Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Equipment of Alnwich: Swords & Spears

The first installment of equipment of Alnwich offered up a variety of polearms for the PCs to buy. Today, I'll further expand weapon options to include all of the sword and spear varieties common in Usk, and thanks to the Royal Mercantile Syndicate, are also available in Alnwich.

To begin with, it is worth noting that the Skidafolk traditionally used spears and axes as their primary weapons of war. It wasn't until contact with Usk that they began to make swords, and even then, those were of the typical straight and pointed Usking variety. It wasn't for some time that the curved swords of the Arnathian horsemen made their way to the distant North.

The typical spear of the Skidafolk is a little higher than a man with a significant blade backed by a crossbar. Often called a boar spear, these prevent enemies from running themselves through to reach the wielder. Skidafolk also used barbed throwing spears to disable enemy shields before a charge. Longer spears and spears with broader blades were also used by some tribes and are seen with sufficient regularity to be noteworthy.

As a result, the typical weapons available in Alnwich are spears, axes, and polearms, but straight and curved swords can be found with some effort or ordered, if the buyer is willing to wait. From a mechanical standpoint, I'll probably let players buy any of these with an appropriate availability roll, but I'll encourage non-native weapons be justified with back story and/or role playing.

Like the polearms, these weapons were made from those in GURPS Low-Tech using GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2 - Weapons and Warriors to create the custom ones shown here. Where the resultant stats felt off, numbers were massaged, and no attempt to match historical reality was made. Furthermore, I am using a modified version of melee weapon skills, there is a notable lack of fencing sword/knife skills. This is intentional.


Swords & Spears of Alnwich

What follows here is a list of swords and spears available for purchase in Alnwich. Those with page numbers listed can be found in GURPS Low-Tech; those that have written descriptions have full statistics below.

Barbed Javelin A javelin (see Low-Tech, p. 57) with a barbed blade that can get stuck in wounds or in shields. Pulling the weapon out requires a ST roll and inflicts half the injury it caused going in. While stuck in shields, the all Shield rolls are at -4 and all Blocks are at -2. Furthermore, if someone is holding the javelin, treat the shield as grappled.
Barbed Spear A throwing spear with a barbed blade that can get stuck in wounds or in shields. Pulling the weapon out requires a ST roll and inflicts half the injury it caused going in. While stuck in shields, the all Shield rolls are at -4 and all Blocks are at -2. Furthermore, if someone is holding the spear, treat the shield as grappled.
Bastard Sword As Thrusting Bastard Sword; Low-Tech, p. 54. 
Boar Spear A spear with a cross guard, prongs, or other obstruction to prevent an impaled enemy from running himself through to reach his attacker. These originated for the hunting of boar.
Broadsword As Thrusting Broadsword; Low-Tech, p. 55. 
Earspoon A spear with a lugs forged into the base of the blade to prevent enemies from running themselves through. Use the stats for a Boar Spear.
Estoc Low-Tech, p. 56.
Falchion  A curved sword with a broad, heavy chopping blade that flares at the tip before tapering to a point. The result is a sword that deals terrible cutting blows but lacks in thrusting penetration. Falchions come in several sizes: a Small Falchion is the size of a large knife, a standard Falchion is about the size of a shortsword, a Large Falchion is the size of a broadsword, a Bastard Falchion can be used in one hand or two, and a Great Falchion is a massive blade requiring two hands to wield.
Great Lance A massive lance longer than a pike. It is still wielded one-handed and used primarily to break up pike formations.
Greatsword As Thrusting Greatsword; Low-Tech, p. 56. 
Javelin Low-Tech, p. 57.
Lance Low-Tech, p. 58.
Long Spear Low-Tech, p. 62.
Longsword Low-Tech, p. 58.
Pike Low-Tech, p. 60.
Shortsword Low-Tech, p. 61.
Spear Low-Tech, p. 62.
Ox-Tongue Spear A broad, leaf-shaped spear on a long haft that allows for enhanced Tip Slashes (Martial Arts, p. 113).
Trident A three-tined spear that originates from a fishing spear. Use the statistics for a Military Fork.
Winged Spear A spear with wide, fanning prongs below the blade. Use the stats for a Spetum.

More GURPS Stats for Swords & Spears

Here are the GURPS stats for those weapons above with written descriptions. All other weapon statistics can be found in GURPS Low-Tech.

Broadsword (DX-5, Shortsword-2, or Two-Handed Sword-4)

Weapon
Damage
Reach
Parry
Cost
Wt
ST
Notes
Falchion, Bastard
or
sw+2 cut
thr-1 imp
1, 2
2
0U
0U
$940
7.5
12
12

Falchion, Large
or
sw+2 cut
thr-1 imp
1
1
0U
0U
$750
4.5
11
11


Lance (DX-5 or Spear-3)

Weapon
Damage
Reach
Parry
Cost
Wt
ST
Notes
Great Lance
thr+3 imp
6
No
$60
9
13
[12]

Spear (DX-5, Polearm-4, or Staff-2)

Weapon
Damage
Reach
Parry
Cost
Wt
ST
Notes
Javelin, Barbed
thr+1 imp
1
0
$90
2
6
[1 3]
Spear, Barbed
two hands
thr+2 imp
thr+3 imp
1*
1, 2*
0
0
$100
4
10
9†
[1 3]
Spear, Boar
two hands
thr+2 imp
thr+3 imp
1*
1, 2*
0
0
$90
4
10
9†
[13]
Spear, Long
two hands
thr+2 imp
thr+3 imp
2, 3*
2, 3*
0U
0
$60
5
11
10†

Spear, Ox Tongue
or
thr+4 imp
thr+3 cut
2, 3*
3
0U
0U
$90
6
11†
11†

Tip Slash.

Shortsword (DX-5, Broadsword-2, or Knife-4)

Weapon
Damage
Reach
Parry
Cost
Wt
ST
Notes
Falchion
or
sw+1 cut
thr-1 imp
1
1
0
0
$500
3
10
10

Falchion, Small
or
sw cut
thr-1 imp
1
1
0
0
$150
2
8
8


Two-Handed Sword (DX-5 or Broadsword-4)

Weapon
Damage
Reach
Parry
Cost
Wt
ST
Notes
Falchion, Bastard
or
sw+3 cut
thr imp
1, 2
2
0U
0U
$940
7.5
11†
11†

Falchion, Great
or
sw+4 cut
thr imp
1, 2
2
0
0
$1,100
10.5
13†
13†

[1] Can be thrown.
[3] May get stuck; see Picks (p. B405).
[12] Damage increases in a mounted charge; see Cavalry Weapons (p. B397).
[13] Prongs prevent an impaled foe from running himself through to reach his attacker; see Holding a Foe at Bay (GURPS Martial Arts, p. 106).

No comments :

Post a Comment