Overused weapons types

[Noks]

Don't you think swords and sabers are way overused weapons in all novels which weapon would be the best alternative for the MC of a novel

Yeah, swords and katanas are pretty overuse, never saw a novel protagonist use a mace or a war-hammer before. Mace is pretty effective against both armored and non armored enemy. It might not be flashy as the other weapons but, have you tried fighting or moving with broken bones.

 

[ConTroll]

I don't think many authors actually look into the situational practicality of weapons at all.

Aside from the types of damage each specific weapon can inflict, most of which could be described in very RPG-like terms (blunt weapons, slashing weapons, piercing weapons, etc.) range, ease of use, and production requirements are often not considered.

All you have to do is look through antiquity to find that swords weren't even the primary weapon of soldiers. Spears, polearms, and ranged weapons were more effective than swords. When battlefield technology advanced to plate armor, slashing weapons became even more useless, and swords became a tool reserved for private duels.

Ask yourself why something like a Zweihander was created and you'll quickly come up with an answer: to counter or replace the spear; range has always influenced combat, even in melee.

I believe that the overuse of swords in fantasy settings stem from a "man's romance". That isn't to say swords are bad. On the contrary, they are superior in confined spaces or when in the hands of a highly trained soldier. As previously mentioned, the practicality of a weapon depends on the situation.

Now that my sword rant is over, let's talk about how impractical the reverse grip (also known as ice pick grip) is for slashing. It has its uses, but slashing is not one of them. While it may look 'cool', is it still 'cool' when your dead?

 

[yunano34a1]

My MC uses his thicc demonic tail and flex his chadness by whacking enemies to death

 

[Jemini]

Yeah, swords and katanas are pretty overuse, never saw a novel protagonist use a mace or a war-hammer before. Mace is pretty effective against both armored and non armored enemy. It might not be flashy as the other weapons but, have you tried fighting or moving with broken bones.

You have to take the quarter staff into consideration though. A light hit from a staff is every bit as vicious as a heavy hit from a mace, just because the greater length gives it more torque. (Never do a full-strength hit with a staff though. It will actually break under the force of it's own torque due to how hard it will hit.) However, if you go and add a hammer head to the staff, it becomes a war hammer and you increase the damage potential due to the smaller striking surface. Or, you can add something sharp to it and make it a war axe. Or, maybe you add both and also put a spike at the tip, and it becomes a halberd.

Yeah, the halberd is kinda the king of weapons, rivaled only by the bec-de-korbin. Those two weapons are just as deadly, the only difference aside from a little technique is that the halberd is more top-heavy and thus can produce heavier strikes, while the bec-de-korbin can be more agile and has smaller points of impact. They are a-symmetrical weapons, but it's tough to really call the superior weapon between the two. And, there's really not anything else that's even in the running to rival those two competing for top most effective melee weapon.

(Got to specify melee weapon, because the sling, the bow and arrow, and of course the gun all beat those things into the ground and make them completely obsolete. Slings and arrows can at least be fended off with a tower shield, but the gun is able to even make shields obsolete.)

EDIT: Oh! That would be a good weapon to give your protagonist! Give them a sling! It's easily the single most criminally underrated weapon in all of history. That thing is one of the top most deadly weapons ever created, and it has existed for millennia. About the only downside it has is that it takes some SERIOUS training in order to be able to aim properly with that thing, and the main reason it wasn't employed regularly on battlefields is because they didn't have the time or ability to train their solders to use it. It takes literally decades of training and you have to start from when you are a child to be any good with the thing. But, if you are properly trained, you can hit very accurately with that thing and it impacts with deadly force.

TL;DR, in the story of David and Goliath, David was no under-dog. He was a trained slinger. A trained slinger has an absolutely overwhelming advantage against any melee solider like Goliath, and size doesn't matter against a slung stone aimed at your head.

 

[Macrendil-Ysmir]

Swords are the 'cool' weapon. In Fantasy, I don't really mind the overuse of swords though some variation would be nice.

In "historical" stories, I do feel its out of place. Swords are by all accounts and in every culture except the Romans a side-arm or back-up/emergency weapon. Swords lack the weight (and thus ability) to kill an enemy in armour (an exception being by stabbing with narrow points) so what did people use? Maces, warhammers, axes and most prominently of all: polearms (be it a spear, billhook, halberd, polaxe, bec de corbin, voulge, naginata etc.).

