What medieval weapons would dragon riders really use? FANTASY RE-ARMED

The dragon rider is one of the most beloved classic medieval fantasy tropes, because dragons are awesome, but it seems like most people haven't realized that swords and lances would not be effective weapons.

[MeterLP]

As if being attacked by a dragon wasnt bad enough, now the dragon is a WW1 bomber too. Great.

[winks]

Instead of more archers I would put more dragons on my dragons' back. Because you can never have enough dragons.

[SuperRoboPopoto]

The correct answer is a cup of tea and scones. You're riding a dragon. No weapon you could wield would be as effective as the dragon itself. May as well have tea.

[x.p.]

Isn’t the point of riding a dragon is that the firey death lizard below you is the weapon?

[BrandonSchleifer]

"That's a nice house you've got there. But what about dragons?"
"What about dragons?"
It even works as a response to itself.

[p_serdiuk]

Shad:
Matt:
Lindy:
Skall: /facepalm

[Randomdudefromtheinternet]

This kinda reminds me a book called “His Majesty’s Dragon” from the Temeraire series, it’s about the Napoleonic wars, with dragons.

In the books, multiple people would ride dragons with the use of harnesses (the dragon, a pilot, and the crew), big dragons are pretty much flying ships of doom, and smaller dragons are couriers and scouts.

A thing is that dragons will bond with one person, their pilot, think Toothless and Hiccup, and while boarding is a thing, a big problem would be when a dragon is forced to bad things because the pilot was kidnapped.

[gwenfairholm]

My immediate thought when he explained what a flichette was: "look out! They're dropping lawn darts from the dragons! Somebody should really outlaw those!" "The dragons?" "No the lawn darts!"

[murlockingdrako]

Typically in the lore for dragon riders is that the dragon and rider are bonded and the dragon doesn't really trust other people too often so that's probably why they don't put more people on the dragons. And now that I look at it a dragon rider using a sword while riding the dragon is kind of stupid lol so you made a pretty valid point lol

[primeemperor]

Shad: What is the best weapon for a dragon rider?

Me: What about their dragon?

In all honesty, though, I would prefer to use a hand crossbow.

[Drahjan_TheoryBREAK]

"These are very ineffective weapons for a dragon rider."

You forgot to say *offensive*. They are ineffective *offensive* weapons.
The thing is, a rider wouldn't need an offensive weapon, because that is what the dragon is for. The rider's only concern is to guard the dragon's blind spot and defend. So a lance, spear, or even a good sword would be perfect for defending against other flying creatures that wish harm on the dragon.

[matteussilvestre]

The ending reminded me of the centaur video.

"Rider(s)? Nah, they're more like a automatic turret(s) I carry on my back while I do my own thing."

[justinthompson]

What about DRAGONS, Shad?! You think dragons are just vehicles for people? Dragons are people too!

What weapons would the DRAGONS use?!

[mikesuarez]

•BALLISTAS

•GREEK FIRE

Shoot barrels of it through a hose and you can amplify the power of the dragon flames.

•BUCKSHOT BALLS

You may be able to train the dragon to hold clusters of metal cannonballs in its mouth and build up pressure to fire them. Basically this turns him into a flying shot gun.

•SMOKE GRENADES

You can use certain chemicals along with the dragon fire to create clouds for the dragon to use as cover.

•BALL AND CHAIN

Basically attached to the dragon so that when he flies closer to the ground you can drop it and he can drag it through clusters of enemies.

[lockwoan]

In the "Temeraire" series, by Naomi Novik, dragons, depending on their size, have at least 6, to well over a dozen, crew who, this being set in the Napoleonic Era, are armed with muskets and the like, as well as black powder bombs, and that's even if the dragon doesn't have some sort of fire/acid/other breath weapon.


Then, the "Dragon Jousters" series, by Mercedes Lackey, they seem to be just a bit bigger than a horse, going by artwork, and they don't have breath powers, so a lance/spear tends to be a main weapon, as swords and clubs are too short. As for bow and arrows, as well as other missile weapons, due to the half-wild nature of the creatures, who tend to be captured when young, said creatures tend to snap at them like birds do insects, but those raised from the egg can be trained to tolerate some things, like light javelins and sling stones, as well as arrows, but this takes more cooperation between dragon and rider than usual, and the half-wild ones don't like to cooperate any more than they have to.

[vulpineeldrich]

3:10 "...small elephant kind of sized..." ok, now you have to do a video on properly outfitting a war elephant!

[tobiasfunke]

More people on the back of a dragon? Just look at the Temeraire series. Dragons in the Napoleonic war era. And it was the Romans who first tamed dragons and used them for war. With archers on their backs... :p

[mariusweber]

Nothing beats the satifying moment of having a weapon idea (in my case flechettes) and then seeing it come up in the video (8:11). Keep up the good work!

[steelhammer]

My answer: hand grenades. If you are sticking to strictly medieval (not rainessance)? If dragons are big enough, mount a ballista

[MrKing-tutp]

Each time I see an episode in this series I always put notes down in my D&D Idea notebook