Half-swording illegal?

[Grey Ogre]

Theres a technique with large two-handed swords called half-swording, in wich one grabs the blade halfway up the length of the weapon. It changes how the sword moves, can be used to speed up attacks or to reinforce blocks....

But some of the people in my realm are claiming that this is just anviling, and that Im killing myself by doing it. I can see the argument, but I dont agree. Is this another case of needing the realism beating out of me?

[Kage]

I'm just going to quote myself.

3.1.5. Hand(s) - Area below the wrist (exclusive). An empty Hand is a legal Target Area. Any Injury to the Hand is considered Injury to the Arm. A Hand on a Weapon or Shield is considered part of that Weapon or Shield.

3.7.3. Blocking a Weapon strike by laying a Weapon against a Target Area and/or Shield is illegal

.

3.7.5. Gripping the striking surface of an opponents Weapon results in the disabling of that limb.

Honestly this one has been debated before. These 3 rules are the main ones used for hand on weapon type questions. A hand on a weapon is just that a hand on weapon. Hands holding a weapon are no longer viable targets so they are no longer valid target areas. I bolded opponents for a reason. You can grab your swords striking surface all you want, but not your opponents swords striking surface.

So long story short. Yes, I am of the opinion, that you can block the way you asked without anviling.

[Slagar]

There's been debates on this regularly, and there's never been consensus. Search half-swording (or the usual misspelled variants thereof) for some reading material.

My 2 cents has always been that this is totally legal, and also fairly useless in our game anyway. If it broke the game maybe it'd be different, but as it is people are just finding something to complain about.