Bastard Sword question

old school gamer · Post by **old school gamer** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:36 am

So just how does the Bastard Sword work now? Is it a one-handed or two-handed weapon? If it is a one-handed weapon then why shouldn't use it instead of a broadsword or longsword? If it is two handed than why not just use a two-handed sword since that does more damage? Is there something I am missing here?

pineappleleader · Post by **pineappleleader** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:02 am

old school gamer wrote:
So just how does the Bastard Sword work now? Is it a one-handed or two-handed weapon? If it is a one-handed weapon then why shouldn't use it instead of a broadsword or longsword? If it is two handed than why not just use a two-handed sword since that does more damage? Is there something I am missing here?

IMHO the Bastard Sword is not done justice in the PHB.

In the 1E Unearthed Arcana it can be used both one handed w/shield or two handed w/o shield. When it was used one handed it was treated as a long sword. I would give it the following stats:

One Handed 1d8

Two Handed 1d10

It is my favorite weapon for fighters. The first 1e AD&D game I played in, the DM gave out many magic Bastard Swords. A fun weapon to use in character.
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Dragonhelm · Post by **Dragonhelm** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:13 am

pineappleleader wrote:
In the 1E Unearthed Arcana it can be used both one handed w/shield or two handed w/o shield. When it was used one handed it was treated as a long sword. I would give it the following stats:

One Handed 1d8

Two Handed 1d10

I agree. It's supposed to be the "hand-and-a-half" sword. A bit better than a longsword, not as good as a greatsword. The C&C PHB version doesn't provide the distinction of fighting with one hand or two.

And I have to say, this method is MUCH better than requiring a feat to use the bastard sword.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:19 am

I agree with the other posters.

In my game it is utilized the same way. Stolen from previous editions.

irda ranger · Post by **irda ranger** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:11 pm

I do exactly as pineappleleader does.
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Jason Vey · Post by **Jason Vey** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:44 pm

My method is, only clerics whose god has it as a favored weapon, and fighters who take their Weapon Specialization in bastard sword can wield it one-handed. For everyone else, it's a 2-handed weapon.

Maliki · Post by **Maliki** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:23 pm

irda ranger wrote:
I do exactly as pineappleleader does.

Ditto.
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Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:49 pm

Quote:
I do exactly as pineappleleader does.

Me to.
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moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 5:03 pm

I use 2d4 for 1 handed use as opposed to 1d8 since it's *just a bit* better than a longsword. I use 1d10 for 2 handed use though.

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The One and All · Post by **The One and All** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:42 am

Same as Moriarty.

irda ranger · Post by **irda ranger** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:08 am

I hate d4's. I swear, they aren't "random." They never come up 4 nearly as often as 1 or 2. Making the B-sword 2d4 just guarantees doing 2-3 damage with every hit. What a poor service to such a fine weapon.

That's the way it seems to me, anyway.
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The One and All · Post by **The One and All** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:46 am

irda ranger wrote:
I hate d4's. I swear, they aren't "random." They never come up 4 nearly as often as 1 or 2. Making the B-sword 2d4 just guarantees doing 2-3 damage with every hit. What a poor service to such a fine weapon.

That's the way it seems to me, anyway.

Perhaps you just ain't lucky with a d4? In the campaign im playing right now, I use a Falchion and another player a Broadsword.. both 2d4 damage dices. We both do 2d4 +1 and our average damage is 6. We rarely do less than 6, but often do more (8-9).

Luck I guess... Kinda like my evil black Ck's dices that rolls like 6-7+ crits a night.

rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:03 pm

irda ranger wrote:
I hate d4's. I swear, they aren't "random." They never come up 4 nearly as often as 1 or 2. Making the B-sword 2d4 just guarantees doing 2-3 damage with every hit. What a poor service to such a fine weapon.

That's the way it seems to me, anyway.

Word of statistician, you are right

rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:08 pm

moriarty777 wrote:
I use 2d4 for 1 handed use as opposed to 1d8 since it's *just a bit* better than a longsword. I use 1d10 for 2 handed use though.

Moriarty the Red

A "bit better" in the sense that one keeps rolling consistently around the mean (5), but it reduces the chances of rolling the longsword high values ( 8 ) and low ones ( 1 ). Precisely, you have half the chance of rolling an 8 with a bastard w.r.t. a longsword. These effects are mitigated in prolonged fights vs. opponents with large numbers of hit points, since statistically the 2d4 and 1d8 tend to be equivalent.

Cheers,

Antonio

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:25 pm

It's a sword born out of wedlock, and therefore cannot inherit lands or title.

"Bastard Sword" always gives me a fond bit of nostalgia, as when I was playing AD&D, I was still not allowed to say that word. So, my brother and I would mumble it or call it something else entirely so that we could keep playing.
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:17 pm

I have really nothing to add to the discussion, except that I think the good ole' bastard swrod got a bit jipped not being classified as either a 1-H or a 2-H. Oh well. Powerful weapon one handed though.

