So, quite often in gaming, we see the most popular fighter builds being humans with longswords/greatswords or dwarves with greataxes.  What are some of the more unorthodox fighter you've made/seen, and how well did they work?

One of my favorites was a very mobile guy with a stabbing spear, light armor and a buckler.  Maneuverability, a bit of acrobatics plus reach - it was very difficult to pin him down, and his spear was mean enough to cause some actual damage.  Credit where it's due, I modeled him after Oberyn Martell from George R. R. Martin's books.

He was a hoot to play, and gave the GM fits.  

My IH game had some very nice selections.  My favorite was the Weapon Master with 8 Strength (there's a class ability that lets you use any attribute to affect your attacks.  His was INT. who wielded a Scythe.  Very nice visual image.  I never got tired of going into the ways he dismembered his foes.

That's the bad stuff about unusual weaponry: If you just _have_ to get by without axes and swords, you'll get some pretty silly stuff. Spiked chains, scythes, outrages ball-and-chains, "double weapons" and other implements only a punk on speed could think of. As if all those over-sized, over-compensating anime cleavers weren't enough...
(Somewhere between the ridiculous art in Weapons of the Gods there might be a good system...)

Now, where did I put that Palladium's Book of Exotic Weapons...

I think the ridiculous weapons add a level of fun to the proceedings.  My entrance to the whole fantasy thing was equal parts the Hobbit cartoon and He-Man, which put my tolerance for crazy pretty far up there.

The way I see it, if I (or my players) can't get just a little Soul Calibur, we might as well spend the evening looking at the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Quote from: fonkaygarryI think the ridiculous weapons add a level of fun to the proceedings.  My entrance to the whole fantasy thing was equal parts the Hobbit cartoon and He-Man, which put my tolerance for crazy pretty far up there.

The way I see it, if I (or my players) can't get just a little Soul Calibur, we might as well spend the evening looking at the Bayeaux Tapestry.

CORRECTUMUNDO!!!

Exactly why I made exotic weapons more accessible in my campaigns: Kusari-Gamas are made of win and apples. Besides the fact that you can TWF with a reach weapon.

I thought Gogo's fighting style from Kill Bill was pretty damn amusing - cute li'l psycho schoolgirl with a huge ball and chain. Imagine what an ogre could do with that kind of weapon!

Twin knives is unique - especially if the knives are barbed, serrated or whatever. Elves in the Midnight setting often adopt such a style in the wilderness. Skin a deer, whittle a spoon, gut an orc, it's all in a day's work.

Throw Anything is pretty amusing for supers like Bullseye or the Blue Rajah. Gotta Halfling Rogue in my party who is pretty dangerous with cutlery, small rocks, etc...but then again, that's a cultural thing for Halflings.

Oooh... throw anything is indeed fun.

Also, I once had a player try on a half-giant samurai with monkey grip and oversized twf. That's two huge katanas. 0_o

He didn't hit so often, but when he did...

People ended.

Halfling Knight ,in full plate, on a overgrown Bullmastif with barding.

I'm hoping to lift the Magic (Boo! Hiss! Sodomy!) character Ink-Eyes for a campaign one of these days.  She's a ratling ninja who uses a sort-of scimitar in the left hand, a combination naginata and chain weapon in the right and throws shuriken with her tail.  And she's a ninja.

Also, if she kills you she has the ability to ressurect you as her slave.  And she regenerates!  And she's a ninja!  With boobs!  Ninja boobs!  (Rat boobs... :headache:)

Yeah, it's pretty much like a ten-year-old designed her.  But I'd still toss her at a 3.5 party with pride.

Quote from: McrowHalfling Knight ,in full plate, on a overgrown Bullmastif with barding.

Now I have a mental image of Chiyo riding Mr. Tadakichi off to war...

Thank you.

Quote from: fonkaygarryThe way I see it, if I (or my players) can't get just a little Soul Calibur, we might as well spend the evening looking at the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Well, the Bayeux Tapestry has some nifty adventure seeds...

As a DM, I have to describe quite a lot of combat. And almost all silly weapons make it quite hard to come up with normal combat. Awe-inspiring wuxia finishing moves, okay, but the usual slash-parry-riposte-evade stuff tends to suffer. And someone being successful with reaping movements requires some heavy suspension of disbelief. Since we don't have alcohol at our table...

The real world had some pretty crazy stuff, and some if it was even useful. I'll take Gygaxian polearm fetish over Cloud & Guts any time.

Most artists can't draw weapons and armor. And game designers can't invent them.

(That's just one of the great things about Artesia: Nude chicks _and_ fluted plate armor! Kinda like Thalhoffer-Xena slash fiction...)

Quote from: Sosthenes[A]lmost all silly weapons make it quite hard to come up with normal combat.

We're in agreement on that.  The thing is, in an IH game the last thing you want is normal combat.  I mean, I had a beanpole (6'7", I think) dude whipping around a scythe with the power of his intellect.  That is at the very limit of my diseased imagination to even picture, much less describe.  IH thrives on stuff like that.

If I were to run something like Mystara RC D&D, I'd draw more from 300 than Crouching Tiger.  Still cinematic, but more similar to reality.

Quote from: SosthenesI'll take Gygaxian polearm fetish over Cloud & Guts any time.

But here we must part ways for all time...    How about Milius's Conan?  Big, kooky swords, but pretty "realistic" takes on fantasy weapons.

It is kinda funny how often things like scale just vanish when people draw, paint or sculpt weaponry.  One of the things I love most about GW minis is the scale of their weaponry.  It is an eternal mystery how those things don't just rip out of their wielders' hands when they try to hold them.

But your point about how you describe combat puts in a mind for a thread.  Which I'll start now!

Quote from: fonkaygarryNow I have a mental image of Chiyo riding Mr. Tadakichi off to war...

Thank you.

never heard of them, they must be anime.

Quote from: fonkaygarryWe're in agreement on that.  The thing is, in an IH game the last thing you want is normal combat.  I mean, I had a beanpole (6'7", I think) dude whipping around a scythe with the power of his intellect.  That is at the very limit of my diseased imagination to even picture, much less describe.  IH thrives on stuff like that.

I'd say that Iron Heroes walks a thin line between reasonably realistic fantasy combat (i.e. stuff you do with stunt men) and over-the-top action (stuff you do with special effects). I always get that Gemmell feeling when I read the books. A lot of what characters are able to do in that game isn't all that supernatural. Most of the feats describe rules mechanics with no implicit visualization. Its most unrealistic part is the freedom of movement you're enjoying, even worse than basic D&D.

But most of it can be described without resorting to hand-waving. It all depends on the players, too. For some, a good fight is very MTV-like, with lots of cuts and no "narrative", nothing to tie the individual scenes together. Then you've got the guy who's wondering how the pike wielder just parried his two daggers...

By the way, someone using his Int for fighting doesn't strike me as particularly odd. Using Charisma with a polearm would really bring my gray matter boiling when I'd have to describe that...

Quote from: fonkaygarryBut here we must part ways for all time...    How about Milius's Conan?  Big, kooky swords, but pretty "realistic" takes on fantasy weapons.

Really? Conan's sword is rather realistic, especially considering that Schwarzenegger _could_ use something bigger. You'd have to use a different fight choreography, but it wouldn't look that odd in his hands. Conan's style was a little to asian, but certainly more realistic than a pirate fencing with a cutlass...