by Kegg » Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:42 pm
There really isn't a question in this and so I am moving it to Rules Discussion.
I think I see your question.... why is the weapon I want to build not allowed?
The current rules we fight with have been arrived at over a considerable period of time, with much playtesting, and much arguing and debate. They fall in many categories.
An activity was causing injury on repeated basis (the outlawing of shield bashes from the rear).
An activity caused a particularly bad accident once (the general outlawing of fun-noodle in the construction of arrows), and the likelyhood it would be repeated again.
Randomness - 2" secure pommel minimum. No one that I know of has been hurt by too small or loose pommel. Yet we continously check and enforce this more strictly than almost any other rule since it is one of the easiest to check.
Play balance. Some particular method of fighting was too effective (much more than it historical should be). An example of this is thrown daggers. It is like watching jugglers. The rules on flails fall in this category. Due to the sports lack of head shots and very large shield sizes, flails are ahistorically powerful. So on repeated occasions, efforts have been made to reign them in a bit. Rules (and many and separate occasions) that have been added to address the unbalancing nature of flails include
1.) Maximum chain length (6")
2.) Minimum ball diameter (15")
3.) Maximum number of heads (1) - Reason.. hard to marshal multihead flails.
4.) Maximum overall length (40")
5.) Always are Class I weapons.
6.) Flails may only have one hinge.
As I addressed above, the reason for these changes are play balance. Remember that it takes 2/3 vote of the War Council to change a rule. This is actually a very high bar to cross. Very few new rules pass. It may seem like we are changing them all the time, but most of the time it is tinkering at the edges.
To again allow multi-headed flails (which once were legal, but specifically banned by the War Council for playability reason), would be exceedingly difficult. True, the rule was passed when the War Council was maybe only 10 realms strong and so maybe every realm that has joined since would feel (and vote differently) now, it would still require changing the votes of some of the founding realms to make the change. If memory serves me correctly, realms that once fought with (and against) multiple head (or hinge) flails, voted unanimously to outlaw them. They were that bad.
I would be happy to discuss with anyone the reason (sometimes a really stupid one) for any rules that Belegarth employs. I have at least a half a dozen that I sure would like to change (these are rules that Numenor has playtested on our on field for over a decade), but know that there is not yet a consensus to make the change nationally.
Hope that answered your question.