If you watch the LOTR films, Aragorn uses a clasic bastard sword IMO. Watching carefully he does use the bastard sword very effectively one-handed (as well as two). I understand that this is movie magic and all, but it is still cool.

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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:57 pm

Fiffergrund wrote:
"Bastard Sword" always gives me a fond bit of nostalgia, as when I was playing AD&D, I was still not allowed to say that word. So, my brother and I would mumble it or call it something else entirely so that we could keep playing.

Are you joking?

irda ranger · Post by **irda ranger** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:28 pm

rabindranath72 wrote:
A "bit better" in the sense that one keeps rolling consistently around the mean (5), but it reduces the chances of rolling the longsword high values ( 8 ) and low ones ( 1 ). Precisely, you have half the chance of rolling an 8 with a bastard w.r.t. a longsword. These effects are mitigated in prolonged fights vs. opponents with large numbers of hit points, since statistically the 2d4 and 1d8 tend to be equivalent.

Cheers,

Antonio

You'd think this would be the case, but it's just not true. 5 should be the median roll, but I think it's "good", in the sense that I hardly ever do better than 3-4.

D4's are evil; that's just all there is to it. Ask any wizard with 1 HP.
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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 5:18 pm

irda ranger wrote:
You'd think this would be the case, but it's just not true. 5 should be the median roll, but I think it's "good", in the sense that I hardly ever do better than 3-4.

D4's are evil; that's just all there is to it. Ask any wizard with 1 HP.

Yeah, yeah, I was just speaking about statistics. Real, evil dice are another thing

pineappleleader · Post by **pineappleleader** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:29 am

rabindranath72 wrote:
Are you joking?

I believe it.

I used to play 1E AD&D with a guy who always said "My Bee Sword". We would all stop the game and look at him and ask, "What kind of a Sword?".

He finally admitted that his wife and his church wouldn't "Let me use THAT WORD". After that we got him to call it "My Hand and a Half Sword".
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rabindranath72 · Post by **rabindranath72** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:07 am

pineappleleader wrote:
I believe it.

I used to play 1E AD&D with a guy who always said "My Bee Sword". We would all stop the game and look at him and ask, "What kind of a Sword?".

He finally admitted that his wife and his church wouldn't "Let me use THAT WORD". After that we got him to call it "My Hand and a Half Sword".

No comment. A sentence is a mixture of syntax and semantics. These people seem to ignore both

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:01 pm

Church groups and wives that won't let you use a historical term for weaponry... FOOLS!

That really grinds my gears...

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Metathiax · Post by **Metathiax** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:46 pm

What's wrong with the word bastard? It's as much a curse word as the word dog...
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Dristram · Post by **Dristram** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 6:59 pm

Omote wrote:
Church groups and wives that won't let you use a historical term for weaponry... FOOLS!

That really grinds my gears...

Me too! And I'm a devout Christian. I remember as a kid I couldn't say "darn" or "shoot" as expressions. I figure it stems from America's Puritanical roots where "taking the Lords name in vein" was taken too far and then applied to one word expressions calling them "cursing". When "bastard" became a word said in anger towards another person, it joined the list of unacceptable words.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 7:15 pm

Born and raised catholic here too, and I have no problems with this whatsoever. Some groups do take it too far though. A shame... but we all know that.

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GreyLord · Post by **GreyLord** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:38 pm

Hmm, I always liked the OD&D (4th ed?) interpretation better, in which a Bastard sword would do 1d6+1 damage one handed or 1d8+1 damage two handed. So you couldn't quite get it as good as a Longsword or Two Handed sword max damagewise, but average damage could actually be higher manytimes.

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:03 pm

rabindranath72 wrote:
Are you joking?

Nope, I was 8, and calling someone a "bastard" was right out of the question. It was just as bad as saying "b***h" or "a**hole" where I grew up. So, we were careful what we said, despite the context.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:37 am

Bastard swords suck. They are neither one handed, nor two-handed, and so, one requires a prehensile tail to wield it effectively. Beware the arboreal spider monkeys with their prolonged bastard branches!

pineappleleader · Post by **pineappleleader** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 4:48 am

serleran wrote:
Bastard swords suck. They are neither one handed, nor two-handed, and so, one requires a prehensile tail to wield it effectively. Beware the arboreal spider monkeys with their prolonged bastard branches!

Bastard Swords are the choice of the descriminating Man-At-Arms everywhere. Use them one-handed. And when you meet someone (or something) you really dislike; let 'em have it two-handed.

My favorite weapon.
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old school gamer · Post by **old school gamer** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:57 am

Well I decided to just go ahead and rule that if someone uses a Bastard Sword two handed they can double their strength bonus damage. This works for me and it doesn't change the base damage.

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