Fencer Archive
Thread: Why is the lighsaber a 2 handed weapon?
Message Edited by Naraku-A66 on 04-22-2004 07:26 AM
Will brawler skills stack with Jedi combat skills? I am just wondering if they do, how many fencer/jedi we will have...
You cant do that.
To become a novice padawan requires (i belive) 250 points. So there is no "secondary profession".
Also, anyone that is famuliar with actual melee combat knows that almost all "Swords" are used with two hands, they "Can" be used with one, but there is not much power or agility in doing so, with two hands (Even on a Katana) the manuverability and power is increased greatly, as well as the control factor.
Go watch "The Last Samurai" thats the latest movie I can think of that proves my point, the swords are used both ways, but watch closly (that movie had several martial arts masters training the actors, its not all BS, infact its quite real, though exagerated some) you will see the 2h sword and 1h sword differences
I think the lightsaber might use similar cuts to a katana, but thereare some key differences. One is that the lightsaber blade is weightless. Another is that there is no specific cutting edge.There's alsothe fact that it is supposed to be able to cut through almost anything, so it would rarely meet much resistance in normal fighting. This might encourage one-handed fighting-- two hands might not necessarily give you anymore cutting power.
However, if you were fighting against another person using a lightsaber, you probably would want to use two hands. Against another lightsaber your bladewould encounter resistance. If your opponent tried to strike you with two hands, and you blocked with just one, you probably wouldn't have the leverage to maintain control of the blade with just one hand, and your weapon would be knocked away from you, or toward you.
The katana is actually the reverse of what you see in SWG-- wielded in two hands you would have a very responsive defense and moreblade control, but if you wanted to gain more power, for example, in a horizontal cut, you would relax your left hand or release it altogether. If you did use a one-handed tactic, you would do so hoping that it would end the fight-- if it did not, you would need to recover to your two-handed stance very quickly or you'd be in trouble, with only one handyour sword could easily be knocked aside.
However, in a battlefield situation, you might not be in a position to use two hands, and if you were fighting on horseback, you would certainly use just one hand.
just like someone already said
nooblet jedi = 1hand
apprentice = 2 hand
guardian = polearm saber
even the special animation are a direct rippoff of fencer moves for the first skill set
"Also, anyone that is famuliar with actual melee combat knows that almost all "Swords" are used with two hands, they "Can" be used with one, but there is not much power or agility in doing so, with two hands (Even on a Katana) the manuverability and power is increased greatly, as well as the control factor."
I think that you may be somewhat confused about sword craft (or possibly forgetting that there are other civilizations in the world that use swords apart from in Asia).
European fencing weapons are almost exclusively one handed and especially sport fencing where there are no 2 handed weapons at all.
Regarding power and agility - the whole thing about the fencer skill in my opinion was that you had more agility and less power - sure you have less power, but you are weilding lighter weapons with much greater agility than any twohanded weapon ... you are using 2 hands cause they are heavy .... of course a big ass sword is going to do more damage if it hits you .... infact it is likely to cut you in half LOL.
Regarding light sabers - i have never imagined a light saber to be a one handed weapon. I dont think it's a weapon that needs to be wielded with any form of finesse, especially considering it's gonna cut through almost everything it contacts with. I was always of the opinion that the art to using one was in the anticipation (use the force Luke) of the attack ...
Vincentarasin wrote:
You cant do that.
To become a novice padawan requires (i belive) 250 points. So there is no "secondary profession".
Also, anyone that is famuliar with actual melee combat knows that almost all "Swords" are used with two hands, they "Can" be used with one, but there is not much power or agility in doing so, with two hands (Even on a Katana) the manuverability and power is increased greatly, as well as the control factor.
Go watch "The Last Samurai" thats the latest movie I can think of that proves my point, the swords are used both ways, but watch closly (that movie had several martial arts masters training the actors, its not all BS, infact its quite real, though exagerated some) you will see the 2h sword and 1h sword differences
I guess one of the things I was getting at was that it seems strange to me to have these professions a No Weapon Profession (TK), Fencer, Swordsman, Pikeman.
I mean even a small dagger can be used with two hands quite effectively (i.e. a palm on the hilt and other hand on the handle). The Fencer profession seems too specific. We might as well have a profession called Katana Master, where the player is only a master with Katanas. The other three professions seem broader in their scope.
It makes more sense to me to have, something like this,a no weapon profession like TK, a small sword profession, and a large sword/polearm profession, and ???. In effect renaming the Fencing skill to the small sword profession and split the current Swordsman professionbetween the current Fencer and Pikeman professions.
As far as Fencers/Swordsman using lightsabers. I still can't any reason why a fencer/swordmans couldn't use one. Like I said in my original post, there is plenty of stuff out there, including the Lucas movies and Lucas supported literature, that supports non-Jedis using lightsabers. Of course they will never be as good as a Jedi. But like Han Solo did in the Empire Strikes Back he just picked it up and turned in on.
Neat discussion btw, thanks.
Oreb on Bria
There was an interesting article in the magazine Star Wars Insider, it's been circulating theboards in reference to SWG lately, that kind of gives a fictionalized account of the different Lightsaber Forms-- for example, the earliest users used Form I, when the Sith emerged and they needed to fight others wielding lightsabers, they developed Form II. Obi-Wan practiced Form III (a defensive form),Qui-Gon and Yoda practiced the acrobaticForm IV.Anakin practices the more aggressive Form V. Form VI was a simpler form that supposedly allowed the Jedi to focus more on other pursuits such as negotiation and conflict resolution, it was called the "Diplomat's Form" and was seen as a weaker form, partly why the Jedi leading up to the Clone Wars were not as prepared for combat. The Seventh Form was the most dangerous and advanced, mastered by very few Jedi, such as Mace Windu.
I've summarized the most often referenced stuff-- it's mostlly referred to in terms ofthe SWG Jedi profession. However, there was something interesting related to it--although the article waswritten before the release of SWG, the names of the Jedi "marks of contact" have the same names as some of the Fencer special moves. For example, "shiak" means to stab, "cho mai" means to cut off the opponent's hand,"chosun" means to cut off the arm. Interestingly, "sai tok", which means to cut your opponent in half, is the name of themove you get at Master Fencer-- although this is the move that Obi-Wan uses on Darth Maul it is discouraged, as it seems to indicate a Dark-Side urge to destroy your opponent.
People don't really lose limbs in this game, but it almost suggests that Fencing and Lightsaber technique have common roots, or that Fencers practice a sword tradition that wassomewhatmaintained or at least referred toby the Jedi when they adopted the lightsaber. If someone knows who first coined these terms, I'd be curious to learn.