So i was doing some research on setting up a homebrew doodad, and i noticed something. DMG section on Asian weapons, cause, ya know, similar is similar, right?
Well, I got to thinking about it, and was continuing my home brew example, and was like 'cool, what does it say a nunchaku is', and then i look at the damage for flail. Now I'm expecting d4, maybe d6, cause ive been hit with a nunchaku, and its kind of like getting hit with a stick while a guy yells "watah!". So i then see that d8 damage, and note it's similar to like, ya know, a long sword or something. And I'm like... err... wait, what?
So I google some pictures of flail. And I'm like Holyshi+eballz! That's a Flail!!1???
No Frickn way getting hit with that monster is like getting hit with a stick on a chain. Sorry dude, but no.
That got me thinking, there's all sorts of weapons that are a little bit off, but some are way out in the stratosphere. I remember looking at generic great sword damage and then noticed it didn't have reach, but similar sized and ranged weapons did. I was like, "wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense". I then watched some kungfu flick with a dude using a small 2 handed sword against a glaive dude. They had basically the same range the whole fight.
Then i found some video of the big arse swords I'm familiar with from museums and so on. Some of these monster swords are like 78 inches long and weigh close to a pry bar.
Now somewhere out there in cyberspace theres a little D&D 5e website dedicated to variant rules, and in there are giant swords N stuff, and i got to thinking 'well, that's pretty reasonable.. if you have an oversized sword, it requires very high strength and you might attack at disadvantage".
Well, stuff like that. Do you guys ever get to a weapons section and go 'hey, wait, that's all wrong' but cant do anything about it because your DM has to say yes, and you know they wont? I recall people say the DM is the fix for everything, but when i pointed out the range was off on some weapons, the DM just smiled and said "zannen desune.." -_-
your last specific point - range - is not something d&d tries to get specific about. Almost all weapons have ghe same 5 foot reach. Other games get more granular than that, giving a dagger 1 foot of reach, a sabre 3 feet feet reach and a zweihander 6 feet. But d&d doesn't do that. It's one of the things you sort of have to accept about the system.
If you want a sword that provides reach, stat it out like a normal d&d reach weapon and present that to your DM, who should likely at that point say "yeah sure"
shintashi wrote:
This is a flail.
It's very much like a nunchaku, and they both originate from the same farming implement.
You probably saw pictures of a spiked flail, or one of the other more exaggeratedly dangerous looking varieties.
The thing to consider is not how wicked and dangerous looking something is, but rather this: wouldn't a metal bar swinging at high speed cracking someone in the skull be potentially lethal? The answer is yes, very much so - and a d8 damage is fine for that.
I´d go with nunchuks being equivalent to a club, but I agree, the flail is off. I´d give it either the versatile property or let it fill the d10 bludgeoning heavy, reach, two handed spot. The flail pictured above is not the flail listed in PHB btw.
Also, rmember, Tempest, that the primary difference between a Short sword and a scimitar these days is slashing vs piercing. In that sense, the scimitar is a bteer expy.
mrfisk wrote:
nunchuku damage flail: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/546288
ceremonial. probably 1d4
Kills things dead flail: http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/c-17-medieval-flails.aspx
medieval. probably 1d8
You've been hit with a nunchaku? Was it properly used (at full force)? And you weren't put in the hospital? Because those things can easily break bones.
Nunchaku, definitely a weapon where the user takes damage on a natural one. Ouch, especially if you are one of those people that insists it is not a two-handed weapon.
The morningstar flail is definitely not the flail in D&D because it's primary damage is piercing – like the morningstar, clearly (note the main difference between a morningstar and a mace is that maces deal bludgeoning damage).
The D&D flail deals bludgeoning damage, and thus was not intended to be that form.
Just like googling Longsword, and all the pictures that aren't D&D will give you what D&D will call a Greatsword, because that's what people call a Longsword in real life – it's a synonym for a Claymore. And D&D pictures will be conflicted because in earlier editions, the D&D Longsword was an Arming Sword, but now it's a Bastard Sword.
So you can't go by googling.
Of course, now I really want more chain weapons:
1. a modified flail that has reach and can be reflavoured as a Meteor Hammer (monk weapon, still bludgeoning).
2. the Spiked Flail – what you're describing (piercing).
3. a Spiked Chain weapon like previous editions (reach and piercing).
4. Cat-o-Nine-Tails (like a whip/flail hybrid, slashing damage, not bludgeoning or piercing).
5. Kusari-gama (reach and slashing chain weapon – essentially a sickle on a chain).
Azzy1974 wrote:
Marandahir wrote:
mrfisk wrote:
You're never seen a wooden weapon break a bone? Are you sure you've been hit by full combat speed and strength weapons that were hardened wood? Becuase I know pleny of people who have broken bones using foam covered sparring equipment. And if it's possible to break a bone using your hands, feet, etc, then a piece of wood, which has similar strength to a bone without all the fleshy padding to diffuse the force of the blow, can easily do the job.
There is a whole martial are from Europe dedicated to beating people with sticks that arn't much longer than a nunchaku and don't have the advantage of levered force.
Farmer42 wrote:
arnwolf666 wrote:
shintashi wrote:
To all those talking about Nunchaku as if they can only be made of wood:
Monks are proficient in clubs but they are not proficient in flails. They do not get any d8 weapon other than staffs which require two hands.
Nunchucks involve hitting people with a short length of wood.
Clubs are a short length of wood.
Okay, so now we have a choice: we can make nunchucks into clubs and not have to change anything about anything. Or we can listen to a bunch of youtube-educated people insisting that we need special rules that allow monks to use a one-handed d8 weapon with proficiency because reasons. I wish I had a rolled up newspaper right now.