Danzi Question: Giant-sized weapon or not?

[donJulio]

The tallest Danzi (7') are as tall as the shortest Wolven (7'). Wolven use giant-sized weapons, which do an extra d6 of damage. Has anybody played a Danzi before and had to ponder this? Is there such thing as a giant-sized dagger (2d6)?

[Prysus]

The tallest Danzi (7') are as tall as the shortest Wolven (7'). Wolven use giant-sized weapons, which do an extra d6 of damage. Has anybody played a Danzi before and had to ponder this?

Greetings and Salutations. I've never played a Danzi before, but I have often pondered the question in general from a game mechanics standpoint.

From what I can tell, Danzi would not use Giant-Sized weapons or have Giant strength.

Giant status appears to be a racial feature, not a feature based on each individual character. Coyles, for instance, can be between 6-8 ft. This puts some Coyles taller than the shortest Wolfen. However, everything I've seen would indicate they use human-sized weapons. Coyle minimum height is equal to Elf minimum height (going from memory, but fairly sure that's accurate), and average human height. Their average height (7 ft) is slightly taller (by 2 inches) max Elven height (and arguably within real life human range).

When I looked into this, Wolfen were about the shortest giant race. So my rule of thumb has been that the race must have at least a minimum of high human height with an average that exceeds human range (Wolfen would mathematically average 8 and a half feet).

Is there such thing as a giant-sized dagger (2d6)?

I don't see why not. Mechanically there is no distinction of weapon type. Also, 2D6 makes it the equivalent of a Long Sword (and I believe some of the shorter swords, but not the actual "Short Sword" which is 2D4). That makes sense to me.

Hope that helps. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Reagren Wright]

The tallest Danzi (7') are as tall as the shortest Wolven (7'). Wolven use giant-sized weapons, which do an extra d6 of damage. Has anybody played a Danzi before and had to ponder this?

Greetings and Salutations. I've never played a Danzi before, but I have often pondered the question in general from a game mechanics standpoint.

From what I can tell, Danzi would not use Giant-Sized weapons or have Giant strength.

Giant status appears to be a racial feature, not a feature based on each individual character. Coyles, for instance, can be between 6-8 ft. This puts some Coyles taller than the shortest Wolfen. However, everything I've seen would indicate they use human-sized weapons. Coyle minimum height is equal to Elf minimum height (going from memory, but fairly sure that's accurate), and average human height. Their average height (7 ft) is slightly taller (by 2 inches) max Elven height (and arguably within real life human range).

When I looked into this, Wolfen were about the shortest giant race. So my rule of thumb has been that the race must have at least a minimum of high human height with an average that exceeds human range (Wolfen would mathematically average 8 and a half feet).

Is there such thing as a giant-sized dagger (2d6)?

I don't see why not. Mechanically there is no distinction of weapon type. Also, 2D6 makes it the equivalent of a Long Sword (and I believe some of the shorter swords, but not the actual "Short Sword" which is 2D4). That makes sense to me.

Hope that helps. Farewell and safe journeys.

I'd have to agree. I mean what is a giant size short sword but a heavy large sword or a two
handed sword. Many of my players have made the joke why do they even have giant size short
swords, when they could use a regular human size long sword instead. Coyles I would say would
normal use human size weapons, but would use giant size "short swords" as long swords. Same
with short spears, short staves, and throwing weapons. Danzi would be the same way.

[donJulio]

I wouldn't ask if I didn't have a doubt to begin with. Thank you for your replies. It would have been cool, but kind of OP and not really canon.

[Library Ogre]

My usual rule: Average height of 8+ feet, average PS of 14+ (so, 4d6 dice, or similar).

As I've mentioned before, though, I played with a system that made a LOT of changes to things, including more scaled weapons, based on a d4.

[Soldier of Od]

I came up against this issue recently when I submitted my "Half-Ogre" article for the Rifter (See Rifter #83!)

I figured that the shortest races that are explicitly described as "giant-sized" are the Wolfen and Ogres, who can both be as short as 7ft tall. Quorians are specifically described as "big, but not giant-sized and do not have the same benefits and drawbacks that ogres, trolls and other giant-sized humanoids have". Quorians can be 6-7ft tall. So, I chose to use over 7ft tall as my limit for giant-sized rules.

Coyles (like Half-Ogres!) can be from 6'4" to 8' tall, so run the gamut of sizes. The easiest thing to do is to just decide that anyone over 7ft tall can use giant-sized weapons and anyone 7ft or under can't use giant-sized weapons. However, in my write-up for the Half-ogre I tried to make it a little less cut-and-dry and make the transition point a little more fluid.

One thing I don’t like is allowing a giant-sized knife to be used as a normal-sized sword and similar cross-size applications. I think that the balance and (especially) the size of the handles of these weapons will make a big difference and penalties should be applied. A giant-sized sword is not the equivalent of a normal two-handed sword because the diameter of the handle would be much larger. Think about holding a massively wide cylinder that you can’t even get your hand(s) around and how much more difficult that might be to successfully wield as a weapon even if its full length was equal to or less than that of an ordinary weapon. And I think a troll should not be able to use a sword as a dagger (without penalty) because his hand will swamp the handle, cross-guard (if present) and much of the blade.

In answer to the original poster’s question, I don’t think that a 7ft tall Danzi should be allowed to use giant-sized weapons. Conversely, if a player requested it, I would allow a 7ft tall wolfen, coyle, ogre or half-ogre character to use normal-sized weapons (and not giant-sized ones) and to have a more normal human-sized consumption of food, etc. – big, but not that big. Such a decision would probably need to be the result of a discussion between the GM and the player.

Hope that helps.