[DL] Old topic: Steel vs Stone Tomahawks

["David L. Hoff" <dlhoff1@charter.net>]

Greetings!

Sorry for bringing up an old topic, but I have been catching up on old 
email and couldn't resist commenting on this discussion. The main 
arguing point seems to be that if you make stone tomahawks have the same 
speed as steel ones, and yet stone tomahawks do more damage, why would 
anyone use a steel tomahawk? A similar argument was brought up regarding 
if a small club does 1d4 and a large club does 1d6, and both have the 
same speeds, why use the small club?

Well, my answer here is fairly simple. A stone tomahawk and a large club 
both have the same disadvantage: they are big and heavy. This may not be 
reflected in the combat rules anymore, since they now have the same 
speeds as the steel tomahawk and the small club, but a good marshal can 
make sure that the disadvantage will come up in other situations. One 
problem is that you can't simply tuck a stone tomahawk or a large club 
into your belt if you need both hands free. Well, you can, but they 
should cause you some penalty when trying to move around, or have a 
chance of falling out. The small club or steel tomahawk would be much 
easier to carry tucked into your belt.  Another problem would be that 
attempting to quickdraw a stone tomahawk or large club that is carried 
in your belt would probably have a penalty to the roll. Even if the 
player came up with a "holster" of some sort to make the item easier to 
carry, it still should be a bit slower to quickdraw simply because of 
it's size and weight.

That's my take on the situation. Comments welcome.

--David L. Hoff
dlhoff1@charter.net