What kind of knife does your character wear?

[Spamotron]

Recently I've discovered a YouTube channel called Tod's Workshop. One of the videos Who Wears Daggers? gave me the idea that the kind of knife a character wears in any medieval/fantasy RPG is a neat low effort way to give some characterization. It says something about the character's background, social status, and personality. My barbarian wears a simple unadorned quillon dagger while my rogue has an elaborately engraved stiletto.

What about your characters?

Two more videos that might give you ideas: 14 Medival Daggers from Tod's Workshop and How to Wear YOUR Dagger My mercenary fighter totally wears a bollock dagger in the final demonstrated way.

[aglondier]

Brilliant. It's the little things that breathe life into a character...

My dwarven foehammer, Duri Thundercask, has two blades: the first a short bladed boot knife with intricate engravings that was gifted to him by the dwarf maiden he will someday wed, and the second is a robust simple dagger forged by his blacksmith mother and given to him as he left home to seek adventure.

My human wizard, Stenn, kept a thin elegant blade in a forearm sheath hidden by his robes, it was masterworked and he planned to enchant it later.

My elven wizard duelist, Aerius, wielded a pair of long-hilted blades, each containing a wand, and enchanted to aid in countering enemy spellcasting. He wore them cross sheathed behind his back, hilts pointing down, under his small pack.

[Nifft]

Three knives, of course, as any wise Wizard would wear.

One humble woodsman's knife, to prepare my material components. It is my most-used knife, but also the least accessible.

One flamed athame, of masterwork quality, but dulled with use as it serves to cut sigils and runes into wood and stone. It is the most expensive knife, but the least-often seen.

One tempered soldier's dirk, concealed in my bracer in case a goblin slinks past my protectors, or in case I find myself bound. It is the one I am most eager to check, but least eager to use.

[Cygnia]

My rogue wields a kukri, both for attacking and for utilitarian efforts like clearing brush.

My cleric has a ring-hilted silvered dagger that has yet to see violence -- and she prays every day that it stays in its sheath.

My Explorers (from 7th Sea) appreciate hunting knives, easy to use in the field, easy to keep hidden and (for the cook of the bunch) a boon in helping to prepare dinner. Antonio makes sure his stays clean and honed, giving it the tender care that one would give a lover.

[Tetsubo 57]

I'm a knife guy. I was in fact listening to a knife video in the background when I read this thread. For me, my answer would be... it depends. I carry a lot of different models depending on availability (they're new) or desire. But if I had to be limited to one type of knife for a fantasy setting, I'd go with the scramasax. Best utility knife in history in my opinion.

[comk59]

A rather hefty combat blade, the handle made with varnished wood from her home planet. It's sheathe is kept on her leg and concealed beneath her civilian clothes. The sheath itself is worn, but bears the symbol of her military platoon from when she served.

[Phhase]

You know, that's an excellent question, and great fun to think about. Hmmmm...

Looking into it, here's what I've got:

Name: Khorath
Race: Dragonborn (Red)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Class(es):Arcane Trickster 6/Brute 3
Other: Skilled Alchemist (Guild Artisan (alchemy tools) Background)

I imagine Khorath's 3 daggers as fairly plain quillons with hilts wrapped in worn black leather. The blades are somewhat amateurishly etched with a pattern resembling circuitry. Khorath doesn't know why, but the pattern seems familiar and comforting to him. The blades themselves are kept well sharpened, although long hours of slicing up alchemy ingredients have left some odd-colored and indelible stains.

(Full) Name: S'vissth Kryosol of the Clan of the Windrazors
Race: Thri-Kreen (Revenant)
Alignment: Neutral (Honestly, I always end up playing more along the lines of Lawful Good, but it's circumstance as much as anything).
Class: Nomad 6

S'vissth carries seven chatkcha, which are a racial thri-kreen weapon. They are single-edged throwing wedges with a triangular cross-section, carved from translucent rock crystal (think quartz). The edges have large triangular serrations, and they have short squarish hilts wrapped in fine beige cloth, which is inscribed with spidery thri-kreen script from one of their legends, describing the hunt of a hero named De'karat Half-Chrome.

Recently, S'vissth came across a large cache of otherworldly crystal that has special properties, and carved himself four extra chatkcha from it. While they follow the same basic design, they have hilts wrapped in fine copper wire (Necessary to activate the effect) and the edge looks slightly different, on account of the crystal having cleavage properties more akin to obsidian than quartz.

[LordCdrMilitant]

Kind of not answering the question while answering the question, my sorceress AEthelwyn doesn't carry a fighting knife at all. She's A: not the kind of person who would carry a weapon out at all and B: can disintegrate people with her mind if it comes to it. She probably has one of those sporks with a dull serrated part for cutting food, since the only thing more in character for that purpose would be a bag of assorted plastic utensils taken from fast food restaurants which have probably not been invented yet [whether fast food restaurants and plastic sporks have been invented yet has not been explored]. She also probably has small knives in her toolkit for dissection and making big things small.

