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[Brace.] This weapon also does twice the damage indicated to any opponent when the weapon is set to receive their charge.
[Brace (L).] Indicates weapon does twice the damage indicated by the die (dice) roll to larger than man-sized creatures (L) when it is set (firmly grounded) to receive a charging opponent.
[Disarm.] Weapon capable of disarming opponent on a score required to hit AC 8.
[Dismount.] indicate[s] weapon capable of dismounting a rider on a score equal to or greater than the "to hit" score.
[Mounted Charge.] Lances may be used 1-handed while mounted. Otherwise, they must be used 2-handed. This weapon does twice indicated damage against creatures of any size when it is employed by on attacker riding a charging mount.
[Off-hand.] Characters normally using a single weapon may choose to use one in each hand (possibly discarding the option of using a shield). The second weapon must be either a dagger or hand axe.
[Versatile.] Treat as long sword if used one-handed.
[WT. (Weight).] Approximate Weight In Gold Pieces
Campaign Rules. Brace. If you declare melee or missile and you are holding a brace weapon, you can set it to receive a charge if you are the target of the charge attack.Disarm: A weapon held in two hands cannot be disarmed. The target is granted a Dexterity save vs Petrify with a bonus equal to 20 minus their THAC0 to avoid the disarm. If the save fails, the weapon falls at the target's feet or 1d10 feet away if smaller than the disarming weapon.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WEAPONS
Campaign Rules:Humans, Half-elves, and Half-orcs. Useable as Primary: battle axe, hand axe, club, cutlass, dagger, horseman's flail, gauntlet/cestus, hammer, mace (any), horseman's or footman's pick, rapier, scimitar, sickle, jo stick, broad sword, longsword, and short sword. Useable as Secondary: hand axe, club, dagger, gauntlet/cestus, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, shield, sickle, jo stick, and short sword.Elves. Useable as Primary: hand axe, club, dagger, horseman's flail, gauntlet/cestus, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's or footman's pick, rapier, scimitar, sickle, jo stick, broad sword, longsword, and short sword. Useable as Secondary: hand axe, club, dagger, gauntlet/cestus, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, shield, sickle, and short sword.Dwarves. Useable as Primary: hand axe, club, dagger, horseman's flail, gauntlet/cestus, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, sickle, and short sword. Useable as Secondary: hand axe, dagger, gauntlet/cestus, shield, and sickle.One-handed weapons for the above include all Primary weapons plus falchion, lance (any, if mounted), morning star, nunchaku, scimitar, short spear, jo stick, and whip. With the exception of dwarves: bastard sword, broad sword, and longsword.Gnomes and Halflings. Usable as Primary: hand axe, dagger, gauntlet/cestus, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, sickle, and short sword. Secondary: hand axe, dagger, and gauntlet/cestus.One-handed weapons for Gnomes and Halflings include all primary weapons plus club and horseman's flail. Two-handed weapons include the footman's mace, morning stars, short spears, (shorter) staves, and jo sticks.Humanoids of like sizes use these rules (humans=hobgoblins, elves=orcs, dwarves=norkers, gnomes=goblins, etc.). Larger humanoids use weapons as described in their statistics.PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WEAPONS
Dragon #68; Be A Two-fisted Fighter, p.7: As to the sorts of weapons that may be used in the primary and secondary hands, the following selections are given. It was arbitrarily decided to restrict the types of weapons usable in the primary hand to those not exceeding 4' in length or 100 g.p. in weight, and which can be used in a space of 4-ft or less. Secondary hand weapons would be limited to one-half of the above specifications. These rules would govern weapons use for characters of approximately man size (5-ft to 7-ft height).Man-sized humanoids: Weapons usable in Primary hand: battle axe, hand axe, club, dagger, horseman's flail, hammer, footman's mace, horseman's mace, footman's pick, horseman's pick, scimitar, broad-sword, longsword, short sword. Usable in Secondary hand: hand axe, dagger, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, short sword.Dwarves: Primary: hand axe, club, dagger, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, scimitar, longsword, short sword. Secondary: hand axe, dagger.Halflings, gnomes, and other small races of 3-ft to 5-ft average height may make use of the other weapons. Primary: hand axe, dagger, hammer, horseman's mace, horseman's pick, short sword. Secondary: hand axe, dagger.As a side note, the only other weapons a dwarf could logically use one-handed (with a shield) besides those mentioned above would be the horseman's flail, footman's mace, and broadsword. All other weapons (including the ever-popular battle axe) must be used two-handed because of their size and weight.
