Increasing Weapon Sizes?

[kkortekaas]

Greetings all,
One of my players is thinking about playing a Goliath Fighter in my upcoming game and he posed a question to which I have no answer.

As I'm sure your aware, Goliath's are able to wield weapons one size larger then they are. Does this mean my player could weild a medium sized greatsword in one hand (with the exotic weap. prof of course) and as an extension of this, can he wield a Large sized Greatsword with two hands, and if so what would the damage be?

Much appreciated.
Kkortekaas

[Studoku]

There's a table on this page that has all the damage amounts (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm)

[kkortekaas]

Thanks, the chart answers the questions about the increased damage, but regarding the other item, a Goliath using a medium sized Greatsword in one hand with a shield in the other, is that possible?

[Innis Cabal]

yes it would

[kkortekaas]

Innis, I'm a little over tired and don't understand your response...

[Innis Cabal]

you asked if using a medium great sword and shield is possible for a goliath, yes it would since its a one handed weapon

[kkortekaas]

awesome, thanks for the clarification

[Douglas]

RAW, no a goliath cannot wield a medium greatsword in one hand. The Powerful Build ability specifically applies to weapons designed for creatures one size larger than you are; it does nothing for weapons made for your actual size. Both a medium and large greatsword are two handed weapons for a goliath. House ruling otherwise would not be a big deal, however, especially as he could just get a large longsword instead of a medium greatsword and have the numbers work out exactly the same.

[Innis Cabal]

that never made sense to me, so i told him my house rule for it, becuase the RAW is silly

[Scribbler]

Right. By the rules, he can use a large longsword in one hand but not a medium greatsword. They have the same damage, weight, and crit, but since the greatsword is actually made for hands his size, he can't use it. The longsword is probably a bit better for him anyway (it's cheaper), although less likely to be easy to find.

[kkortekaas]

I think I'll probably house rule that he can wield a medium Greatsword in one hand, as it seems to make sense...I mean if he can wield a Large greatsword in two hands, he should be able to wield a medium greatsword in one hand.

Does anyone think this will be greatly unbalancing to the game?


RAW, no a goliath cannot wield a medium greatsword in one hand. The Powerful Build ability specifically applies to weapons designed for creatures one size larger than you are; it does nothing for weapons made for your actual size. Both a medium and large greatsword are two handed weapons for a goliath. House ruling otherwise would not be a big deal, however, especially as he could just get a large longsword instead of a medium greatsword and have the numbers work out exactly the same.

[Hazkali]

I in Unearthed Arcana there was a little table on "counts as" weapons.

The RAW intend that a Medium Greatsword and a Large Longsword aren't the same weapon as they are supposed to be used differently. However the nifty table in UA gives a progression, i.e. a Large Shortword = Medium Longsword = Small Greatsword, or something to that effect.

[levi]

They have the same (or a very similar) table in the DMG. Basically, when using this variant, you get all the best parts of the 3.0 and 3.5 weapon systems at once.