This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Nornagest: Took out this bit:
- Neverwinter Nights has an inversion, where characters will thrust with katanas.
...because katanas have a perfectly serviceable piercing tip, and techniques for thrusting with them are taught in many schools of their use including the two I've studied. They're indeed better at cutting, but this isn't anywhere close to the level of hacking away with a rapier.
Incidentally, short cuts were an accepted part of rapier technique for a long time as well -- one famous rapier duel turned on a cut to the Achilles tendon -- but the trope still stands in that case. Rapiers aren't balanced for cutting in the way that broader swords are, so powerful arcing blows as in these examples are slow and wildly inefficient.