Castiel, my cleric from a recent game, definitely carries several knives in different places, and her primary one is almost certainly a tacticool combat knife bayonet with a serrated back edge. It's probably marked with a star or something or some kind of quasi-soviet iconography on the hilt. She also definitely has a machete.



That said, what aesthetically goes with my characters and what they'd probably carry also probably doesn't sync up with what they actually carry, what fits with them often hasn't been invented yet in the setting of their game, since, I tend to write and play characters with more out-of-place modern themes in fantasy games. [AEthelwyn is a university researcher, Castiel was a central american communist insurgent]

[Imbalance]

Also a knife guy, I've only played a trio of characters for any length of time. But yeah, even if I don't delve into it during the games, I do give a lot of thought to what their respective EDC's would be like.

My fighter had been a town guard on the waterfront. Daggers weren't his thing until he got caught up in the adventure, and even then he favored tridents and spears. His blade was a thin dirk, no more than 6", with an upswept double edge to do both rope and filet work. Simple, durable handle, wood with brass pins, no pommel.

My ranger is a bit of an oddball, carries just a small steel knife most of the time, it's pretty beat up. To see it, you can't tell if half the blade broke off, or if it was made to be more handle than edge. When he expects to have need, he'll knap some shape from found material and discard it afterwards.

My warlock carries two daggers: a razor sharp boot knife that has seldom seen use, not quite utilitarian design, basic pattern, with a black guard and pommel, dark wrapped handle, and blade etchings that reveal its elvish make. The other was a ceremonial piece, finely crafted and ornate, bearing the mark of the hand and eye inlaid on a pronounced guard. I say 'was' because ever since he fell out with his patron's organization it mostly gets used for slicing cheese to put on crackers.

[Ignimortis]

What about your characters?

The street samurai who goes by Lady or Allyson (though neither name is real) wears a survival knife - a goodly-sized blackened blade good at cutting wood, ropes, and sometimes flesh. It also has a GPS tracker, a mini-multitool and a lighter in the handle. All in all, it's a standard utility knife for shadowrunners, and it's rarely used in combat - there are better tools even when backed into a corner, such as combat claws built into cyberarms. As such, her knife is usually tucked into her boots in a special sheath.

The ancient viking brujah vampire Einar doesn't wear a knife most of the time. Why would you need a knife when your fists can punch through stone and steel? And if the fists are insufficient, then a four-foot sharp blade should work well enough. A knife is at once too small to be of use when fists aren't, and too large to be carried anywhere you can't bring a weapon to.

The elven swordmaster Adrius carries a short, dwarf-made decorative dagger with a small ruby set into the pommel. The blade is slightly magical - it's always razor sharp and it can't cut the wearer unless he wills it, but Adrius mostly uses it as a shaving razor or to clean nails, or cut meat and bread into pieces - after all, a moonblessed gunblade would be pretty unwieldy for that, and seeing as it's somewhat sentient and definitely a holy relic, it probably wouldn't take too kindly to those lowly tasks. The dagger, however, has no mind of its' own, and thus doesn't take any offense.

[Wraith]

This is a great question - I've never even thought about it until now, unless I was specifically playing a character who uses knives/daggers as their primary weapon. I'll definitely be doing it more often from now on.

I have a Mountain Dwarf Cleric (Forge Domain) named Grimnir Ironforge. He almost exclusively uses a warhammer - it's as much his holy symbol/focus as it is a weapon, but what is a dwarf without an axe? Rather than a knife he now carries a little hatchet, barely bigger than his fist, which he uses like you or I would carry a pocket knife.

Pharos, Son of Zorr is a Minotaur Paladin of Conquest. While his armour and weapons are immaculately well maintained, his back-up knife is a crude and jagged thing, more like a saw than a proper cutting blade. It's purely functional - he'd rather use his horns than think of drawing a knife in a fight - but in other peoples' small hands it's practically a short sword that's all but guaranteed to add tetanus to the list of warfare horrors that they might encounter.

Sergeant Xandar Valdeer (5th Drop-Troop, Grand Republic Army) is strictly a military man who has travelled the width of the galaxy and fought on just about every type of world that you can think of, and knows that simple, unpowered weapons come and go like sunset. He carries a service-issue machete just because they're cheap and easy to get hold of when he inevitably loses it, because silver plated, laser-monogrammed, customised blades are a waste of time and money when the blaster bolts start flying the the Sith swing a lightsaber at you.

[mindstalk]

I've never thought about the details, but I did try convincing a GM that nearly everyone over the age of 10 would be carrying some sort of knife for a mix of utility and self-defense purposes.