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  1. #11
    You should check out the WotC book Unearthed Arcana as it has a whole bunch of awesome alternative rules. One such rule is the weapon group proficiencies. Instead of your class being proficient with all simple or martial weapons right away, you get to pick a certain number of "weapon groups" such as swords, axes, clubs, daggers, etc. depending on your class. Usually you end up with a much narrower range of proficiencies, but it also makes the exotic weapons a little more accessible. I think this works great for style of play, as you won't have characters constantly switching out their weapons for the new magical ones they find in adventures, especially if they are not proficient with them.

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    I was going to point out something similar in the 2nd edition where broad based weapon groups would allow for the use of similar weapons. There is a proficiency cost of course, but then you have access (without penalty) to the whole group of weapons. The Complete Fighter is the source.

    Later


  3. #13
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MatanThunder


    I was going to point out something similar in the 2nd edition where broad based weapon groups would allow for the use of similar weapons. There is a proficiency cost of course, but then you have access (without penalty) to the whole group of weapons. The Complete Fighter is the source.

    Later

    Also Player's Option: Combat and Tactics.

    That also introduced differnet levels of "specialization" and ways for non-fighters to get weapon specialization.

    But, like I pointed out much earlier - this is not a BRCS (re: 3.5 Birthright) issue but rather a broader view point of general gameplay and should thus be handled via house-rules (even thought those may only be including some "optional" rules from other source books).
    Duane Eggert

  4. #14
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    Some thoughts.

    A lot of distinctions between weapons are artificial as weapons vary in many different ways and were often custom built for the user -
    Unless a weapon is massproduced for an army - a master weaponsmith would specifically design a weapon depending on the users desires. They would also take into account Height, reach, strength and size of limbs (+ hand span).

    Therefore many weapons thrown into a "category" eg shortsword would vary considerably - balance, reach weight etc. Some weapons considered to be long Daggers (eg elvish longknife ) could overlap with this category.

    A weapon used by someone as part of a unit has to be standardised and specific skills would be used in Mass fighting and Unit to unit fighting that are particular to formation fighting. eg Roman Legionaires. Greek Phalanx. Stabbing with Gladius between shield walls.

    Once a formation breaks down fighters are able to move and use techniques with the same weapon that they cannot use in a formation (without endangering themselves and others.) - This becomes dueling - more D&D style broken combat. Of course a formation almost instantly destroys any broken formation - something D&D never accounts properly for - but that allows heroics so thats all good.

    A weapon master picking up a weapon would adjust most quickly to a weapon that suits their style of fighting best. Dagger to a Halberd would be a big shift but watching serious martial artists adjust to new styles and weapons is scary as they adjust very quickly - however they are not at their best - they do not have the full range of "tricks" and skills available to them.

    D&D has always allowed your THACO to be used for any weapon. This is in itself not that realistic as you can pick up any weapon never having touched one in your life and swing it at you full THACO.
    A circumstance modifier -2 could be given as a temporary penalty - lost in any time the weapon is trained with and used from 10 minutes to a couple of weeks.

    Using a weapon focus or specialisation with another weapon no matter how close shouldn't be allowed.

    You could use a bell hilted main gauche as a dagger but its not actually suited to flicking from hand to hand - the blade tends to be thicker, it is heavier and suited for parrying - not quite as nice for sliding into someone ribs. - The style of fighting is quite different when using one. - a dagger can also be used in the off hand as a parrying weapon but its more likely to snap - or the blade being parried to slide up, over the hilt and into the hand of the user.

    So how much do you want to adjust for circumstance and style - lack of familiarity with a weapon or technicalities of balance weight reach?

  5. #15
    Ehrshegh of Spelling Thelandrin's Avatar
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    At the risk of sounding obvious, in 2nd Edition (the last time THAC0 was used), there were hefty attack penalties for using a weapon you weren't familiar with.

    Even in 3.X, there are still non-proficiency penalties, even if the list of known weapons is much greater now (and BAB is used rather than THAC0). You could always use the weapon group rules from Unearthed Arcana if you feel that that brings greater verisimultude.

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