn't get much aside from mounted and not mounted…
The world was then consumed by darkness, and mankind was devoured alive and cast into hell, led by a jubilant 紗羽. She rejoiced in being able to continue serving the gods, thus perpetuating her travels across worlds to destroy them. She looked at her doll and, remembering their promises, told her: "You see, my dear, we succeeded! We've become legends! We've become villains! We've become witches!" She then laughed with a joyful, childlike laughter, just as she kept doing for all of eternity.