Something I'm trying to come up with is a Mage-MC who's staff doubles as a deadly quarterstaff. Quarterstaffs are quite... terrifyingly effective weapons.

 

[WasatchWind]

Don't you think swords and sabers are way overused weapons in all novels which weapon would be the best alternative for the MC of a novel

Archery is objectively the best medieval weapon. Recurve, longbow, etc, it's just too good for pompous knights to want to admit it.

 

[Deleted member 53101]

Flail ... anyone? No? Or maybe Chakram? Or Keris? Karambit? Golok (machete) ...
Heck, this thread is for the overused weapon, not those who categorized as underrated.

 

[FDSIO]

Ah, yes... halberd, poleaxe, warhammer, corbin... As if full-plate armor was the cheapest thing ever made. Every peasant had 5 sets of these...

Let's not forget that there's no weapon more versatile and all-rounded than the sword when it comes to fighting unarmored close-combat enemies. It's one of the few weapons that allows you to fight multiple enemies at the same time as well. It is good for offense AND defense at the same time. It allows you to slash, pierce, parry, and deflect.

And contrary to what is portrayed in stories and movies, the people from the medieval period did not wear their armor ALL THE TIME even if they had armor. There was no need for a warhamer or corbin if you didn't know that you'll fight a full-plated knight or something... Which, to be honest, was not that common...

 

[LostLibrarian]

I mean there is an even easier reason than "history this" or "history that" (not like dungeons, magic, or catgirls are commong throughout history): the readers knowledge.

It's easier to write a fight with a sword, because most readers will have seen it in movies/anime/etc. Therefore the readers can live with easy and short description and explanation. If you go for a more uncommon weapon, you'll have to go with a lot more groundwork, explain the strength and weakness of the weapon, how it counters other weapons, how an attack or defense might look, etc.

On the other hand, for the "standard reader" swords are still cool enough and other weapons often not worth the work. A lot of readers might even find weapon explanations to be useless infodumps ready for the skip...


It's the same reasoning why most writers use the "Tolkien"-races instead of creating some new/unique races. They are already "common knowledge" and it's easer to say "an elf, hurray" instead of creating an entire new race with believes and problems...

And especially for webnovels it is most often just "good enough"...

 

[Vulture]

I like halberds and glaives. Double-edged axes have been fun to write as well. Warhammers are cool.
Also, the quill is mightier than the sword.

The quill literally saw Harry potters blood courtesy of umbridge no wonder it is mightier than sword

 

[KyoruS]

Flail ... anyone? No? Or maybe Chakram? Or Keris? Karambit? Golok (machete) ...
Heck, this thread is for the overused weapon, not those who categorized as underrated.

Ah yes, Keris, one of the most badass-looking weapons (stabbing dagger) with its curved blades.

However it's more of a status and ceremonial weapon than a weapon of war, as you might know daggers aren't really practical in warfare

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Overused weapons:
- sword
- bow
- dagger
- whip
- magic (why hello there fire!)

Ik swords used lot of places, but interesting. Learned some more tidbits about swords in history on here.

 

[Kenjona]

Swords are the most optimized weapon for hand to hand fighting. But they never were cheaper than the alternatives. Even the "cheap" Scramasaxs were more expensive than an axe, just because there was more metal in it, they also required more upkeep. Hence why they become the "Noble" weapon as only those with wealth early on or wealthy institutions (Rome) could afford them in mass.
Note: Once nearly everyone could afford a sword it became the sidearm of choice as it was the most effective overall weapon once your main weapon was no longer effective or appropriate to have.

Maces generally work as well as swords, do not cut so not as effective on some armor, can be unbalanced and so unwieldy, but they can provide high impact hits and concuss if it hits in the right place even with armor on.

Axes and picks have an issue with balance they are top heavy so can easily cause a person to go out of balance in a fight. But they were very useful in certain situations, both can pull shields and both can penetrate armor easier then a sword when swung with enough heft behind them, especially from horseback onto a footman.

Spears and their ilk (Halberds/Pikes/Bills) were only at their best in mass formations and in open areas, the halberds you see wielded by door guards have a spike on them so they can be used to secure the door they are standing in front of, either from the inside or if needed spike it on the outside. The swords at the guards hips are what they use to fight. Mind you they can use the halberds if it is only one or a few people, but door guards first job is guard the door, hence they are suppose to sound the alarm, close the door and spike the door. Not play tiddly-winks with attackers.

Crossbows and Bows, again most effective in emplaced positions and in mass formations, once the other side was on top of you, you pulled out your sword and/or dagger.