Polyhedron #2, Dispel Confusion: Q: “If a character using a weapon requiring 3 ft. (or more) of space is standing next to other characters using weapons requiring the same amount of space, how many may occupy a 10 ft. wide hallway and still attack at no penalty?” A: Only two. Remember that human-sized characters occupy about 3 ft. of space themselves, plus the given amounts of space for using the weapons.Polyhedron #2, Dispel Confusion: Q: “Do Strength bonuses apply to hand hurled missiles? And are the Strength bonuses cumulative with Dexterity bonuses to hit? A: The bonuses do apply, at any range, and are cumulative. [Ed. While it's not fully clear in this context, this likely refers to special weapons. DMG.p.64: Strength Bonus Considerations.]
CHARACTER SIZE LIMITATIONS
CHARACTER SIZE LIMITATIONS
Characters under 100 pounds of body weight cannot use pole arms in excess of 200 gold piece weight equivalent, including two-handed swords. Characters under 5 ft. height cannot any weapon over 12 ft. in length. Characters under 100 pounds of body weight cannot use the heavy crossbow. Characters under 5 ft. height cannot employ the longbow. The DM may impose other penalties or restrictions based on size.
Dragon #39, Sage Advice: Q: “Aside from the obvious ones (pole arms and bows), which of the listed weapons are two-handed?” A: A battle axe, spear, morning star and bastard sword can be, and a bo stick, quarterstaff, two-handed sword, and a trident always are. [Ed.: presumably in reference to Man-sized creatures.]
The choice of weapons used by your character might be circumscribed by the class of your character, but selection is otherwise a matter of your preferences based on various factors presented hereafter.
Of course, the initial cost of the weapon might affect your selection at the beginning. Beyond this consideration, there are factors of size and weight. The damage inflicted by the weapon is important, as is the amount of space required to wield it. These details are given hereafter.
The weapon a character uses says something about who he or she is. You probably want to equip your character with both a melee weapon and a ranged weapon. If you can’t afford both your melee weapon of choice and your ranged weapon of choice, decide which is more important to the character.
What size of weapon you choose determines how your character can choose to wield it (with one hand or two), whether it can be used as a Primary weapon or Secondary, and how much damage he or she can deal with it.
A larger weapon generally deals more damage than a one-handed weapon, but wielding a weapon in two hands prevents the wielder from using a shield, so that’s a trade-off. The number of weapons your character is proficient with depends on his or her class. A better weapon is usually more expensive than an inferior one, but more expensive doesn’t always mean better.
