Why are all Meleet W.P. Skills & Weapon weaker than Swords?

[Janos2001]

I have an honest question.. why do All of the other Ancient Weapon Skills suck compared to swords? Swords end up getting +1 (+2 if you take Fencing, but not counting that) to Strike and Parry more than any other Ancient, and in a game where there is no difference in damage based on if you hit it with a Blunt, a Sword, an Axe, or even a Spear (unless you took Targeting), and I didn't add Polearm because the Skill gives a VERY pitifully low bonus to damage), then what is the use other than you like the looks? I have never seen an NPC or Mob that is vulnerable to an Axe, or a Sword, or a Blunt... and on Average, you can find More swords with good damage, better than the others most of the time. I am honestly curious if Kevin, or any of the others, ever gave a reason for such a screw over of the other W.P. Skills? I mean, I prefer an axe or Polearm over a Sword any day, but yet because of the game design, I almost feel like I am railroaded into Sword if I want to have a chance to compete (Both with being able to hit AND damage). I would like to post this question to the Devs Somehow, but I don't think they read the boards, much less have a section for questions.

Thank you in advance for your time and any information.

[Janos2001]

I have an honest question.. why do All of the other Ancient Weapon Skills suck compared to swords? Swords end up getting +1 (+2 if you take Fencing, but not counting that) to Strike and Parry more than any other Ancient, and in a game where there is no difference in damage based on if you hit it with a Blunt, a Sword, an Axe, or even a Spear (unless you took Targeting), and I didn't add Polearm because the Skill gives a VERY pitifully low bonus to damage), then what is the use other than you like the looks? I have never seen an NPC or Mob that is vulnerable to an Axe, or a Sword, or a Blunt... and on Average, you can find More swords with good damage, better than the others most of the time. I am honestly curious if Kevin, or any of the others, ever gave a reason for such a screw over of the other W.P. Skills? I mean, I prefer an axe or Polearm over a Sword any day, but yet because of the game design, I almost feel like I am railroaded into Sword if I want to have a chance to compete (Both with being able to hit AND damage). I would like to post this question to the Devs Somehow, but I don't think they read the boards, much less have a section for questions.

Thank you in advance for your time and any information.

I found a spot where Maybe they will answer (though Looking at the Forum section, I doubt it), so sorry about the double post, but please, if anyone here has the answer, share? Thank you again.

[Shark_Force]

swords are more popular. that's why swords have a strong tendency to be the best weapon in a lot of games. not all, but a lot.

this is, of course, quite silly. the spear in some form or other has been the melee weapon of choice for war since pretty much forever*.

what swords have going for them (in terms of games deciding to make them the most powerful weapons) is that they are prestigious. they tend to be symbolic of rank and/or wealth.

what they actually have going for them in combat is that they make a good sidearm (that is, they can be carried around conveniently without actively wielding them), and they tend to be quite effective as a general-purpose weapon (that is, you would probably rather have a different weapon for any given situation, but a sword is probably going to be your second or third pick for melee weapon in most situations).

but games rarely do a good job (or even a decent job) of reflecting reality, these games tend to follow fantasy more than reality, and in fantasy, well, the sword is king.

* no really. they're still used today to some extent in the form of bayonets, and while you may be thinking to yourself "bayonets aren't exactly a core part of modern combat", i would point out that in comparison to just about every other weapon except maybe a knife the bayonet is doing pretty well. we may think of swords when we think of knights, but they didn't perform devastating cavalry charges with a sword, they used a lance, which is basically a spear. samurai are known for their use of swords, but the weapons of choice for war were bows and spears. pikes are spears too, and even halberds have a pointy bit on the end, though i would consider them to be more than just a spear certainly. if games were more accurate, we'd see a heck of a lot of spears in various forms, plus probably a variety of other pole weapons that incorporate a spear, and comparatively few of other types of melee weapons.

[Axelmania]

swords are more popular. that's why swords have a strong tendency to be the best weapon in a lot of games. not all, but a lot.

I can't even think of one exception.

[Shark_Force]

swords are more popular. that's why swords have a strong tendency to be the best weapon in a lot of games. not all, but a lot.

I can't even think of one exception.

in at least one game that i'm aware of (13th age i think?), you don't choose a weapon, you choose a stat block and freely decide what weapon that represents. so that would be one case of a game where swords are not better than everything else.

but yeah, it's pretty rare.

[dreicunan]

I can think of an exception to the "swords are best" trend, Palladium Fantasy! At least as WPs go in 2nd edition, Sword gets 6S (strike) and 5P (parry).

Forked gets 6S and gets there quicker, 5P and gets the first three +1 bonuses a level earlier, and +6 to entangle as well.

Knife gets 6S and 5P, plus it gets +6 throw and stacks with Targetting. Oops! Got my versions mixed up. Targetting doesn't stack with Knife in fantasy.

Pole Arm only gets 5S and 5P, but also ends up with +4 to damage.

Battle Axe givs 6S and 4P, but also gives +1d6 to damage from lvl 2 on! A 1-hand battle axe will do 4d6 once you hit level 2. 2-handed swords cap out at 3d6. Battle Axe lets you get more damage while also being able to either dual-wield or use a shield (mitigating the inferior parry bonus issue). As far as WPs go, Battle Axe is a beast.

Spear gives you 6S and 6P, plus +4 to throwing and stacks with Targetting.

So from a WP perspective, swords are definitely not the king in Palladium Fantasy.

[Axelmania]

My comment was more about their overall betterness in the game, not WP bonuses. I somehow think the rune knives / forks / polearms /axes/ spears don't compare well to the rune swords.

[Mlp7029]

I compared Blunt and Sword in RUE the plus to strike progression is identical until level 12 where Blunt stops and Sword continues with one more at level 15. Seems a lot of the W.P.s do not get a +1 at level 15.

[dreicunan]

My comment was more about their overall betterness in the game, not WP bonuses. I somehow think the rune knives / forks / polearms /axes/ spears don't compare well to the rune swords.

Well, that depends on which ones you are looking at. There are plenty of impressive non-sword rune weapons across the fantasy books. Also, rune weapons are an odd place to peg OVERALL "betterness", given that they are the rarest of the rare.