> Say you had this Humakti who always used the Greatsword. Then in
one
> scene he ended up fighting with
>
> A - A short sword
> B - A broom handle
>
> I reckon he could use his GreatSword skill at an improv of -10 on
> each of those.
That's actually remarkably similar to what I was doing over the weekend: waving various bits of steel and wood at people, and learning new weapons. Including my first go at great-sword and quarterstaff :)
Let's think: using the short-sword, his defence would be almost unaltered. You block with the lowest bit of the blade in any case. Only having one hand on the grip would mess things up a bit, but it's possible to use almost anything two-handed if you want to. Not the best use of the weapon, though.
His attacks would go to pieces because he'd be using a weapon so much
shorter than he was used to. Yes, it does make a huge difference: I
was facing a swordsman last week who was using a sword 6" shorter
than he was used to, though of the same style. He usually wins
easily, this time he never got near me.
Also, lighter weapon, the momentum isn't there, so you don't rely on
there being any force behind the blow. Shortswords stab, not slash,
mostly.
I'd give a heavier modifier to attack than to defence. If you want to get that complicated. And yes, -10 as an average sounds about right. - 5 when defending, -15 when attacking.
Broomhandle? Let's assume its the same length as his greatsword. Not as long as a quarterstaff, you'd have to treat it as a one-ended weapon.
The balance is a lot further forward, but the overall weight is much lower. It would handle differently, but probably not enough to make it awkward.
The basic attacks could be almost the same as with the sword, though dealt with a blunt weapon not a sharp one. Less damage, but same chance of hitting.
Defence: similar to the sword, but hindered by the lack of a crossguard on a broomhandle. And the broom handle just isn't as strong: a heavy enemy attack could break it.
Again, yes, -10 sounds about right. The problems here being the lack of damage done when attacking, and the chance of your weapon breaking. Plus perhaps the sheer embarrassment factor of using a nonsword: though if he thinks of it as a wooden practise sword it might make things easier.
If he has to use those weapons again, then the modifier might drop a bit, but as long as he's trying to use another weapon as if it were a greatsword, there'd always be a modifier of some level. He'd need to learn/be taught how the weapon *should* be used to be effective with it.
If that all looked a bit "simulationist", then my apologies. I'd hope it could be used to give some narrative backing to the modifiers.
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