Dragon #142, Sage Advice: Q: “What exactly is a composite bow? Why should a character buy one? In the AD&D game, a long bow costs less and shoots farther than even a long composite bow.” A: A composite bow is made up of layers or wood, bone, and sinew (this is the “composite”). They are more difficult to make than a one-piece bow (often called a “self” bow), hence the greater cost. Composite bows offer two advantages over self bows: They are more powerful for their size; a long self bow is longer than a man is tall; a long composite bow has about the same range but is only about 4 ft. long. Composite bows can be specially built to allow for Strength bonuses. One local campaign figures the cost of such special bows as equal to the base cost for the bow plus an equal amount per bonus point of damage, so that a bow allowing +1 hp damage for a 16 or 17 Strength is twice normal cost, a bow allowing +2 hp damage (18 Strength) is triple the cost, etc.Dragon #44, Sage Advice: Q: “Are longbows or composite longbows permissible for use underground?” A: It is theoretically possible to use any sort of weapon underground if the conditions are proper. We know of a campaign which includes catapults manned by orcs in large underground caverns. The use of a longbow or composite longbow underground would involve some inherent problems that should be evident to any DM (or bow carrier) worth his salt — but they can be used.Dragon #31, Sage Advice: Q: “We have a group of players here who insist that they can ride on a mule in a 10-foot-wide and 10-foot-high corridor and shoot arrows from longbows.” A: First, you cannot shoot arrows from a longbow in a dungeon that has 10-by-10-foot passageways. Longbows are indirect fire weapons and you need lots of space to use one. Also, firing from the back of an animal is hard enough and to fire a longbow from one is impossible.Dragon #58, Sage Advice: Q: “Can a dwarf use a long sword in one hand? A dwarf is too short to use a bastard sword one-handed. Can a dwarf use it two-handed, and if so, does he strike every other round with it?” A: Whether a dwarf can use or carry any sword longer than a short sword is a matter of conjecture and contention. Certainly, a dwarf is capable of lifting and swinging a long sword, a broad sword, or a bastard sword. But the shortest of these weapons is almost as tall as the average dwarf. This makes such weapons unwieldy, even in the hands of a dwarf (or other diminutive humanoid) with above average Strength or Dexterity. No dwarf in his right mind would try to carry such a weapon around with him, unless he enjoys being overly encumbered and likes wearing his scabbard belt up around his shoulders. Any dwarf who tries to take a long sword down the dungeon steps is probably going to clank and clatter so much that he’ll be a walking lure for wandering monsters. Other player characters aren’t going to put up with this sort of situation for very long, if at all. If a dwarf finds himself unarmed in the midst of melee and there’s a long sword lying on the floor nearby, nothing’s to prevent him from grabbing it and flailing away. But he isn’t going to wield it well: For one thing, he can’t possibly be proficient in the use of such a weapon. And in addition to the customary penalty for non-proficiency, the DM might justifiably tack on penalties to the weapon speed factor, its adjustment against certain armor classes, and its damage figure. Even if a dwarf is able to manipulate a long sword or broad sword and score a hit despite all the penalties attached to the attempt, he might be unable to bring the weapon to bear on a target with any more effectiveness than if he were wielding a short sword — and perhaps the damage figure would be adjusted even lower (for instance, a maximum of 1-6 per hit against any size opponent). Whether or not a dwarf can use a long sword or a broad sword with one hand, or a bastard sword with two hands, is a topic that calls for more interpretation by the DM. If you choose to allow a dwarf to employ a long sword with one hand, then you’ll have to make a different set of penalties for one-handed or two-handed use of the weapon, and make the one-handed penalties stiff enough so that it’s highly advisable to use the weapon with both hands if it is used at all. The penalties that might accrue to a dwarf trying to use a bastard sword with both hands might be so great as to make it mathematically impossible for the character to score a hit — but that shouldn’t prohibit him from trying. He’ll learn his lesson soon enough, if he survives that long. In matters like this, where the rules provide no specific allowances or prohibitions, logic and common sense must rule. It is enough for a Dungeon Master to discourage the use of long swords by dwarves by administering logical and sensible penalties to the attempt, rather than issuing an outright proclamation against such activity. Let players do what they want, as long as they’re willing to pay the price...
Polyhedron #32, Dispel Confusion: Q: “In the descriptions for some monsters, it is said that they only can be harmed by cold-wrought iron (or magic weapons). How is a cold-wrought weapon made, and where can it be obtained?” A: Cold-wrought iron is iron which is shaped without heat, generally by pounding and filing. Sources of cold-wrought weapons vary from one campaign to another, and it is up to your DM to decide where such weapons might be found in his own world. They are generally rare, as they take more time and effort to make than forged weapons, and are not as durable.
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