Subject: RE: Two weapons
>
>On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Gareth Martin wrote:
>
> >
> > > Generally it seems to be two identical weapons, two swords,
> > > two iron maces,
> > > two "hooks", etc. (See Crunchy Tiger, Fried Dragon for more examples.)
> >
> > Miyamoto Musashi, of course, argues elegantly for the two-sword style.
> >
> > I reckon that two identical weapons work better becuase the balance is
>the
> > same and you can spend less time adjusting and thinking about your own
> > movement, balance and behaviour.
>
>Sword and (parrying)dagger works beautifully. Thow weapons of equal
>length is the choise of an ambidexterous fighter or a martial artist. It
>gives you more options, especially if you don't favor one side to the
>other.
>
> > Of course, the down side is that if you need to take heavy defensive
>action,
> > the Improv penalties are probably going to be large. So I think that if
> > there is a mechanical difference between the two, it is that the
>two-weapon
> > style is liable to greater defensive improv penalties at the GM's
> > discretion.
>
>One can do nice desperate cross-parries (crossing the weapons and
>catching the attackers weapon) but I agree it's not as easy as hiding
>behind a shield.
>
> -Adept
This thread is interesting. My knowledge about two weapon tecniques is based
primarily on a certain Drow, living for a time in Mezoberranzan and his
novels. He used two scimitars but stressed that this technique is very hard,
suited only for the ambidextrous and very heroic.
I imagine the differences this way:
-two weapons make the user an easy target for missile fire, unless he is
aware of the fire and can cut arrows in mid air with his blades!
-two weapons of different lenght are ideal for an entangle style of combat:
you block the attacker's point with the short weapon and hack him with the
other.
-two weapons need in general more space to wield efficiently than weapon and
shield, so in a very tight melee you are at a disadvantage.
-two weapons are very impressive and heroic a sight, so many enemies could
simply avoid to melee with you and keep at distance (in this way helping you
to have combat space around yourself)
-two weapons are bad at knockback, if compared with a shield: shield users
could use this kind of attack to unbalance the two-weapon fighter
-two weapons are very cinematic! I am haunted by a scene in Sam Raimi movie
where Bruce Campbell fights his demonic counterpart each wielding two
straight swords (yes, it even excedes my memory of the fine scene in the
Gladiator arena, the one with Maximus against the silver-super-gladiator)
:-(
Ciao,
Gian
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