Statting Custom Weapons

[callen]

@InfinityzeN

Additionally "war hammers" weigh roughly the same or less than swords.

Yes, I mentioned that they also weigh much less that people tend to think. We both agreed on that.

@InfinityzeN

My break down of the force calculation in my first post had nothing limited to swords, but covered all swung weapons.

But in the case of hammers, axes, and similar, you very specifically need to make the head noticeably heavier than necessary for structural integrity. This is an important part of what makes it perform differently than a sword. If you don't do this, then it ends up with a "sweet spot" similar to a sword's, which is less successful at its job. The heads were still not nearly as relatively heavy as an with an axe we use on a tree, for instance, and certainly nowhere near the ratio with a splitting maul. But the issue remains: if the calculations show that you want to make the head only light enough for structural integrity (which can be done with a pole, no head really needed outside of making a small striking surface), then something is wrong because we know reality is not behaving this way.

@InfinityzeN

It is the calculation for kinetic energy

This is needed for swinging, too. This is what silveroak had hinted at above. If you use only momentum (angular and linear) in your calculations for a swing (as the inverse relationship between mass and velocity, though it needs rotational quantities), then you're assuming all weapons swing at the same rate while identifying that they don't because that inverse relationship requires the amount of time for the swing to be the same if the person applies the same strength. This is, for example, why we dancers, when we want to spin quickly, make ourselves harder to spin at the beginning, not easier to spin; we only switch when we're done applying the force. There are, of course, limiting factors.

@InfinityzeN

On the related note, would that not just be effectively throwing the axe at extremely short range from a rules standpoint?

If I remember right, that's what my friend was trying to argue against. The thought was that you could actively swing with ReTe right up to the moment before hitting to get the advantages of controlling the blade the whole time while avoiding the disadvantages of throwing it Vilano-style and it should cause damage more like a swung weapon. But the reality ends up much more like a thrown axe, as you point out.

Oh, apparently I actually did it for a katana since I was able to look up breakdowns on it, including a typical sweet spot, center of mass, length, and weight all in relation to each other. I also did with with a very trivial scenario (the axis of rotation wasn't realistic) which was noted to be off because I was just presenting the basic behavior to show that holding on does most certainly matter.

Magic sword vs. Faerie Might

Careful, you're starting to veer very, very far from how the factors are important. If that were actually the case, why not use a much longer haft with a slightly lighter head? That would create more rotational inertia. Why not just use five times as much mass on the head? That would concentrate the mass more at the head and increase the rotational inertia. Here's a modern case: why do you use an axe to fell a tree and not a maul? (There's an additional point to the axe vs. maul that I've inclu…

The katana fares worse than a typical sword built for chopping does because of the sweet spot's location so far up it. Anyway, that calculation was just to show that follow-through is an important part of the strike.

@InfinityzeN

What it all boils down to was an attempt to show that "Dragonslayer" is virtually impossible to make into an effective weapon without something like magic or anime physics. In Ars Magica that is easily done with a Re(In)Te effect, though some would argue a ReTe effect would be enough.

I totally agree with that. We may see it a lot in MMORPGs, anime, and the like, but those huge, disproportioned swords don't work at all in reality.