Whip was never a real combat weapon, mainly because even several layers of cloth can stop it from being effective in damaging opponents and it needs a fairly large area to be effectively wielded for the useful sizes. But there are practitioners who do wield it effectively for entangling and entrapping opponents, but the skill level needed has a high bar. Very much a cinematic weapon.

OH an addendum to add: Daggers and Knives, they were VERY useful in combat once your main and even secondary weapon was gone and you were deep into the scrum as usually that was when you were in HAND to HAND grappling range with the other side. Many daggers were made to slip between armor joints and a nimble person could grapple a heavier armored person to the ground to stab them in the joints.

 

[Cauldrons]

As said before a spear is probably the most practical option, but one tool you almost never see an mc use despite how well know and useful it would be is a shield. Shields are immensely practical and could save your life a dozen times over but due to author being lazy they just give their characters a katana and plot armor.

 

[FashionableForestDweller]

Swords are often overused, but in their role as side-arms they're more than fine. What I've really noticed is that there's a complete lack of medieval gunpowder weapons. I'd want to see a fantasy character wielding a handgonne.

 

[Motsu]

Get that Nunchucks... with a G U N.

 

[FashionableForestDweller]

I have a friend who actually made gunchucks. For my stories I've been defaulting to guns, magic, and explosives for the most part, although my MC in my isekai series has some fencing training and is carrying a smallsword. I just sort of introduced a character in that series who has a Bowie knife and Whitworth rifle though, so I'll have to see where that takes me.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

For a good number of writings they are terrible. The stories would be those of human v humans where at the very least the enemies would have chainmail. It was the go to for a thousand years before plate after all. And, chases usually involve guards with spears. There is a great video from ScholaGladiator(probably spelled it wrong) on novices who had never picked up a spear against sword practitioners and the spear would win.

Then with humans v monsters slashing would be a horrible choice. Boar spears need that stop-gap to make sure it doesn't impale itself and tusk the wielder. Direct shots to the heart keep animals running around in a panic for a few minutes. In case no one here has been hunting before. And stories tend to make monster hides tougher than bark. Basic bears steam roll over each other and they become a mess during fights. They just walk it off.
tl;dr bleeding and dying take a long time despite what hollywood depicts.

Something simple would be great. Like the goedendang. Blunt for armor and an extra pointy bit to get past inconveniences. Or perhaps a viking style spear where you can remove the head and have an awkward sword like thing for closer combat. If you feel like you have to have slashing.

 

[BenJepheneT]

Don't you think swords and sabers are way overused weapons in all novels which weapon would be the best alternative for the MC of a novel

Gun

 

[ZynGrand]

Don't you think swords and sabers are way overused weapons in all novels which weapon would be the best alternative for the MC of a novel

The go-to alternative to sword seems to be spear. But I feel like spear is being overdone as the Special-Not-A-Sword Weapon the MC mains™ instead. Yeah it's not a sword, but it's not a unique weapon.

There's all the unused blunt weapons, but people probably prefer to see someone cut in half than someone with their face bashed into paste.

If you want ranged you go bow, but that's the common ranged weapon, so that's overdone. You could do something like throwing knives or cards, but those have more limited ammunition (than an archer with a quiver) and running out of stuff to throw isn't cool. The problem with chakrams and boomerangs is that those are enigmatic objects nobody really knows how they work, so you can't realistically or accurately write them as weapons.

Then what about funny weapons? Bricks, guns, and logs, what about those? Funny weapons have the problem of only being usable in something funny, or else being boring and uninteresting after a while. You can do different gimmicks with the types of weapons, but you'll run out of those. If you need a mediocre gimmick or flavor-of-the-week for your weapon to be good, then you should save that for the joke character. Guns are also a staple of funny fantasy weapons. They're the stupid overpowered joke weapon.

"But what about medieval guns?"
Well those have the problem of you having to research them, and I think those were kind of weak or inefficient or whatever.

"But what if it was a magic medieval gun?"
That would be the same as a normal gun, wouldn't it? Using mp for each shot is cool, I guess, and works fine as a gimmick I suppose, but. But uh...

No, that's fine. Magic guns are cool, go with that.

Thinking about it, the reason the MP Gun is cool is because it's unique to reality. That isn't possible here, and that makes it more interesting. We should make more impossible weapons. Creativity wins in the end, I guess? Whatever, I'm just going to go make a Schrodinger Weapon that changes every time the MC attacks.