Weapons
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This page covers Oath-Bound deviations from the vanilla PHB weapon rules. The combat sequence is unchanged; a companion document covers its cadence in detail. |
The Weapon Model
The vanilla AD&D weapon list has been rationalized into a smaller set of weapon types, each covering a family of weapons with similar characteristics. Damage, reach, and relevant properties are assigned to the type rather than to individual weapons. Entries that existed primarily for faux-historic color — weapons functionally identical to others already present but carrying a different name and period association — have been removed. What remains is a set of meaningfully distinct types, each of which does something the others do not.
Weapon Competency
Competency is held at the weapon type level, not at the level of individual weapons within a type. A character skilled with short blades — a seax, a gladius, a hunting knife — is not thereby skilled with a longsword or its close comparators. These are different weapons requiring different techniques, and the collapsed catalog reflects that. Within a type, the specific weapon a character carries is a matter of background, fiction, and preference. Across types, competency must be developed separately.
This means weapon choice is not arbitrary. A character selects their weapon type as part of their background and competency profile, and that choice shapes what they can do in combat. The system does not reward carrying a wide assortment of weapons to cover every situation — it rewards knowing your weapon well.
The distinction maps onto how weapons were actually used. A spearman who was also competent in longsword and seax was a valuable addition to a shield-wall precisely because those three competencies served different purposes: spear for holding the line and defending the wall, seax for the close, desperate work when the lines clash and there’s no room to maneuver and you can smell your enemy’s breath, longsword for individual combat when space permitted. A fighter who carried all three but was competent in none of them was worth considerably less.
Weapon Groups
Blades
Short Blades — dagger, short sword, seax, and close comparators. Close-work weapons. The competency covers the knife-fighter’s art: close range, quick, lethal in confined spaces.
Longsword — longsword, broadsword, and close comparators. The standard military blade. Cut-and-thrust capable, versatile, and ubiquitous. The default blade competency for most martial actors.
Slashing Blades — scimitar, falchion, sabre, and comparators. Edge-priority weapons. The draw-cut technique and body mechanics of a curved or weight-forward blade are distinct from straight sword use.
Thrusting Blades — rapier, estoc, and comparators. Point-priority weapons. Technique centers on line, extension, and precision. Sparse in the current catalog; present in the setting.
Two-handed Swords — bastard sword, two-handed sword. A fundamentally different physical discipline — stance, spacing, and leverage differ entirely from one-handed blade use. The bastard sword defaults to two-handed use; exceptional strength martial actors may wield it one-handed.
Axes
Axes — battle axe, hand axe, throwing axe, and comparators. Weight-forward chopping technique, distinct from blade use. The hand axe can be thrown — this is an extension of axe competency, not a separate missile competency.
Pole Weapons
Cutting Pole Weapons — glaive, voulge, bardiche, fauchard, bill-guisarme, and comparators. Pole-mounted blades used primarily for cutting at reach. Technique emphasizes the leverage of the shaft and the edge of the head.
Thrusting and Hooking Pole Weapons — halberd, ranseur, partisan, spetum, and comparators. Pole weapons used primarily for thrusting, hooking, and controlling opponents. The halberd bridges both categories but its characteristic use is thrusting and hooking.
Spear and Lance
Spear and Lance — spear, lance, pike, and comparators. The thrusting pole weapon tradition. Javelin belongs here as a thrown extension of spear competency.
Crushing Weapons
Maces and Flails — mace, morning star, flail, hammer, and comparators. Impact weapons with no edge technique. A distinct physical discipline from blade or pole use.
Missile Weapons
Longbow — warbow, Welsh oak longbow, military longbow, and comparators. The serious military bow tradition, requiring years of physical development and significant upper body conditioning to use effectively. Almost exclusively a martial actor competency in practice.
Short and Composite Bows — shortbow, composite bow, and comparators. The broader bow category. Accessible to a wider range of actors; functionally similar enough to share a competency. Usable with training from a horse.
Crossbow — heavy crossbow, light crossbow. A distinct mechanical discipline with minimal overlap with bow use. Crossbow technology sits at the edge of what current craft can reliably produce. The Velasians manufactured them, along with siege engines, to a standard the post-imperial world has not recovered. What most contemporary cultures produce are rough approximations — functional but imperfect, variable in quality, and dependent on craft traditions interrupted by the Fall. A character investing in crossbow competency should understand that the weapon they train with may not be the weapon they can reliably find or afford in the field.
Sling — sling and comparators. Its own competency, distinct from both bows and throwing.
Thrown Weapons — throwing a weapon is an extension of the relevant melee competency, not a separate missile discipline. A spearman throwing a javelin is extending spear competency. A fighter throwing a hand axe is extending axe competency.
Attack Resolution
Attack probability is resolved using d100, replacing the vanilla attack matrix and THAC0. The weapon exhibits — regenerated in d100 terms, retaining the original reference numbers — contain the current figures. Damage dice are unchanged from vanilla AD&D.
The vanilla weapon type versus armor class modifier tables are not used. Combat resolution in Oath-Bound does not reward or require that level of equipment interaction.