Why isn't dagger both slash & pierce?

[PrimeJunta]

Simulationists. Simulationists never change.

[Luckmann]

Are you guys still on that "daggers should slash" tale? Here watch this. That guy reviews pretty much all the PoE/medieval weapon arsenal (and he actually has it)

 

Bowie knife vs rondel dagger http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU49GhxtvVQ

 

Daggers can slash, but if the opponent has as much as any protection - forget it. (And obviously unsuitable for PoE) Which is kinda self explanatory really, but since Rambo exterminates entire countries with a hunting knife i guess this myth will never die.

See:

 

Why are rapiers? Skewering someone is actually a lot harder than than taking a swing at them.

 

Hell, why are daggers? One-handed spears? Those are easy weapons to use, not exactly hard weapons to defend against.

 

PoE's weapon system is not realistic. At all. I can write you a list, if you like. This is a standard feature of fantasy RPGs, and I've long since stopped caring to complain about it. You're welcome to do so, but try to keep perspective - clubs do not stand out in this regard.

 

(That said, I echo your sentiment about WF. I like the idea of Noble and Soldier, but I'd also like to have Swords and Polearms.)

My argument isn't really as much what is realistic as what feels thematically... "right". I agree that from a realistic point of view, rapiers aren't inherently more accurate, but as you say, it's a lot harder to skewer someone than it is to simply swing at them, but that's where the thematic feels come into play - a rapier is a precision weapon, a light weapon you take aimed pokes with, thus it gets a +Accuracy bonus.

 

Daggers I share completely, I see no reason for them to get +Accuracy. Most daggers in the game look more like knives anyway, and the stilettos fulfil the whole pokey-pokey thing and circumvents DR because of it's short-range aim or whatever. Which is why I said that I want Daggers to have "best of Slash/Pierce" - a bonus Light weapons currently do not even have access too, and Daggers suffer from the same thing as Clubs - why would you use them?

 

Spears get +Accuracy for the same reason Rapiers do, I guess.

 

So it's much less about what is realistic, and more about feeling and mechanics. Mechanically, 3 out of 6 light weapons have +Accuracy, and no weapon gets a bonus to Interrupt (which I feel would fit Clubs) and no weapon gets "best of" (which I feel would fit Daggers). That's the perspective I'm keeping. The strict realism really never enters into it.

 

_

 

Simulationists. Simulationists never change.

Verisimilitude is not simulationism. Even those harping on "realism" are generally just looking for a flimsy excuse for the suspension of disbelief relating to the system at best.

 

Daggers being Best-of-Slash/Pierce doesn't just make more sense than +Accuracy from that standpoint - or at the very least just as much sense, which isn't necessarily a lot - but also from a mechanical, systemic perspective. The goal should be to have verisimilitude, mechanics and gameplay somewhat in sync. One thing does not invalidate the other, and asking for any one part to be strengthened doesn't make someone a simulationist, a fluffmuppet or a rules lawyer.

 

No-one wants to play a game that veers too much in any one direction, unless they're functionally autistic.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Luckmann

[Shevek]

I prefer accuracy on daggers because accuracy is awesome. Best of x/y is not as good