Sheathed Weapons

[ZeroGear]

There's something I've been wondering recently:
How do your characters carry their weapons?
Now this has nothing to do with mechanics, and I respect the fact that everyone has their own opinions as to how gear is carries, but I was wondering what your personal preference for various weapons was.
Do you carry your sword on your back? Near the hip? In your shield?
How about your axe? Or your bow?
What about oddly shaped weapons like double-bladed swords or scythes?
Dow your wizard carry his wands up his sleeve or on a belt?

I'm interested in what most people do with their character (doesn't have to be every character, you're free to mention which ever one you like).

[Ozfer]

One thing I learned from my favorite history-oriented youtube channel (lindybeige) is that carrying weapons on your back is almost never a good idea. Look up the channel if you are interested in this sort of thing. He has some interesting thoughts on the usage and stratagems of medieval weapons.

[TheCountAlucard]

My hands are my weapons. Anyone expecting me to be at a disadvantage because he's got a saber will be sorely surprised when I snap his weapon in half and then hurl him into the sun!

Though I'm looking to play a character who stores his weapons Elsewhere.

Not my fault you didn't specify the game.

[Slipperychicken]

How do your characters carry their weapons?

In their inventory slots

[Talyn]

Shoulder holster for a medium-caliber manstopper handgun. Gun is under the left armpit, two extra magazines under the right, standard right-handed cop carry. Smaller holdout weapon in an ankle holster. Everything heavier is kept disassembled in a locked gun case at home. (Hunter: the Vigil)


If I'm not actively in a battle or a dungeon, dagger on my left hip, with a spare kept in the boot. Shield slung across the back of my horse. Sword and lance are carried by my squire to be handed to me when necessary. A crossbow is kept unstrung in a holster attached to the saddlebags on the spare pack horse. If I'm actively looking for trouble, sword and shield are in hand, and the squire carries the crossbow. (Dungeons and Dragons)


The energy gauntlets are built into a suit of powered armor. They (and the rest of the armor) are kept in n-dimensional space until summoned by activating the teleporter built into the wrist gauntlets, which causes the armor and the gauntlets to materialize around me. (Champions)

[Water_Bear]

How do your characters carry their weapons?

In the hands of their cronies. Why dirty your hands fighting when there are so many people much more expendable than you?

[Big Fau]

Depends on the weapon. Guns/wands are stored in a hip pouch on the belt, light weapons in various sheathes on/in/near the boots/gauntlets, and one-handed ones are on the back, parallel to the character's hips (so the handle of the weapon is perpendicular to the character's body).

Two-handed ones are usually stowed in a movement-friendly back-mounted sheathe, designed so the character can draw the weapon in cramped corridors (by aiming the front-end of the sheathe at the enemy he intends to attack).

Natural weapons are stored in various articles of clothing, like the pants.

[OverdrivePrime]

In my hammerspace trench coat, of course!

[The Fury]

My fighter carries her sword at her left hip and her knife horizontally at the back of her belt. She also uses a small shield which has a hook for attaching it to her belt. I hadn't really thought about how she'd carry her sling when she's not using it though-- maybe she ties it around her waist?
Other than weapons I imagine that she carries her map case on a shoulder-strap so she can get out maps and parchment fairly easily.

[The Rose Dragon]

There is a very thin metaphysical line between Nowhere and Now Here. So thin that, if the aura of the weapon resonates with your spirit sufficiently, you can take the weapon that is Now Here, and put it Nowhere with no effort at all, where it will reside non-existently, until you need it and it suddenly becomes Now Here once more.

So, hammerspace.

[Alejandro]

A bag of holding, each one in a sheath or other covering if necessary if it might rip the bag.

[Jay R]

The primary weapon is in a scabbard on his left hip, if it's small enough. Otherwise, it's probably in his hands. (There's no better way to carry a pole arm.) The dagger or other secondary weapon is on his right hip.

If we are in a dangerous location, of course, it's in his hand(s).

The "obvious" hidden weapon is in his boot. The real holdout is inside his shirt, right below the collar in back.

[Radar]

In my hammerspace trench coat, of course!

I wanted to say this, so now I'll go with the second option: traditional dwarven walking stick.

Seriously though, it just didn't come up in any of my games.

[Exediron]

I have too many characters to poll all of them, but I'm pretty sure it's almost always the belt if the weapon is short enough and the back if it's not. Seeing as I play at epic level, a fair portion of them also have weapons they summon to hand or can blink into existence when called.

At lower levels I have always wondered how you carry a polearm around all day and still do everything else an adventurer needs to do.

