Sunday, June 2, 2013
Weapon Length vs. Armor Class
A quick little idea to discuss: what if, instead of a Weapon vs. AC adjustment table or various other suggestions like that, we said "when attacking an armored opponent with a weapon, you can substitute the weapon length, in feet (dropping fractions) for the armor class, up to the max weapon length/AC of 9"?
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Why, though? It doesn't make any sense from a realism perspective, and I don't really see what interesting choices it's adding...
ReplyDeleteWhy, though? It doesn't make any sense from a realism perspective, and I don't really see what interesting choices it's adding...
ReplyDeleteBecause (a) heavier weapons *were*, traditionally, better at getting through armor, and (b) someone else crunched the numbers on the Weapon vs. AC modifiers to get a single bonus per weapon and I noticed that, with two simple modifications, these are related to weapon length.
DeleteThis is just a handier way of representing the same facts.
Oops, that second link should be to the unified weapon attack adjustment post, not back to this post.
DeleteGoing with longer weapon = more leverage and opportunity to strike? Seems plausible but why would one ever wear armor or bother with weapons under 4' in length?
ReplyDeleteThey'd wear armor as defense against the shorter weapons, and they might take a shorter weapon to get first strike. Or to cut down on weight. Or other reasons where length has a downside.
DeleteAlso, I'm thinking you'd use something like this in conjunction with rules about edged weapons, chance of dismemberment, and blood loss. Metal armor prevents the worst edged weapon effects, so even if you're more likely to be hit by big swords and pole arms, you're less likely to be decapitated when hit. Small tradeoff.
poleaxe = good against plate, but spear = not so much
ReplyDeleteI think this ignores the fact that if you have a poleaxe and I have a dagger and you miss me on your first swing you're toast?
ReplyDeleteThat's my concern too. Misericordes and Rondel daggers existed for a reason.
DeleteThat reason being that once you close the distance grappling and dagger use is an excellent strategy against someone in plate.
DeleteAlthough I'm not necessarily adopting the weapon length/AC trade rule, there would also use rules about weapon speed if I did. And also, possibly, called shots, which I will be talking about tomorrow.
DeleteIf I missed you with my initial swing of my pollaxe, my point is still on-line to skewer your face, throat or groin.
Delete