Reasons For Using a Weapon

[Chippy]

I expect Obsidian have this covered (I must resist the urge bring up stuff that was standard years ago and feel it warrants attention now because current RPG's are so accessble) but I was wondering about giving certain weapons some practical advantages/disadvantages.

 

One exmple that comes to mind is large weapons (halberd, longbow) either not being usable by thieves or giving them a penalty to their skills.

Speed factors and initiative was a major reason for me to pick a weapon in the IE games. Although initiative was broken.

Dragon Age did a great job of allowing handaxes that extra bonus to strength to compensate for the off-hand penalty.

 

So maybe this is all standard, but what about including actual weapon characteristics such as:

 

The Two handed axe hook opposite the cutting edge being used to pull shields away from enemies.

(Shogun 2 intro movie style) Katana - or equivelent - cuts through spear shaft.

Blunt weapon beats helmet.

Dagger doesn't parry halberd.

 

Etc, etc. That's the gist of it. To give fighters a reason to pick a weapon, and make it similiar to choosing the right spell per encounter.

Otherwise there are too many examples of RPG fans picking a weapon based on (what they know) will be in the game, pure damage and munchkinism. That's a term right?.