Weapons
While there are 18 skills in the Weapon Skillset, just 13 associated with specific kinds of weaponry. Each skill itself may be trained by hundreds of different weapons themselves. Most information regarding any given weapon is found by use of appraisal, but hopefully the following will help make things clearer. Below you will find information regarding the most basic of weapon properties: Weapon Class, Damage Type, Weight, Force of Impact, Balance, and Suitedness.
Weapon Classes
The class that a weapon belongs to effects everything about the weapon, effecting both the basic template of damage distribution and weight of the weapon. Weapon Classes themselves are sometimes distinct from the skill itself due to the merging of Medium and Light Edged weapons into the new class “Small Edged”, and the same with Medium and Light Blunt. You can see what class a weapon belongs to, and what skill it specifically trains, in the appraisal of that weapon. Below is a quick rundown of these most basic of weapon properties along with links to a crafted prototype of each class.
Melee Weaponry
- Edged Weapons: Small Edged, Large Edged, and Twohanded Edged
- Within each of these three bladed weapon classes there are two possible styles, dependent upon their damage profile – jabbers and slicers. That is to say, some weapons are better utilized to jab, thrust and lunge, while others are better utilized to feint, slice and chop. It should be noted that Medium Edge and Medium Blunt weapon classes do exist, but they each teach the Small Edged skill.
| Weapon Class | Example Slicer | Example Jabber | Typical weight | Crafted via |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Small Edged | Katar | Stiletto | 10-15 stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
| 2 - Medium Edged | Scimitar | Thrusting Blade | 20-35 stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
| 3 - Large Edged | Broadsword | Cinqueda | 25-50 stones | Weaponsmithing |
| 4 - Twohanded Edged | Claymore | None | 40-100+ stones | Weaponsmithing |
- Blunt Weapons: Small Blunt, Large Blunt, and Twohanded Blunt
Blunt weapons are used to jab, bash, sweep and chop, relying more on Impact damage than the other two damage types. As a result, due to armor and defenses, certain creatures may take more damage from blunt than edged weapons, or vice versa. It is good to train a variety of weapons for this purpose.
| Weapon Class | Example | Typical weight | Crafted via |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Small Blunt | Club | 15-30 stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
| 2 - Medium Blunt | Mace | 20-45 stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
| 3 - Large Blunt | Greathammer | 35-60 stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
| 4 - Twohanded Blunt | Akabo | 50-100+ stones | Carving and Weaponsmithing |
Staves includes quarterstaffs and the like, while polearms includes pikes and halberds. These weapons are usually so long that they are likely to not fit in any traditional containers and will require a weapon strap of some sort to allow one to carry them on their person. Note also that the edged/blunt distinction does play a role in which attacks are most effective with each kind of weapon. It should be noted that sometimes Polearms and Heavy Thrown overlap (as in the case of the Javelin). Also, Nightsticks are not a pole-range weapon, but do train the Staves skill.
| Weapon Class | Example #1 | Example #2 | Typical weight | Crafted via |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Staves | Nightstick | Quarterstaff | 40-60 stones | Shaping and Weaponsmithing |
| 2 - Polearms | Halberd | Spear | 35-100+ stones | Weaponsmithing |
Missile Weaponry
The bow skill includes short bows, longbows, and composite bows. There are both light and heavy crossbows. There are also regular slings and staff slings. Each of these weapons use their own ammunition: bows use arrows, crossbows use bolts, and slings use projectiles such as rocks. Bows and crossbows are usually shoulder-worn weapons, though some short bows may fit into larger containers such as backpacks. It’s worth noting that there are light and heavy crossbows, as well as arbalests and stonebows, but unfortunately the distinctions between these are lost upon me.
| Weapon Class | Typical Loading RT | Most Important Stat | Crafted via |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Shortbows | 1-2 | Agility | Shaping |
| 2 - Longbows | 3-5 | Agility | Shaping |
| 3 – Composite bows | 6-9 | Strength | Shaping |
| 4 – Light Crossbows | 7-10 | Agility | Tinkering |
| 5 – Heavy Crossbows / Arbalests / Stonebows | 10-18 | Strength | Tinkering |
- Thrown Weapons: Light Thrown and Heavy Thrown
Each skill includes both edged and blunt varieties which may be thrown, lobbed, or hurled. Bladed weapons will typically lodge when used with the basic Throw verb, while blunt weapons will not. Anything used with the Lob command will never lodge in the enemy, while anything thrown with the Hurl command may lodge, whether bladed or not. Anything lodged in a creature may be retrieved upon their death via looting.