[Badgerish]

4ed Sentinel-Druid|Cleric (mostly Druid)
Staff held in hand (It's a walking stick and part of the Druidic image as well as a weapon/implement) or put into bag of holding if I need both hands.
Dagger on belt.
Spare daggers, staff, club, sling and ammo are in the bag of holding.

4ed Fighter (Dwarven Battlerager)
Dwarven-Thrower Craghammer is tied to a (dwarf-made) sturdy belt by leather straps. It's head-upwards and can be untied and lifted up or just pulled sideways (breaks the straps, but I have spares).
Handaxe on belt, with a leather cover.
Dagger (Bowie knife style) in boot.
Spare craghammer and throwing hammers in backpack.

4ed Pixie Executioner-Assassin (I'm a Ninja!)
Two shortswords in scabbards that cross over on the small of her back, covered with a bow made from silk ribbon.
Endless supply of darts (1 magic shuriken) in a thigh-holster.
Daggers: on belt, in hair and in both boots.
Shortbow, arrows, spare darts, daggers and shortsword in bag of holding.

[Amaril]

My 4e Avenger for an upcoming PbP game carries his silvered bastard sword across his back, set up to draw over the shoulder. Crossbow goes horizontally on the back of the belt, with the bolt case on the right hip. Silver chain goes on the left hip--its value as an improvised weapon should never be underestimated. All other gear is carried in or attached to the backpack, which goes over the bastard sword's scabbard.

[SiuiS]

My hands are my weapons. Anyone expecting me to be at a disadvantage because he's got a saber will be sorely surprised when I snap his weapon in half and then hurl him into the sun!

Though I'm looking to play a character who stores his weapons Elsewhere.

"I don't always holster my weapons, but when I do, I do so in my enemies' corpses."


It depends on the character involved. In fantasy settings, based on various levels of gear expected, usually on a depending frog or chain strap, from the waist. Hidden daggers Re somewhat of an art, and are different based on whether they are for quick draws or for survive an thorough search; the generalist wizard carried a poisoned dagger like most detectives, nestled on a swivel under the armpit (and covered by a cloak), where the necromancer had a throat cutter wrapped in a thick leather edge cover, secreted in the loincloth.

Knight got clever, and had each different weapon readied in a handy haversack so he could retrieve an appropriate weapon at a moment's notice.

Barbarian types usually have weapons in hand or at the belt.

In non-fantasy games, it is usually "weapon in room/base/vehicle, with a single back-up weapon on person". Much less requirement to be armed and ready to hurt people in those games, without it being a 'blaster in hand at the ready' every time.

[Raimun]

Swords are carried on hand, resting against a shoulder.

Guns are carried under trenchcoat, on a shoulder holster.

Oh... and I like to have a weapon grade glove, just in case.

[Admiral Squish]

Hmm... Well, one of my changeling: the lost characters carries a shotgun and a machete inside his gator-skin trenchcoat. Actually, he kinda keeps everything in there. He carried around a dead metal bird in there for a while, actually.

The other one's got a custom merit that says his hands don't get damaged from punching hard things and deal damage like brass knuckles. He also has a pretty big handgun, but he doesn't carry it most of the time. It's a shoulder-holster.

In D&D, my goliath crusader wears full plate, carries a tower shield, and wields a warhammer. The hammer hangs in a leather loop on her hip, but the shield has a pair of hooks instead of straps. There's a pair of loops on her back, built into her breastplate, that the shield hangs on most of the time. When she's wielding it, it hooks to a couple loops on her bracers.

[Vixsor Lumin]

My current character? Longsword on his left hip with his wand of whirling blade in the hilt, shortsword horizontal (hilt to the left), and his whip dagger wrapped from left shoulder to right hip. I know the last one isn't practical, but in my imagination it looks cooler

[The Fury]

The "obvious" hidden weapon is in his boot. The real holdout is inside his shirt, right below the collar in back.

Out of curiosity how does that stay in place? Is he wearing some sort of custom harness under his shirt? Is his dagger sewn to the inside of his shirt or something like that? A nitpicky sort of question I'll admit.

I have too many characters to poll all of them, but I'm pretty sure it's almost always the belt if the weapon is short enough and the back if it's not. Seeing as I play at epic level, a fair portion of them also have weapons they summon to hand or can blink into existence when called.

Pfft! Epic Level characters don't need weapons! That's just silly.

At lower levels I have always wondered how you carry a polearm around all day and still do everything else an adventurer needs to do.

Yeah, whenever it comes up that a character needs both hands for something I guess they'd just set their polearm down for a bit. In other cases, like when they need to climb a ladder, maybe they'd stick the polearm in the space between their backpack and their back?

