WEAPONS
_______

     Weapons are those wonderful material things you use to beat
on someone else.  They come in many shapes and sizes, and may
be a mystery to some.  Here's where some of the mystery
may be cleared up.

     The first thing to realize is that weapons come in
different flavors.  This is referred to as the weapon type.
Valid types are:

Bladed melee weapons:
          dagger
          axe
          polearm
          thin blade [ex: rapiers, etc]
          broad blade [ex: claymores, broadswords, etc]
          ancient [weapons of yore].
          hard martial arts forms

Blunt melee weapons:
          weapon breaker
          staff
          bludgeon
          shield
          unarmed
          soft martial arts forms
          net

Ranged weapons:
          slings
          bows
          crossbows
          thundersticks
          small throwing [daggers, darts, etc]
          medium throwing [throwing axes, etc]
          large throwing [javelins, etc]
          whip

When you get training in a specific weapon type, you can then
pick up and use various weapons of that type equally well, but
just because you're trained in, say, dagger, doesn't mean you
know how to fight with a sling.

Weapon size:  A weapon's size is a determination of what size
              race the weapon was originally designed for.  For
              example, a size 48 weapon would have been designed
              for a race (or individual) who's size is 48.
Weapon size and wielding:  An individual can wield weapons of
                           various sizes depending on the number
                           of limbs, size of the individual, and
                           size of the weapon.


     So, each weapon type has an associated weapon skill, which
is how good a person is at doing damage with that weapon type:
'help skill axe'. Weapon types also determine other things.
Slings, bows, and crossbows are ranged weapon types.  That means
they only work from the middle or back rows of a party.  Also,
bladed weapons are better at scoring a critical hit, while blunt
weapons are better at stunning.  Polearms work from the middle
row of a party, while also working from the front row, but in
either location, polearms are long and slow, so they don't get
multiple attacks per round.  
[help ranged combat for more information on that].

     Weapon types also vary in other ways, such as ability to 
parry [help skill weapon parry], ease of fighting underwater,
which combat skills can be executed with them and so forth.
Furthermore, no two bladed weapons or blunt weapons are exactly
the same in terms of ability to stun, chance of a critical hit,
damage dealt or so forth.

     Most weapons can be wielded in one or two hands, depending
on their size and the size of the wielder. The exceptions are staves,
polearms and ranged weapons, which are always two handed. When
a weapon is wielded two handed, only the first limb the weapon is
wielded in is counted when determining the total number of attacks.
Thus wielding a weapon in the right and left hands will allow the
user to only get right handed attacks, even if they have the
ambidexterity skill trained [help skill ambidexterity]. A weapon
wielded in the left and third hands will only get the attacks the left
hand would usually get, not the attacks the third hand would get,
etc. The exception to this is staves. Staves are two-ended weapons,
so every limb that is helping to wield a staff can attack with that
staff as though it were wielding a separate weapon. [help staff
attacks]

     Finally, the weapon type helps determine the damage done.
That is, daggers are small weapon types and do less damage than
larger weapons like broad blades.  In general, bigger and
nastier weapon types do more damage. This is also reflected in a
weapon's size and weight.  Bigger and heavier weapons do more
damage, but are harder to handle.

     Within a class, weapons themselves are different.  Some are
better quality [and therefore do more damage] than others.  This
is reflected in the weapon's weapon class [or wc].  Weapon
classes go from 0 to 100, with anything over weapon class 80, an
artifact.  The higher the weapon class, the more  
damage you do.

     Also weapons can do more damage if they have a damage
bonus.  This is a reflection of things such as a serrated razor
edge, or somesuch. Weapons can also have hit bonuses, mimicing
better handling, making them easier to hit your target with.
Finally, some weapons are stabbers, meaning they can be used to
backstab with.  In general, all stabbers are daggers, but not
all daggers are stabbers.

     Damage type.  In general, weapons do physical damage.  However,
since this is a magical realm, they don't have to.  A flaming paladin sword
can actually do fire damage, or fire, holy and physical damage.
For more on that: help damage types.

     Weapons can also have a special attack function.  This is
things like Woundhealer healing the wielder in battle, or the
Wraith dagger disturbing the victim's concentration.  Most just
do extra damage to  your target.

     And finally, again due to this magical universe, weapons
can have other bonuses.  This includes bonuses to your stats
like strength, or dexterity, or bonuses to specific skills or
spells, such as a bonus to parry. Artifacts can have even more
special bonuses.

See also: HELP WEAPON SIZE