Mace, pear-headed and Mace, disc: These weapons have the same statistics and price as that of a standard mace. What is notable is the construction of these weapons -- both pear-headed and disc maces have their striking heads carved from dense and highly-polished stone. A pear-headed mace resembles (predictably) a pear in shape, with a bulbous head tapering towards the haft; a disc mace has a flanged disk of hard stone for a head slipped ring-like onto the haft, designed for bluntly cleaving flesh and bone rather than crushing.
Dagger: The Egyptian dagger comes in two basic forms. The older design possesses a broad, oxtongue-style blade and a half-moon pommel, intended for stabbing; later versions come to resemble more modern daggers, with a rounded or papyrus-umbel pommel nut and a blade suitable for slashing as well as stabbing.
Throwstick: More commonly a hunting weapon associated with the nobility, the throwstick was occasionally produced in a heavier, weighted form suitable for combat. Long with a slight S-curve (which made the throwstick resemble a snake; some were tipped with stylized snake heads), the throwstick was made in returning and non-returning versions.
Weight: 10 cn; Damage: 1-6; Price: 2gp; Range: 15/30/45
Khepesh: Also rendered as khopesh and occasionally khepresh, this sword averaged twenty to twenty-four inches long (though smaller examples are known) and features a curved edge mounted to a straighter blade-haft. Though many khepeshes were intended for slashing, some larger examples were better designed for cleaving; the larger example in the photo in fact has an unsharpened blade, and was used as a crushing, blunt-trauma weapon.
Weight: 20 - 30cn; Damage: 1-6 or 1-8 (larger); Price: 8gp
Other weapons commonly known: bows, long and short; handaxes; spear; javelin; sling.
Corselet: A closely-fitting sheath of scales -- leather or, rarely, metal -- that covered the upper body to the level of the armpits and was supported by broad shoulder straps. Corselets were supplemented by shields. Many metal corselets were designed for ceremonial use only.
Weight: 150cn (leather) / 250cn (metal); AC 8 (leather)/7 (metal); Price: 20gp (leather) / 40gp (metal)
7 comments:
Very, very cool! Thanks for this. I can't get enough of pre-Classical history. :D
@trollsmyth:
You're welcome! :D
I'm tempted to do a general Bronze Age sweep (mostly for Minoan/Mycenaean shinies); but I'm afraid most of it would be description, not much by way of new rules ...
And then there's the axes. I should write up the MK bladed-staff axes ... *hmms*
I don't know about your other readers, but I'm perfectly fine with that. I'd love to read about what the homes looked like, what tools they used to eat dinner, how they dressed, etc. The sort of "local color" that makes a place real is more useful to me than crunch. I can take disk and pear maces and treat them as just 1d6 damage, but the descriptions of their unusual construction will stick with players long after the damage has been healed away.
@trollsmyth:
I am now very very tempted indeed ;3 1700 - ~1300BC, Egypt most especially, is where I'll be spending my career one of these days ~
I'll see what I can't offer up in the nearish future :3 Possibly starting with a bit more description for some of the weapons I glossed over.
And chariot fighting! :D
I'll second that. I don't care about the stats, but colour is always cool.
@Matthew Slepin:
Noted, and thank ye :3
Man, those disc maces are brutal. (And I thought making people's heads explode with a war hammer sounded messy!) Also: *dances for khepesh and corselets*
WV= kriessi
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