Several such double weapons exist, but unlike in D&D the two heads were never used in the same time. Instead thensecond weapon head was intended to be a backup when you came into an situation where the primary weapon was unusable.
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Are double-bladed fantasy swords practical?
- Thread starter Quartz
- Start date
Bagpuss
Legend
Chinese have the double headed spear.
They can be of various lengths sometimes not much longer than a cricket bat, but other times longer. They are used in pairs so four tips to worry about.
[video=youtube;vv7qK-ga1Bc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv7qK-ga1Bc[/video]
This second video the Shaolin use the shorter type.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb84aJgLBDU
Last edited:
Celebrim
Legend
I suspect that is a situation similar to spinning the sticks in a game of foosball. It intimidating and it is highly effective against the inexperienced, but - aside from it also being against the rules - against skilled players it just isn't effective. Real combat values economy of motion.
BigVanVader
First Post
Oh yeah, well real robots value helicopter death, and rooms full of organs when they're done.
They gotta be careful they don't rust, though.
I cannot speak to history. I can speak to SCA fighting, in which I typically use a polearm. I find the butt spike invaluable. In an open one-on-one fight in which you can control distance, you can get by without one. In a mass battle, where you don't get to control the distance to your opponent because you're trying to hold a line or formation? That spike is invaluable.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
I was in the SCA for 1 year only, while in the army stationed in Alaska. Although I participated in fighter training, I never actually qualified as a fighter, though I was "tested" once. I've seen a polearm wielding fighter train once and watched a mass battle once, with most combats as one on one tourney. So I can relate, but not overly so.
All weapons have a reason for being, it may have been for show or combat but "if it was created" there was a use for it, even if limited. Think the kind of sword being discussed, would have been for show and not have any practical application, I don't know if it is a real weapon. Kind of propaganda weapon that test skill and looks good to the masses. History is full of things like this.
2 cents.
2 cents.
From the OP video, he addresses this concept. He basically says, lengthening the handle, having shorter blades is HOW you make the weapon practical.
Which is apparently what the chinese did.
I'm inclined to think you've defined truly Exotic Weapons in D&D terms.
Heck, half of the Asian weapons are wierd, and pretty specialized where I suspect they are more show and "just being different" than commonly used.
History might be full of examples of such weapons, but for PC shopping for something practical and commonly used, these things are definitely on the Exotic range of the spectrum.
Celebrim
Legend
A lot of the Asian martial arts show the same features. Many of them - especially the Chinese - utterly fail on practical terms, which makes you wonder 'how did this evolve'? They had something in mind. It was pretty successful at one point. What happened?
One explanation I've heard is that many of the Asian martial arts evolved in highly specialized contexts. For example, "This martial arts fighting stance and forms are based on the assumption that the user is standing knee deep in a rice patty when the fight breaks out. Once you understand that context, it makes more sense." Or perhaps, "This martial art evolved with the assumption that the practitioner would most likely be standing on a 30 degree snow covered slope. Under those circumstances, it's very practical." Or perhaps, "This martial art evolved in the context of military practice, where you had a guy with a spear standing to either side of you, and the whole point was to help that guy deliver a killing blow and get your spear back before you got stabbed."
What tends to happen, not only recently with the post 1970's popularization of the martial arts but over time, is that the assumptions behind the system tend to be lost and even the masters tended to forget why they were doing things. One problem that tends to pervade Chinese thought is that they tended to discover things first, but then record the knowledge in form of analogies and mysticism. You get this in the west as well - trying reading a pre-Newton text on alchemy. The problem was over time people would forget what the analogy actually stood for, so you see a tendency in China for things to be highly advanced and evolved and then get lost in translation. When the West brought accurate water clocks to China, they were regarded as marvels. Problem is, the Chinese had actually invented them more than a 1000 years before and lost the technology.
Well, stage craft itself had a highly refined martial art for its own 'just for show' purposes. I really like the movie 'King of Masks'. I can't help but be slightly political here, but probably one of the greatest tragedies in human history was Mao's attempt to destroy the culture of what had been for most of human history the most refined one on the planet. There is this huge break in history which we can only dimly look past now. So much humor, art, and knowledge just went poof along with the people that held it.
Similar Threads
