Topic: Weapon Sizes and Crits

[Sazen]

While designing a new character to die in a Cyradon campaign it occured to me that a fighter would last more then one combat hopefully.

My question is with Giantism i gain 50% increase to my build, as such wouldn't a custom made weapon for my character be 50% bigger. A standerd longsword would be the same size and effective weight as a short sword, does this mean it does a Small Crit.

This occured to me when equiping my character with Shuriken. If a halfling can throw a 1.5" diameter shuriken and do a tiny crit would a 6" diameter one do a medium crit or maybe use a new skill.

[Pat]

We have had a few Giantism characters in our game and our house rule is that all weapons, armour etc is the maximum weight according to HARP.

For instance, a Mace 2-4lbs would be:
2lbs small characters (eg Halflings)
3lbs medium characters (eg Dwarves, Humans, Gryx)
4lbs giant creatures (Giantism)

We also allow Giantism characters to be able to use items found (such as rings, cloaks, pendants etc) that, in theory, would be too small to fit around fingers, necks etc

If a Giantism character in our game wanted to be able to do extra damage because of size (for instance an oversize shuriken as above) I would only allow it if the player took significant reductions in DB since it would be a lot easier to hit a 10' 700lbs player than a 5' 8'' human. I would then allow the player to make the decision as to what they prefer, being able to deliver more damage and receiving more damage or playing as a standard HARP character.

Hope this helps.....

[mocking bird]

I think an easier alternative would be rather than have weapons do increased damage, increase the weapon.  For example a 'giant's longsword' would be equivalent to a two-hander, i.e. he can use it one handed due to his size. 

A short sword would still do short sword damage if a halfling or giant were using it, the difference would be in its effectiveness due to OB increase due to strength bonus.

Also for the shuriken example, they really wouldn't be shuriken anymore if they were 6" around and as such would indeed be a new weapon.

[jasonbrisbane]

The issue with that mockingbird, is that there is a lot more bookkeeping to do for all involved.

What if the said Giant wants to wield a giant sized two handed sword? What are the fumble ranges, damage, strength required to lift, etc What if a std character wants to wield it? Does he require a Min str? Does he take an additional OB penalty? Initiative penalty to swing a giant sized weapon?

Surely a giant sized broadsword would do large damage, so a giant sized two-handed sword would do Huge crits.

So If you allow it, I can see every player suddenly getting giant weapons, then trying to Power attack so they can try to do a +10 Huge attack with a giant two handed sword...
skill specialise (+10 weapon skill) + Dense Musculature (+5 OB) + Giantism (+5) + Bonus Item (5 DP's = +5OB Item) = +25. + Power attack = +35. If you put a -40 penalty on std characters weilding huge weapons and require a STR of 90+ then you still have a huge range of people who can overbalance the game with the character... I'd take the penalty hit for this type of damage - especially if you ran it with Martial Law or H&S...


As we all GM in our group, we all agreed that we wouldnt want a headache like this so we agreed on the above.

Hope that helps (and stops future headaches!)

[mocking bird]

The issue with that mockingbird, is that there is a lot more bookkeeping to do for all involved.

What if the said Giant wants to wield a giant sized two handed sword? What are the fumble ranges, damage, strength required to lift, etc What if a std character wants to wield it? Does he require a Min str? Does he take an additional OB penalty? Initiative penalty to swing a giant sized weapon?

Surely a giant sized broadsword would do large damage, so a giant sized two-handed sword would do Huge crits.

It isn't an issue as it is still a two handed sword no matter who weilds it.  However in a giant's hands it can be weiled one handed and have standard broadsword penalties.

If you want to create a legitimate giant two handed sword then you still have to create it regardless of the rules used as you are making up a new weapon.

Not sure where the headache and bookkeeping come in since for the former the bookkeeping isn't any different and for the latter it is all self-inflicted.

For normals using huge weapons it goes far and above stength but does factor in actual size.   As such you should also discount the +20 normally added to huge attacks.  Comparing the huge table, core, to the others this bonus seems to be factored into the chart as equal numbers on the huge are actually less than on the normal crits.  This alone should discourage their use by 'normals'.

[Pat]

Reading the above posts I think there is some confusion between Giants and Giantism. I don't believe that a character with Giantism (IMO) should get any bonuses other than those stated under the talent.

In other words, a Giantism player still uses the same weapons as a standard size player and does the same criticals. The bonus they receive is +5 to strength from the Giantism.

If the ruling becomes that a player with Giantism gets to use 2 handed weapons one handed or with critical bonuses, the game would become unbalanced.

Also, we think of Giantism in terms of Gryx or Human characters. What if I want to play a Halfling wih Giantism? My maximum height would be around 5' 8" but I'm a giant so can I use 2 handed weapons 1 handed? (My guess would be no but how cool would it look?)

[Alwyn]

I am with Pat on this one, and this is how we handle it in our group.