| Weapon Class | Example Blunt | Example Edged | Typical Weight | Crafted via |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – Light Thrown | Bola | Throwing Dagger | 10-30 stones | Weaponsmithing |
| 2 – Heavy Thrown | Throwing Hammer | Javelin | 20-45 stones | Weaponsmithing |
Damage Type
All weapons have damage broken down into three relevant categories: puncture, slice, and impact damage. While all attacks will utilize all of these elements to determine the overall damage done in any given attack, a jab is weighted to utilize puncture damage more heavily than slice or impact, for instance. On the other hand, a weapon high in slice and impact will do more damage with a chop than with a bash, and a weapon high in impact damage will be better utilized to bash than to thrust.
Please see Appraisal:Weapons for a listing of the various values associated with these three damage types.
Weight
The weight of a weapon is generally relative to its weapon class. Small is lighter than Medium, which is lighter than Large/Heavy, which is lighter than Twohanded, for instance. The barrier between classes varies greatly, however. It is entirely possible to have a twohanded weapon that is lighter than a large weapon, for instance. Bastard swords in particular are known for being light twohanded edged weapons – this is likely due to their status as a swappable weapon that can serve as either class depending upon its current configuration.
Generally speaking, the primary impact of weight is upon the roundtime associated with each attack. Please see Roundtime for more detail. Strength and agility are used to determine roundtime of an attack, while Stamina determines one’s fatigue.
As a general reference: SE/SB are usually 10-20 stones, LE/LB from 30-45, and 2HE/2HB from 40-80, with greatswords and the like can tipping the scales at 100+ in some cases.
Often the lower weight weapons are preferred for younger adventurers, while elders, who have the strength and stamina to effectively wield them, prefer heavier weapons that hit harder with each strike.
Balance, Suitedness, and Force of Impact
Force of Impact is a relative unknown to me, though it is apparently heavily weighted in the equation that determines if an attack stuns an opponent or not according to a post by DR-KODIUS several years back.
Balance is primarily utilized to determine how easy it is to parry with a particular weapon in hand, as well as improving the damage of weapons with high puncture damage. On bows and crossbows this stat determines damage done to a great extent, as one cannot parry with a bow or crossbow. Agility is important to users of weaponry that features high balance.
Suitedness is used to translate one’s strength into additional damage done.
Crafted Weaponry
Crafted weapons are generally considered superior to store-bought weaponry. Steel weapons are often crafted from a mixture of High Carbon Steel ('HCS' - see Steel) and oravir to create light weight, high quality weaponry for the masses, while individuals with greater strength and stamina may prefer kertig or haralun weaponry that is heavier and more powerful. Glaes is also common for rare, high-quality weaponry, but it is also much ligher than kertig or haralun and thus serves a slightly different purpose due to the difference in the final weight of the weapon.
That said, store-bought weaponry is of a quality that is generally considered rather decent, greater than many basic crafted pieces. In order to be superior to store-bought goods, crafted goods must usually be masterfully-crafted, and of appropriate materials (ideally MCS or superior).
Melee weapons may be crafted via Weaponsmithing or Carving, while bows are crafted via Shaping and crossbows via Tinkering. It is important to note that it is common for multiple crafted weapons to utilize the same template. For instance, if you look at the Foil (Crafted) page, you’ll see a note that the pasabas, rapier, and thrusting blade all utilize the same template as the foil itself, making each of these four weapons identical in final stats and performance.
A Note About Supporting Skills
Melee Mastery and Missile Mastery work in conjunction with the standard weapon skill to improve one’s use with the general class of melee or missile weaponry. This aids greatly in backtraining – the training of lower skilled weapons – so that one might not have to hunt too far below their maximum in order to effectively learn.
The Offhand Weapon skill is somewhat unique in that it involves the use of the left hand in attacks. This skill may be trained by adding the word LEFT after your attack command. ATTACK LEFT, or THROW LEFT, will train this skill. It may be utilized for small edged, small blunt and light thrown weapons. Some guilds may use it with medium edged/blunt weaponry as well.