[Anderlith]

I have a character that's an Artificer. He wears six different wands at any given time in holsters on his hips (three to a side), a Rod on a lanyard sling on his right hip, & a Rod in a holster over his left shoulder. He also has a wand held in a docker's clutch under his arm, & a staff in his hand or held in a rig on his back.

Any extra combat gear my character has is in a Handy Haversack in the shape of a small dufflebag.

In other words he outfits himself like a gunslinger...

[Jay R]

The "obvious" hidden weapon is in his boot. The real holdout is inside his shirt, right below the collar in back.

Out of curiosity how does that stay in place? Is he wearing some sort of custom harness under his shirt? Is his dagger sewn to the inside of his shirt or something like that? A nitpicky sort of question I'll admit.

Yes, it's a knife sheath, on a harness. In front, he has a couple of hidden spell components worked into it as well. (He has the Leatherworking NWP.)

[Pricewashere]

I made a character that had a "thing," for weapons. By a thing for weapons, I mean he carried (at the least) a falchion, 2 spears, 2 swords, a mace, and 4-6 daggers at all times... That character was awesome.... Anywho, he carried the falchion and spears on his back, the swords and mace on his hips, and the daggers across his chest and strapped to his arms. I really loved how he looked, just thinking about it makes me really happy that I made him!

[HuskyBoi]

Similarly, I had a character who carried a LOT of weapons- and because I had so many, the DM and I agreed it be important we know where they were at any given point. So, in total...

• Two-bladed sword across the back
• Heavy crossbow, also across the back
• Two hand crossbows in pouches over his bum
• A rapier at the hip
• And a sap on the other hip
• Six daggers in a pair of pandoliers
• A shuriken pouch just under the sap
• A wrist dagger (for emergencies)
• A boot dagger (for other emergencies)
• A blowpipe just above the rapier, with darts in a tiny pouch
• And a series of pre-poisoned darts strapped to the thigh.

The first time we entered the king's palace and were instructed to leave our weapons at the door was hilarious. And I still got the emergency daggers in!

[ZeroGear]

The first time we entered the king's palace and were instructed to leave our weapons at the door was hilarious. And I still got the emergency daggers in!

Now I'm picturing the scene from Police Academy II where Tackleberry and Kirkland are making out...and taking out all the hidden guns.

[Averis Vol]

Currently my "knight" carries his glaive across his lap while on horseback with a pair of handaxes strapped to his thighs. His warhammer is either lashed to a loop on his belt or kept wrapped with his equipment on previously mentioned horse, and his kite shield is hung over his shoulder. (Dnd)

Doctor collins keeps his scalpals in small sheathes behind his back, and his great crossbow tightly strapped to his back, or locked in his chest in his room while in Aereth castle. (Dnd)

Hawkins carries his collapsible longblade strapped to his left wrist and his carbine in a rotating gun belt that goes over a shoulder, with his grenade launcher bouncing around at stomach level. (GURPS)

And lastly Vincent hawthorn carries his cavalry saber openly on his right hip, as its a symbol of his station among the warriors of waterdeep. He carries his main gauche strapped to his thigh with his heavily armored sleeve generally hanging slightly limp. (Dnd)

[NikitaDarkstar]

My rogues usually have their daggers/shortswords/sharp pointy objects at their hips, with backups just about everywhere (my high level rogue usually had two shortswords at her hips. hidden blades at wrists, elbows, knees, and bootblades, several daggers hidden and non-hidden as backups and throwing weapons, and a light crossbow. Usually people only saw the crossbow, or short swords.)

My fighters tend to go with the utterly unrealistic back-sheathe approach for their great-swords.

My barbarian has her Earthbreaker (two-handed hammer) resting on her shoulder all the time, again not really practical, but hey, who cares?

My wizards stick their wands in their belts, and one tended to also attach his spellbooks to said belt with chains. Mainly for effect really. Also he didn't trust bags of holding worth a damn (long story short, pocket-dimension incident made him nervous).

And my current bard/rogue gestalt carries her sword-whips (think indian urumi and not silly anime weapon) wrapped around her waist, hidden under a light, but somewhat fluffy, sash.

[HuskyBoi]

My fighters tend to go with the utterly unrealistic back-sheathe approach for their great-swords.

Funny enough, I read a source once that said two-handed swords WERE carried on the back, but were unsheathed long before going into battle. It couldn't be unsheathed in a hurry (so is unsuited for use by, say, a PC in a fantasy roleplaying game who might be ambushed by a random encounter at any point), but as a simple system for carrying it is was the easiest. Just meant you had to know in advance when you needed to unsheathe it, at which point you'd undo the belt, take the scabbard off your back, and then get the sword out.

[CRtwenty]

My current character carries his swords in sheathes attached to his waist, and has his bow attached to his back. Seems the typical way to do it imo.