[Soapy]

Okay, so there's a pretty popular thing going around right now where, to be good in the current PvP meta/be a special snowflake/gloat about beating someone with a butter knife/hilt/pebble/etc, people RP their swords as knives, and axes as knives, and spears as knives, and guns as knives, and bows as knives, and staves as fists, and katanas as claws, and knives as fish...

Obviously, this is getting way out of hand. Yes, it's fair for weapons that aren't represented mechanically (scythe, gunblade, etc) and there's obviously going to be some leeway for weapons that are mutated or qualify as other types, but there's no good reason to be calling a staff a fist just so you can use Turnover with it, especially when there's a skill that lets you do just that. No, "fists suck in the current meta!" and "b-but my other character uses fists!" are not good reasons.


tl;dr: Can people please start using their actual god damn weapon types? They exist for a reason.

[Autumn]

I'm rather iffy on the whole thing, I more so like the right to have creative freedom with how you RP your weapons, for example if you're a destiny duelist, using a sword and a spear, it makes more than enough sense to RP the spear in your off hand as a single sword in your main hand, and vice versa if the spear in your main hand is RP'd as something like a halberd. (Spears with pointy tips can slightly slash too but meh)

I think damage typing really matters here, and your class setup, it makes more than enough sense to RP a staff as a fist since it does blunt damage, however if you're RPly using a fist with no standard fist techniques from an MA promo, that's just misleading. (For example, a self proclaimed martial artist getting their ass handed to them by constant turnover with a bamboo-bo from a BK/Ghost, as mentioned)

Excel weapons are another good example of this, being somewhat heavy weapons they really should be RP'd as such, and not knives, not at all, I can understand if an excel weapon isn't exactly a weapon with a motor in it, but at least make it look like it should be a weapon that hurts.

Mutation also exists for a reason, if I mutate a sword into a fist weapon, you're damned right I'd RP that thing as a katar or claws, or something in between.

Overall I think the above point is meh, I agree and disagree in some of the points brought up, and that creative freedoms should exist, and I disagree slightly with people conforming exactly to all of their weapon's types.

TL;DR: I think creative freedom should exist, but only in a form that makes sense, and not in a way where you are using completely the opposite class intended for the weapon you're RPing it as.

But I think the OP brings up a good point that the current creative freedoms are idiotic and honestly they should just make more sense, instead of having excel weapons as knives, and daggers as swords.

[Sawrock]

I agree more with Soapy than with Spoops; if there is a way to express your idea already in-game, use it.

[Ranylyn]

What Saw said, BUT... within reason; take Scythes for example. The Sleigher exists, sure, but what makes more sense for a SCYTHE to use, Thousand STAB, or SideCUT? Spoilers: You'd probably have better luck using thousand stab with a wrench, realistically. (Granted, Scythes are a terrible weapon from a standpoint of realism and are primarily fantasy weapons in and of themselves.)

There's a lot of creative things one can do with just a little skewing of their equipped gear. For example, a Sword/Spear duelist could, as suggested, roleplay them as a single pole weapon capable of both slashes and thrusts (Halberd, Naginata, etc) if it fits their character more than dual-wielding. At the same time, once someone starts using Lance De Lion with their "fists" (Quarterstaff) or Mad Chop with their "Fists" (Evil Club) then you're REALLY straining credibility.


Personally, I've been fine with people doing the following (and may or may not have done, myself, depending on which one it is)

- On a Soldier/MA or Duelist/MA or something similar: Roleplaying a fist weapon as a pommel strike, while only using MA's kicking skills with your subclass. If you're not going for two-handed main weapons and actually have a fist weapon named Pommel Strike equipped as your secondary, you'll see "Pommel Strike" when you sub attack but not with MA skills that you actually kick with anyways, so it's nice.

- Katars and other such bladed "fist" weapons are decently versatile, so it makes sense to use a wide variety of skills with them, but only within reason. For example, having played a lot of games with Shockwave-type attacks, I see Shinken as actually dragging the sword along the ground, something you would need to bend pretty far down to do with a weapon measuring a foot or less! Also, anything that actually shows the weapon (Such as if you were an Arb/BK with "katars" as your melee option, and using cannon skills) ruins the illusion faster than you can say "Shit" and is best avoided.

- Of course, weapon mutation is a whole other beast. It's MUTATED, and can't even use it's old skills anymore. It could basically be any number of shapes, and I think this allows some pretty cool options. For some of my favorite examples, I've seen a Vampire Bat mutated into a "Sling" (Bow) with rocks better suited to causing concussions than open wounds (and the HP recovery was just the thrill of battle.) A Narcus mutated into A cannon spear like something from Koei's Samurai Warriors series, or Capcom's Monster Hunter series, doing close range explosions and fire damage, etc.


TLDR version: Does using a given skill with your weapon make rational sense? If not, probably best not to do it!