Broadside of a Longsword [Archive] - Wizards Community

Broadside of a Longsword [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
corysold
12-02-05, 01:25 PM In a battle against a skeleton, or any creature which slashing weapons don't work particularly well, can I attack with the broadside of the sword instead. Would that make it more like a club and lessen the loss of attack damage due to using a slashing weapon?
Yaeri
12-02-05, 01:30 PM No it wouldn't. You can do similar things (if you take a -4 penalty to to-hit) and do subdual damage instead of normal damage. But besides that, swords are just not made for that. Even if you could skillfully wield a sword to strike like that, it just wouldn't have the impact of a club or mace. You'd do less damage because of the lack of weight in the blade.

If your weapon is magical and you don't want to use a mace because it wouldn't have the same bonuses, try enchanting your weapon with the magical ability to take the shape of another weapon. I don't know how it's called or what book it's in, but I'm guessing it's core.
Shirosai
12-02-05, 01:37 PM Or you could take a fullblade and start swinging it around. Just start spinning around and around, slowly making your way towards the skeleton(s). I'm sure you'd get one sooner or later. :D

Oh.. wait.. This thread is about the longsword. *cough* No, longswords are fairly small, they would do horrible damage, if any, to a skeleton. Just buy a small mace/club/monkey with a bat or something that you could whip out in case of skeletons.
Satori
12-02-05, 02:22 PM Ok, I'm going to stretch it a bit in favor of the original poster.

A longsword with a basket hilt or even a very large guard COULD conceivably be treated as a gauntlet for making an unarmed strike. It wouldn't provoke an AOO because Gauntlets are weapons, and it would inflict 1d3 lethal damage because Gauntlets do that to unarmed strikes.

This is seriously pushing it, though, so you'd better check with your DM just in case.
Vahenir
12-03-05, 03:58 AM Actually.. where do you think the action of "to pommel" someone comes from?

Getting hit with the pommel of a sword is incredibly painful, in my opinion much moreso than getting punched with a gauntlet, which scratches more than it bruises.

In any event, the Conan d20 RPG includes a 'pommel' attack as a standard kind of attack that any sword is capable of doing.. it's functionally no different from a gauntlet strike.

And the 'broadside' of a sword is called the flat. And you can't strike people with the flat of a sword.. it wouldn't do anything except possibly damage your sword, depending on how hard you hit them.
Wharin
12-03-05, 09:44 AM And the 'broadside' of a sword is called the flat. And you can't strike people with the flat of a sword.. it wouldn't do anything except possibly damage your sword, depending on how hard you hit them.

And the other person's pride, I would imagine, if Zorro or Erroll Flynn has anything to say about it.
Waterhammer
12-03-05, 12:12 PM With a single-edged long sword (I think of this as a"broadsword"but someone said there's no such thing) use the back of the blade to strike.

The reason I say this is that IRL I have a homemade sword that is non-sharpened,and that thing could shatter bones with ease. It should be noted that the thing is 4 1/2 feet long and somewhat heavy. If I ground the edges sharp, the weight would decrease and the balance improve.

Anyway,from messing around with that unsharpened blade I think the un-edged attack would have at least, a moderately improved skeleton smashing ability.
tarkin
12-03-05, 12:17 PM In the book "Knight", the hero has a 'mace', that is basically a sword that has a square cross-section, without a sharp edge.

He uses it because he wants people to realize he is a knight by seeing the sword hilt on his hip, even though he refuses to use any sword except the Artifact that he is on a quest to recover.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
corysold 12-02-05, 01:25 PM	In a battle against a skeleton, or any creature which slashing weapons don't work particularly well, can I attack with the broadside of the sword instead. Would that make it more like a club and lessen the loss of attack damage due to using a slashing weapon?
Yaeri 12-02-05, 01:30 PM	No it wouldn't. You can do similar things (if you take a -4 penalty to to-hit) and do subdual damage instead of normal damage. But besides that, swords are just not made for that. Even if you could skillfully wield a sword to strike like that, it just wouldn't have the impact of a club or mace. You'd do less damage because of the lack of weight in the blade. If your weapon is magical and you don't want to use a mace because it wouldn't have the same bonuses, try enchanting your weapon with the magical ability to take the shape of another weapon. I don't know how it's called or what book it's in, but I'm guessing it's core.
Shirosai 12-02-05, 01:37 PM	Or you could take a fullblade and start swinging it around. Just start spinning around and around, slowly making your way towards the skeleton(s). I'm sure you'd get one sooner or later. :D Oh.. wait.. This thread is about the longsword. cough No, longswords are fairly small, they would do horrible damage, if any, to a skeleton. Just buy a small mace/club/monkey with a bat or something that you could whip out in case of skeletons.
Satori 12-02-05, 02:22 PM	Ok, I'm going to stretch it a bit in favor of the original poster. A longsword with a basket hilt or even a very large guard COULD conceivably be treated as a gauntlet for making an unarmed strike. It wouldn't provoke an AOO because Gauntlets are weapons, and it would inflict 1d3 lethal damage because Gauntlets do that to unarmed strikes. This is seriously pushing it, though, so you'd better check with your DM just in case.
Vahenir 12-03-05, 03:58 AM	Actually.. where do you think the action of "to pommel" someone comes from? Getting hit with the pommel of a sword is incredibly painful, in my opinion much moreso than getting punched with a gauntlet, which scratches more than it bruises. In any event, the Conan d20 RPG includes a 'pommel' attack as a standard kind of attack that any sword is capable of doing.. it's functionally no different from a gauntlet strike. And the 'broadside' of a sword is called the flat. And you can't strike people with the flat of a sword.. it wouldn't do anything except possibly damage your sword, depending on how hard you hit them.
Wharin 12-03-05, 09:44 AM	And the 'broadside' of a sword is called the flat. And you can't strike people with the flat of a sword.. it wouldn't do anything except possibly damage your sword, depending on how hard you hit them. And the other person's pride, I would imagine, if Zorro or Erroll Flynn has anything to say about it.
Waterhammer 12-03-05, 12:12 PM	With a single-edged long sword (I think of this as a"broadsword"but someone said there's no such thing) use the back of the blade to strike. The reason I say this is that IRL I have a homemade sword that is non-sharpened,and that thing could shatter bones with ease. It should be noted that the thing is 4 1/2 feet long and somewhat heavy. If I ground the edges sharp, the weight would decrease and the balance improve. Anyway,from messing around with that unsharpened blade I think the un-edged attack would have at least, a moderately improved skeleton smashing ability.
tarkin 12-03-05, 12:17 PM	In the book "Knight", the hero has a 'mace', that is basically a sword that has a square cross-section, without a sharp edge. He uses it because he wants people to realize he is a knight by seeing the sword hilt on his hip, even though he refuses to use any sword except the Artifact that he is on a quest to recover.