Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Kentor_Slowhand_02 May 17, 2015 12:31:07	I know there are rules for heavy weapons and small characters, but are there rules concerning halfings and gnomes using weapons such as long swords, warhammers or battleaxes?
#2 AaronOfBarbaria May 17, 2015 12:42:43	Yeah there are - the rules are that they can use them just like everyone else can.
#3 Kentor_Slowhand_02 May 17, 2015 12:54:13	Hrrrm...ooook.
#4 OnionDruid May 17, 2015 13:44:47	First thing I looked into when I made Geri Glittersneeze was if versatile weapons had some weird rules when dealing with small creatures. But nope, I was remembering a 4e rule about versatile weapons having to be used in two hands, which didn't make the jump to 5e. I actually hate that heavy weapons penalize small creatures, if I have a 20 strength Gnome/Halfling then I want him to work just like any other 20 strength creature... Stop putting real world physics into a game where real world physics take a back seat to everything else.
#5 AaronOfBarbaria May 17, 2015 14:02:43	"real world physics" is not getting involved in the weapon wielding rules. If that were the case, there would be penalties for using normal sized one-handed weapions and much stricter penalties or prohibitions for using larger weapons.   What is causing the penalty for small size characters wielding heavy weapons is not "real world physics" - it is "we decided characters wielding weapons 3x their height in length or nearly half their own weight didn't seem cool without a downside."   We're talking about having a worse chance to hit because what you are doing is the equivalent to the average human wielding an 12'-30' long weapon that weighs more than 60 lbs, and that is what short of "real world phsyics".
#6 OnionDruid May 17, 2015 19:34:43	You can say that all you want but it simply isn't true. The rules punishing PCs that have just as much strength as another based on size IS using real physics. Saying something is unwieldly because the PC is 3' tall even though they have the same or more strength as a 5'10" human IS using real world physics. You might as well be using racial ability score caps and saying that Strength 20 =/= Strength 20. The same thing happens with grappling rules between smaller and larger creatures... These rules are stupid as they say Strength X does not equal Strength X, and use real world physics to say the smaller creature will have a harder time than the bigger creature. Bull crap. I would like to see my halfling monk grab the gargantuan dragon by the nose and slap the tar out of it. Fantasy loses its luster when you make rules that specifically bring world physics into the game to punish a specific section of players.
(Reply to #6) Kentor_Slowhand_02	OnionDruid wrote:
(Reply to #7) arnwolf666	Kentor_Slowhand_02 wrote:
#9 AndrewJO May 18, 2015 2:05:32	I think calling them "heavy" weapons was a poor choice of words. Is a 3 lb longbow really heavy? They should have called them "large" weapons or something like that.
#10 Kithas48 May 18, 2015 14:00:30	I agree "Heavy" does seem like a misnomer as it is actually the weapons size not it's weight that is the problem. The same is true of grappling, you can be weak and still have an easy time in wrestling if your limbs are really long, I wrestled for 2 years, it really makes enough of a difference to be represented. Also yes we want physics, maybe not 'real world' physics but it has to have some tie to reality or it's useless.
(Reply to #8) OnionDruid	arnwolf666 wrote:
#12 durntaur May 18, 2015 16:33:01	OnionDruid wrote:
(Reply to #12) OnionDruid	durntaur wrote:
(Reply to #9) Lanliss	AndrewJO wrote:
#15 FunkySpunk May 25, 2015 3:29:01	I don't particularly like the rule either, but it is what it is.
#16 Horwath May 25, 2015 7:40:16	OnionDruid wrote:
#17 Eck May 25, 2015 13:11:36	OnionDruid wrote: