I put together a class-gear matrix today based on what's listed on the class pages. This ended up raising a few questions:
1) Monk weapons: what's the difference between handwraps, martial fists, and fist weapons? Rogues and warriors also get access to fist weapons, so I'd guess these are katar/push-dagger and cestus style weapons. Handwraps, I would think are exactly that, perhaps reinforced with metal plates. Are martial fists just the monk's bare fists?
2) What the heck are the Edged/Great Blade categories? Given that there are also Sword, Great Sword, Axe, and Great Axe, what are some examples that would fall into Edged or Great Blade categories?
So I may be wrong about this but in the Forging Terminus Developer Live Stream (from december 10th) they showed, among other weapons,halberds and I seem to remember that Joppa animations for halberds would change depending of the kind of halberd it was. Some are more like stabbing weapons, others have a blade like an axe and are used for slashing. My guess would be that this latter type of halberds would be the kind of weapons you could find in this edged category? Plus at the end, as they were taking questions from the community, someone asked if there would whips as weapon and Joppa answered with "Maybe" ™®©, so assuming there are whips, depending on what type of blade you attach to your weapon, it could fall into that category as well?
I've been trying to catch up on the past couple years of releases over the past few days, so I haven't gotten to that Forging Terminus stream yet. I expect halberds would belong in the the polearms category, available to warriors and paladins. I could see a bladed whip or chain weapon... definitely feel like anything in these categories would have to be pretty niche. Another thought I had was scythes and hand-scythes.
Mordecai said: I’d almost look at a scythe as a polearm. I understand they are a slashing weapon on a long shaft, but in the end so is a halberd.
Could absolutely see that, too. Which is of course why the Edged and Great Blade categories are a bit of a headscratcher for me: anything that I can come up with could also just as easily fit into some other weapon category.
*if I had money that I could throw at the game and also influence to convince to put it in*
(rare, multi group, RNG drop)
Aegistic unguis of ataraxia
Class: Monk, Summoner
(Summoner: waist only. Monk: wrist/hands/secondary-if put in one, blocks other slots, occupies all three slots.)
Buckler/shield- wrist/hands/secondary (waist)
AC 25
piercing +25% dodge +30% block +25%
proc effect: on successfull block; 1 attack, 1h piercing dmg/dly 50/10 in off hand/secondary.
game mechanic: Mobs can be briefly stunned if hit hard and fast enough, even with small damage.
It's quite possible that Edged is simply listed as a Dire Lord thing since their Lore states that they will only use weapons that are Edged and will cut.
So Swords and Axes will always have cutting edges. It's implied in the name. The English word Sword origionally meant 'Double Bladed Knife' and then evolved over time as weapons got bigger. So smaller swords became Daggers, and the term has gone on to include various blades that only have 1 Edge like many of the Japanese style of swords do. Daggers also evolved to sometimes not have edges at all and instead just have points.
The Edged category is to allow for Dire Lords to use other weapon types as long as they have a cutting edge. So for example a Naginata is a Japanese Pole weapon with a large blade at the end. Think of a long spear with a short katana blade instead of a point at the top. European's had a similar weapon called a Glaive
These would technically fall under an 'Edged' category but could also fit as a Polearm or Spear category.
It is quite possible that in game the Tooltips of various weapons could list multiple categories. So a Naginata may list: Polearm, Spear, Edged. Thus any class that can use any of these categories will be able to wield it.
The 'Great Blade' category may be for other Large 2 handed bladed weapons that don't fall into a Sword or Axe category. For example if you recall in Star Trek the Klingons had a weapon they called a bat'leth which was basically a very large version of a Lùjiǎodāo which is called 'Deer Horn Knives' in English. These Deer Horn Knives might be considered a 'Fist Weapon' for Monks, while a larger 2 handed version like the Bat'leth may fall into a Great Blade Category.
I'm sure the creative people working for VR can come up with all sorts of other unique Large Bladed weapons that wouldn't be swords or axes and instead just be considered Great Blades. Heck, I'm sure if you asked in an Anime Reddit they could list you half a dozen Great Bladed weapons off the top of their head that don't fall into either Sword or Axe categories.
I think a good way to handle this is for example, some type of 'great' or 2 handed weapons should have a higher base/minimal damage. This should go even further than the item stat, but also be included in the RNG portion of damage. Say a 4d25 rather than a 1d100.
Also, this also reminds me of the question from the recent developer round table where Adam says he likes different damage types (piercing, slashing, crushing, etc) and how those could play into resistance types and so on. Adam said he likes those systems but they are not in Pantheon because some classes may only rely on one type of weapon damage. My respond to that is, so what? What's wrong with there being a better type of tank in certain circumstances? And so what if someone has a damage/attack penalty against certain types of monsters than a player with a different weapon? That's what gives combat flavor, and steps away from the idea that everyone is equal because everyone being equal is boring. The entire point of weapon damage resistance is to cause an increased challenge for players when you were not planning/prepared for it.