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STR Min and 2 Handed Weapons


Jrandom

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Why shouldn't ever Fantasy warrior buy up their STR by 3 so that they can wield the 2hed version of their preferred weapon, while still having a shield? 

 

Is this the only "book" rule for stopping every fighter from going full "Hollywood" and using huge weapons in one hand?

 

6E2 199 states:

 

However, characters can use some two-handed weapons (such as great swords) with one hand; if so, increase the STR Minimum by +3 (or impose a -2 OCV penalty for rifles and other weapons for which the STR Minimum Cannot Add Damage).

 

 

A Long Sword does 1d6+1 HKA with 12 STR Min.  The Great Sword is 2d6, with a bonus +1 OCV, with a 17 STR Min.  Since most warriors want to have high strength, why not go straight for 20 STR, then get maneuvers and bonus DCs to max out your damage at 4d6 HKA one handed?

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Well, don't stop them, but warn them that their characters won't stand out. One schtick per character, eh?

 

The setting was described by one player "Fantasy Post-Apocalyptic," so they are on the more primitive end of the scale now.  So if everyone wants to use 2h'd clubs one handed, go for it.  The fad will die out eventually.

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Depending on the campaign, even higher limits won't really stop the players from doing that. And I'd have to admit that I'd still be bothered about it if Pachelbel the Parbarian with his STR 25 would wield that two-handed sword in one hand (assuming a non-Discworld-esque campaign). Mostly because I can't imagine that looking good or working that well. And I've seen LARPers...

 

My players aren't really into exploiting that, so I never had a big issue with it. But my general stance was that, due to this being rather unusual, just forget about your Martial Arts or even CSL's helping you out with that odd fighting style. Good luck finding the hidden cloister of one-handed polearm clapping.  As the rules even say, sometimes it just doesn't work. Also, this raises the STR Minimum, so the threshold for adding damage is raised, too. With sufficient STR or when the doubling rule is hit already, this doesn't matter, though.

 

Although, to be fair, even with insufficient STR, a -1 OCV penalty isn't really all that penalizing. And then there's the reverse, where people swing their daggers around in a stout two-handed grip, like Cpt. Kirk after he went to Limerick.

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My last fantasy character was a fighter-type.  He had an 18 DEX, an 18 STR, +2 CV with all melee and +2 CV with swords, and used a bastard sword.

 

When he used the sword on-handed with a shield he assigned the +2 melee to his OVC and used his extra STR plus is sword skill levels for DCs.  So he had 8 OCV, 8 DCV and hit for 2d6.

 

When he used the bastard sword in two hands he assigned the +2 melee to his DVC and the sword skill levels to his OCV.  So he had 8 OCV, 8 DCV and hit for 2d6.

 

He ditched the shield all together, and eventually ditched his chain mail armor since he so badly outclassed the 4 CV mooks the GM kept throwing at us.

 

Sure he could have gotten another +1 OCV by using a great sword, but that would have just been taking a piss on the GM's campaign.

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The house-rule I use, which I thought was official, is that one-and-a-half handed weapons require +2 STR to wield one-handed, and -3 STR to weild two-handed. Two-handed weapons require +5 STR to weild one-handed. Or, to use raw numbers, a one-and-a-half handed weapon requires x1.3 times as much strength to use one-handed, and 2/3rds as much strength to weild two-handed. A two-handed weapon requires 2x as much strength to weild one-handed.

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