[Skill] Weapon Styles: Daggers

[Kell Northwind]

Overview:
Daggers are arguably Mizahar’s most prevalent weapon. Simple and relatively cheap to make, a dagger consists of a straight blade six inched to a foot long attached to a hilt, sometimes with a cross guard. The blades of these weapons are usually sharpened on each side. They can be as simple as a piece of sharpened rock stuck in a chunk of wood or as ornate as a gold and jewel encrusted show piece too expensive even for kings. The small quantities of materials necessary to fashion a dagger, and the ease of manufacture make this an affordable weapon for almost everyone. Thieves and assassins prefer the small blades for their quickness and concealable nature, whereas knights and other professional soldiers often keep one handy as back up weapons should their primary be knocked from their hands in the thick of the fight. A dagger’s small blade makes it ineffective in slashing attacks, save coupe de graces that involve cutting an incapacitated enemies throat. Instead, a dagger should mainly be used as a thrusting weapon, hoping to seek vital organs. The smaller blade also makes blocking and parrying with a dagger and extremely difficult and dangerous practice. In fact parrying is virtually impossible. Blocking an opponent’s weapon with a dagger effectively take the dagger out of the fight until it can be disengaged.

Prerequisites and related skills:
While there are no skills that will directly improve one’s ability with daggers, there are a couple that can be used to supplement the skill. Some people prefer to coat their blades with poisons, increasing the danger form even the smallest nicks. These people tend to also have extensive training in Poison. Others will use a dagger in conjunction with another weapon in the art of Dual Wielding.

Novice (1-25):
The person understands the basic techniques of this weapon. In combat the wielder is clumsy and has to rely more on spirit than actual expertise and training. The novice’s inexperience only allows his to block larger weapons with his blade and even this is a risky gamble. Of course, even a novice knows how to maintain and care for his weapon.

Competent (26-50):
The wielder has now acquired enough training to fight with finesse and skill. They are able to make reasoned attacks in combat and are able to perform some basic moves. Competent users can catch midsized weapons on their blades.

Expert (51-75):
By now the wielder has gathered quite a bit of expertise in the use of his dagger. In combat they move with fluidity and grace and are occasionally able to perform specific, pinpoint strikes against their foes as well as executing some more advanced moves. The time spent with their weapon has allowed expert users to feel confident enough to block smaller weapons.

Master (76-100)
The dagger has become an extension of the wielders will. They dance through combat with deceptively flowing moments that often leaves their opponent looking the completely wrong direction. The master’s strikes almost always find a vein, tendon, or other weak point. If he can see it coming, masters have been known to deflect projectiles in mid flight. It is said that watching two masters fight is more akin to a dance than combat

[Alistair deGrey]

There are a few grammatical errors,

1st Paragraph, 3rd line
"jewel encrusted show piece to expensive even for king"

2nd Paragraph, 4th-5th line
"[url=http://www.mizahar.com/lore/Dual_Wield]Dual Wielding [url]."

That is all I caught ^^

Also, I have a slight problem with novices being able to block larger weapons, and it going smaller. Blocking a large weapon is inherently harder, because more force is generated. The only way someone with a dagger would be able to block a larger weapon would be with some sort of deflection technique, because absorbing the force generated would be out of the question unless you were strong. However, this is referring to the user's skill with a dagger, not their strength. To me, it seems like the techniques that would allow you to deflect a larger weapon would be out of the question.

Idunno, I think you should get other opinions before any decision is made.

[Kell Northwind]

Alistair, I was referring more to the difficulties of actually making contact. It's harder than most people realize and missing generally leads to ouch. But you do raise a good point. I'll see if I can factor it in.

[Gossamer]

I think the main problem with this writeup is that it is impersonal towards the dagger. You could swap out 'dagger' to read almost any other bladed (and some blunt) weapons. Abashai is currently working on a generic weapons writeup that covers everything in an impersonal way.

Having done a complete dagger writeup in the past for another game, and having to have done a ton of research for them, I'd really like to see this more personalized towards the dagger itself. That means, speaking about techniques - there's a ton of really specialized dagger moves, grips, fighting styles, etc... and some really good postings on the net.

One or two lines per level will never ever cut it. The descriptions need to be specific and detailed. I would suggest reading some of the rank descriptions of other completed writeups in the wiki to get a feel for what we are looking for in tems of depth of quality.