Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship: Difference between revisions

* ''[[GURPS]]'' tried to reflect this in its weapons lists--broadswordslists—broadswords, bastard swords, and greatswords all were listed as typically having a blunt tip, although thrusting versions were also available at a slight markup in price.

* Fiercely averted in ''[[Role Master]]'' (and, to a smaller extent, ''Middle-Earth RPG'', which is based on a simplified version of the RM rules), where not only does every single weapon type have its own damage table, but the tables are cross-referenced with the target's armour (20 types, from naked skin to full gothic plate). Critical hits also varied from weapon to weapon AND armour to armour. E.g. an axe striking naked flesh would likely do Slashing crits, but use it on a very heavy hauberk and it becomes a crushing weapon - unless you strike really, really hard :).

* Characters in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' will happily slash away with rapiers.

** As will they if they use the monkey grip feat to wield a spear one handed

* Ryu Hayabusa in the Xbox remake of ''[[Ninja Gaiden]]'' both stabs and slashes with katanas, broadsword-styled [[BFS|BFSes]]es and a staff-that-gains-pointy-bits.

** However, despite being ''technically'' averted, the attack patterns don't change, meaning that your hero will usually still be slashing about with his rapier anyway--itanyway—it just won't do as much damaage as stabbing.

** Most other [[Nippon Ichi]] games like to play this one straight. ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' subverts this somewhat by having swords and rapiers as separate weapon classes. Swords and katanas are used for slashing, while rapiers stick primarily with thrusting attacks.

* Did you notice Marth's Shield Breaker attack changed from a Slash to a Thrust between [[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee and Brawl? That's because his weapon is primarily a thrusting weapon. His moveset still has plenty of slashes to it, though.

* ''Soulbringer'' averts this hard. The game uses "piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning" damage types like [[Dungeons and& Dragons|D&D]] belowabove, with certain types doing better against certain kinds of armor; bashing works against non-human creatures like skeletons or rock beasts, slashing against unarmored enemies, piercing against humans wearing metal armor. Unlike D&D, some weapons do more than one type, depending on the attack, and attack positioning can overcome type weaknesses. Greatswords, for example, do slashing damage...but attacking the legs or bringing it down hard on the head of a helmed foe still hurts like hell ([[Breakable Weapons|your weapon, too]]).

* Averted in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' uses only "edge" and "blunt" attacks, wherehandling stabbingstab and slashingslash aregenerally separatedthe bysame away. But specific attacks given to each specific weapon have different parameters (aside of the attack's text name) - slashing have much higher contact area, andwhile stabbing have greater penetration. powerSwinging whichattacks bothof varyall bytypes also are given "velocity multiplier" (greater for weapons like pick or war hammer than for swords) making the weaponimpact stronger. YouSo you cannot slash with a spear or pike, ornor thrust with a ax - though they have secondary blunt attacks, so you can only do a shaft bash andor a flat slap respectively. And even when a weapon (e.g. short sword) ''does'' have both "stab" and "slash", these are very distinct in performance.

* Flatly averted again by ''[[Mount and& Blade]],'' where melee weapons can have a thrust or swing attack style. Some weapons are exclusively one or the other. Sabers, for instance, are limited to swings (slashes), and long spears are limited to simply thrusting. Some weapons, such as shorter spears or larger straight swords, may have both thrust and swing options, but these will usually be inferior to a dedicated swing/thrust weapon in damage or range. Notable due to the fact that the game is set in a [[Low Fantasy]] world full of [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|factions designed to mirror real medieval powers]].

* Can be played straight in ''[[RunescapeRuneScape]]''. Each weapon has several attack styles, and for a given weapon most will be either stabbing, slashing, or crushing-type attacks, each of which has a separate defense bonus provided by the target's armour that it has to penetrate. However, most weapons offer an attack style that allows the player to deal a secondary damage type (for example, crushing damage with a battleaxe instead of the usual slashing damage) in order to exploit the weaknesses of the target's defenses, at the cost of the weapon having a lower accuracy bonus with its secondary attack type. However, the trope is usually averted as people [[Complacent Gaming Syndrome|often ignore attack styles altogether]] in favour of simply choosing to use [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors|magic attacks against melee armour, melee attacks against ranged armour and ranged]] [[Complacent Gaming Syndrome|(or melee)]] [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors|attacks against magic "armour"]] for maximum [[Armor-Piercing Attack|armour bypass.]]

* In ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'', all swords can be used to slash or stab -- normallystab—normally, a stab is accurate, while a slash sacrifices accuracy for more power. However, one of the swords is a rapier, where the slash is appropriately less accurate ''and'' less damaging.

* Because of sprite limits in the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series, all characters have one stabbing motion and two-three slashing motions for one-handed weapons and an equal amount for two-handed weapons. They mix these attack animations freely without regards to weapon type, leading to such gems like doing overhead swings with spears and stilettos and stabbing motions with greatswords and quarterstaffs. There exist unofficial [[Game Mod|Game Mods]]s that correct this.

* Lampshaded in [[Epic Battle Fantasy]]: [[I Like Swords|Matt]] yells at a sword using enemy using [[Slice-and-Dice Swordsmanship]] that he's holding a thrusting weapon.

*** Note that Medieval and Renaissance swordsmanship was nowhere near as clunky and slow as is usually depicted. There was a wealth of techniques that were both well-considered and well-tested, directly comparable to their Eastern equivalents.

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