Discussion Weapons in Fantasy Worlds

Actually that's rather unpractical in most situations. Side-protrusions/blades will easily get stuck literally everywhere. In the best case your opponents throat, ripping out his windpipe, artery or veins, in worse cases it gets stuck in his chainmaill armor, leather armor or maybe even on your own clothes or a random branch.

While it inflicts greater damage than a simple cut, you most likely kill yourself by losing your balance, or make the opponent lose his balance and make unpredictable moves towards you, while your weapon is still stuck somewhere.

Spears and halberds are probably the best for people who never had training in weaponized close quarter combat or archery. (magic and proficiency system excluded - if they exist, newbies are at an even larger disadvantage and would most likely die to a random lvl 1 housewife with Pastry Roller Proficiency at a high level.)

 

Well if we're talking about weapon training then I have some background with axes at least I used them to cut and split wood when I was younger when we were staying in our farm. No, I don't easily lose balance, the only time I lose balance is when I slip on a wet surface while jumping and I can't put my back leg to balance myself. I have a small leg for my size I never once got a sprained ankle, the part that I injured when my foot once feel on a hole and tripped was my mid calf. My reflex is quite fast, I used to imitate eyeshield 21's movements when I was younger, now can't do it, too fat now, lol.

 

With losing balance I mean you are pulling yourself to your opponent, or to wherever your weapon got stuck. Either that or you disarm yourself due to not having a good enough grip to endure sudden stop of it.

I believe you wouldn't want to fight somebody the same way, as when you were splitting wood... It kinda leaves your whole body open for... everything....

 

What I'm saying is I'm not a newbie in handling an axe. The reason I chose a 'spear' is because of its long handle so I can adjust my grip. Well I'm no professional in combat sports best combat sports experience I have is my friend who's a professional boxer.

 

I learned axe combat recently, a month into it and have had years of wood cutting experience. Trust me, the skills do not carry over.

 

Am I the only person that would choose a gun? If not a gun to align with the ancient times (even though Ancient Chinese invented and used gunpowder) then a crossbow. Close range battles are for fools, the best way to kill has and always will be from farther away than the enemy can touch you.

 

True. I think most people are more used to the physical sustainability of xianxia or isekai protagonists.

 

Problem is if you already are at close range when they become your enemy, or if you don't notice them before then.
Not like you can just gun down anyone that approaches for any reason.

 

One huge morningstar. Much love for the bad guys

 

Actually the Spear was probably the most used weapon during the medieval times , hammers and maces are good anti armour weapons, military picks are probably the most devastating , because you can use physics and sharp point to your advantage , but they're not that easy to use.

It really depends on the type of combat you will be in , the correct choice imo is a spear with a side arm like Rapier or Sabre, so when you get into close combat/duel type situation, and you can switch on a whim. The Spear wins 7-8 /10 with majority of the weapons , you simply cannot for anything else the penetrative power and reach. You have to compensate with skill , massive amounts of skill

 

The sword is often preferred for a reason. It's a very versatile and easy to control weapon (at least compared to the alternatives) that fits in most fantasy settings well. Not only is good for both offense and defense alone, it can also be complemented with another one-handed weapon or a shield. It also works well when the user is alone, as in not in a formation.

The only other weapon that is comparable is the short spear. It is another easy to control option that even has a range advantage over a sword, that even has the other hand free like the sword. They're also cheaper to buy and maintain than a sword thanks to simpler construction and materials.

A hand axe is good, but requires a shield to make up for the lacking defensive abilities. The mace likewise, though you are worse off than with a sword if you're not regularly fighting armored targets since it's heavier and slower to use.

Two handed weapons generally work best in units where the next person can cover you or saturate fighting direction efficiently. A lone long spear or pike is easy to bypass and once someone has passed the speartip it's very hard to recover from. As are most other polearms that share the additional disadvantage of overshooting the target and hitting with the shaft. Another demerit is that you need to have armour to make up for the lack of defensive capabilities. Armour is the primary reason for them to exist anyway, you don't need a polearm for unarmored targets, and with the availability of armour they could be wielded more safely. And finally, weapons that require more room for swinging are going to be in trouble in cramped space.

Since OP was talking about a melee weapon, I'll assume ranged ones are out of question, as is magic or more exotic options such as monster transformation.

So back to the OP's question. It depends on the world, what kind of dangers are there to be met? Is there magic? What is my budget like? Do I have any skills or training? Where am I fighting? What about personal armour? The safest answer is sword and shield. But that was specifically prohibited.

My pick would be a shield with a short spear or mace, depending on what the expected adversaries are.