What's my Weapon?: ...This Thing!


Advice

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

What weapon in Pathfinder would be the best match for the weapon this knightly dude is holding in this illustration?


Guisarm maybe? Possibly even a Fauchard? It has a short handle but could use their stats.

It also reminds me a little of the "Server" from Dark Souls (a "curved greatsword", probably analogous to a Falchion in PF).

You could feasibly call it a greatsword/falchion/etc and just use the picture as flavour, it doesn't have to have unique stats.


It is likely one of the countless weapons that get tossed in the 'falchion' category.
-From the looks of it, it is a single edged weapon- the slight line in the middle appears to be a spine or blood groove type deal.
-The jutting section on the left would likely be the blade (in a meat cleaver style). This idea is reinforced by the presence of the hook on the other side- it is placed towards the tip of the sword (which seems more like the strike area, so the hook would get into the way if it was a cutting edge).

So overall, this just seems like a falchion designed with a weapon catching hook on the back edge.


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Looks like a Glaive-Guisarm with the handle cut off. Honestly European polearms (and Chinese) are all over the place with no real standard design. So when you try to identify one its a case of 'close enough' really is.

If you wanted to use it cut down to a sword, calling it a Falchion is close enough. If you really want it to be a one-handed weapon you could pretend its close enough to a Khopesh to use those stats.

Silver Crusade

It looks like the artist cut a polearm weapon down to size for the illustration. You could call it a 'falchion', or you could call it a polearm.


Kinda looks like a bardiche-fauchard combo as a sword.
But like the other said, best option is to just call it a Falchion


Yup, I have to agree with lemeres, "falchions" came in lots of wierd shapes, and that looks exactly like some of the more strange shaped falchios.


To me, it looks like a Long Sword with a hook on it. What's the hook for? I guess Tripping?

I would call it a Long Sword with the Tripping quality, so a Temple Sword or a Khopesh. Those swords are problably something different, but those are the rules my instincts tell me to use.

Radiant Oath

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Also, I kind of found a couple of photos that's kind of similar. Does this influence deciding what it is? The photos seem to name them as guisarmes.


The second of those photos is what I'd call a [url]http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/weapons/weapon-descriptions/bill]Bill[/url], except for being rather short.

A bill as an agricultural tool is a hooked blade, though it doesn't have the spike. Good for lopping side branches off tree trunks. I think your chap has something of that nature, combined with a straight blade on the other side.

He might have started with a polearm but the shaft was damaged so it's now shorter. Explains why he looks so glum.

Khopesh stats would work, or you could make it 1d10 if you think it's two-handed. That's quite a long hilt.


Archpaladin Zousha wrote:
The photos seem to name them as guisarmes.

Well, it is listed in The Archives of Nethys, which does list book references.

The reference does say its on a 8ft pole, but if you want to copy the exact image you could ask the GM if you could. I would say keep the stats of this weapon, but remove the "reach" that is listed, which would explain why we are removing the 8ft pole.
I would think it should be two-handed because the size of the blade is a bit unwieldy.

Silver Crusade

Yep, that weapon totally looks like a polearm, specifically a Bill or Gisarme, that's had the shaft removed and been re-purposed as a sidearm. I'm not aware of any historical swords shaped like that, but lots of polearms. Look carefully at the handle. Doesn't that look like a short replacement handle, possibly made of something organic, that's been fitted into a polearm shaft?

Reminder: Polearms are main battle weapons. Swords are generally sidearms. A sidearm is secondary weapon you use when you have to fight yet don't have a primary weapon. Polearms, and especially spears, dominated historical battlefields for centuries. Spears, and most other polearms, are defensive weapons. A spear is flat-out a more effective weapon than a sword. Pathfinder simulates this reality with reach rules, which give free extra attacks to reach weapon wielders. This is what makes two handed reach weapons generally more combat effective than non-reach weapons in Pathfinder.

Polearm --> Sword

as

Rifle --> Pistol


If i'm being honest?
I'd take a guilsarme or a polearm of some sort.
break it half way. It is now an improvised weapon
and use shikigami style and some traits and the gloves to make it usable.

I wanna do a broken sword user this way.


As is, it's basically a machete/dogslicer.


It looks kind of like some depictions of the Harpe (Perceus' weapon).


The second photo you posted is almost certainly a Falx. It was primarily a piercing/chopping weapon with the edge running along the inside of the curve. Here's a video of a modern Falx replica. The weapons could be made one or two handed and varied in curvature.

I'm not aware of a weapon which would function as a straight analogue to the Falx. As other's have said, the closest thing is likely the falchion. Weapons with the trip property or the ability to alternate between slashing and piercing damage are likely the best way to emulate it's real world function.


Actually, a Nodachi would be pretty close to the Falx. Perhaps with the Tactically Adapted (Trip or Disarm) weapon modification?


That is a fauchard's blade repurposed into a vicious-looking two-handed machete by swapping out the pole.

So, take that weapon and remove the reach property.

Silver Crusade

Or fix the haft and turn it back into a polearm, thus returning it to its original effectiveness!

The Exchange

Looks like the weapon itself is most similar to a 'harpe' though for game purposes I expect it would stat out very similar to a Khopesh.

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