Are the battle axe, long sword and flail in the rules – weapons that give +1 damage – supposed to be two-handed weapons? It doesn’t actually say so.
I’m not interested in historical or other game definitions; I know all that. Nor “Do what you want” answers. Merely this game’s authorial intent.
I’m pretty sure that “as you like it” is authorial intent.
if they have the 2-handed tag, yes. If not… maybe?
They don’t have the Two Handed tag. Actually, there isn’t a two handed tag, though staff and halberd say they are, and bows don’t. If they aren’t two-handed, though, the equipment list doesn’t mention two-handed swords.
I can’t speak to the author’s intent, but I do notice that the weapons in question are twice the weight and almost twice the cost of their smaller cousins. It seems like he’s saying that heavier is slightly more damaging.
Adrian Brooks
Sure there is, it’s listed as a general equipment tag rather than a weapon tag though.
Matthew Keevil So there is.
So, the question is thus:
Should the battle axe, long sword and flail have the Two Handed tag?
With a side order of
Should the Ragged-, Fine-, Hunters- and/or Cross- bow have the Two Handed tag?
Complex question because tehre are two handed and one-handed versions of all of those first three. The typical medieval battle axe was actually pretty light and wielded one-handed, more like a long-handled hatchet than the massive double-headed axe of fantasy barbarians. If by ‘long sword’ we mean something like a German langschwert then those are one-handed too, but then again the term is often also used to refer to something like a bastard sword, which are two-handed. Flails come in two flavours also; a long-hafted infantry version and a shorter morningstar-like affair wielded one handed from horseback. I’d probably assume that in all cases though the book is refering to the one-handed version, due to the lack of tag.
For the side order; they are all technically one-handed, the other hand is needed for the ammo.
Matthew Keevil I quote my OP “I’m not interested in historical [] definitions; I know all that”. But I think the author’s just accidentally missed off a tag; that’s what I want to know.
I don’t mean to be snippy; I really do know all that, and it’s a fine discussion to have should the explanation be more than a missing tag.
How else would one differentiate a short sword from a long sword, or a mace from a flail?
I don’t feel like they are missing any tags. As pointed out, the extra weight and cost account for some game balance.
If the longsword ends up being a slightly mechanically better choice, then okay, that fits general fantasy fiction by making them the common choice.
As for bows, that does seem odd. Though surely no one who has ever seen a bow would dream of arguing they can be used one-handed… oh, wait, we are talking about gamers….