Knights v magic v guns *response to Scholagladitoria* #sword #history #nerd #machete #martialarts

@scholagladiatoria @shadiversity

[Jonathan-oevz]

The Swedish police were actually armed with sabers all the way up until 1965. I like to imagine a police dressed up in blue have an epic duel agianst a dangerous criminal.

[guyman]

Best way I use swords, guns and magic in dnd campaigns I run is that guns are expensive and craft made, magic can only be used by those with the intelligence or aptitude to use them, whereas martial and physical weapons are the most bountiful weapons to use by people.

[WolfHreda]

Remember, adventurers: Mages can't perform the somatic component of a spell if you remove their hands.

[Melvin_RongDong]

*RPG Game with all sorts of classes, different races, magic and all sorts of weapons* : Exists
Me: *Knight, Human, Longsword*

[bluehoodie_gamer]

I find that in a lot of fantasy settings the reason you have knights but also magi is that magic isn't something everyone can do, and so those who wish to fight but can't use magic instead take up the sword, or those who can do magic choose to combine the sword with their magic as well.

[the_Redneck_Prod_Crewman]

there's a game called Arknights where in the lore guns exist but they're very sacred and only a small percentage of people can use them if they are really proficient at using Arts (their form of magic). combatants either use melee, crossbows, or staffs/wands for Arts users and most Arts users still have trouble using firearms

[DrMFoster]

A gun takes minutes to learn. Basic magic in near all settings takes years of study to use for combat.

[Sinjitoma]

Additionally the 20’ rule or whatever it is (that a knife welder can get to a gun weirder first) would be much more relevant in a magic scenario depending on the incantation required for the spells.

[NiCoNiCoNiCola]

Many people forget that magic isn't something you can fully master and learn over the course of several days
In order to be a powerful magician or a sorcerer you'd have to spend your entire life on studying the magic and not many people would do that

[samuelmellars]

The Knightly Orders of Callow from "a Practical Guide to Evil" are one of the best examples I've read of how to design a force to deal with magic attacks.
Their armour has prayers and hyms carved into it which essentially negate magic, allowing them to effectively ignore magical attacks. And they are heavy Cavalry, making them very scary to face on the field

[BobTheGodly]

Swords are in inside tool magic is the outside tool. Limited magic indoors makes swords more useful for not killing the entire party.

[themeddite]

I had a Medival Fantasy where there was Magic, breech loading cartrage guns, and Knights.

70% of Fighting was done by infantry with the guns but to make swords relevant, there were Spellswords. They used their swords as their casting focus and wore heavy plate armor. And to counter Spell swords was of course Artillery but mainly other spellswords or a gun that was really long and shot a large round.

[clonetf]

People are having this debate,

When i created my dnd setting i already soved this for myself:
Knights, tend to use a pistol or two, mamy use magic (paladins, eldritch knights are the perfect examples) and highly enchanted equipment.

Enchanted items are expensive but far from rare in my setting, so who would have the easiets access to them? The same people who can afford a horse, multipule weapons and a suit of armour.

Infact, theres orders of knights whos basic equipment is already magical.

One other problem i ran into was why would there be large armies if you can train and equip a small group of knights and magic users to fight your wars. Theres no point in summoning all of your farmers if gandalf just blows em up with a meator storm.

My solution? A small enchanted gemstone, that is as common as a small pebble. The catch? They are so cheap, that even beggars can have them, however they are only effective when theres allot of them being used togthere in one area.


For example, youd have a large group of levies, each of them has basic armour and weapons, mostly unenchanted because they are the common folk, but everyone carries one of these gemstones. Some as a necklave, maybe a wedding ring and because theres so many being used togthere in close proximity it protects them from magic to a certain degree. Their shields and armour ofcourse still protect from arrows and melee combat.


And gunpowder weapons are still rare enough they dont have the biggest effect in warfare just yet


And i havent even touched the monsterous cavalry. Imagine for example, a magical horse that is as strong as a hippo and still as fast as a horse covered in heavy armour.

Monsters and magic heavily impact my settings methid of warfare, city and castle walls almost always have one or more methods of using acid or fire against trolls.

And it even impacts the daily lives of people, theres a bank that stires everyone whi gives them mkney in an demi-plane thats under heavy security, and they teleport your money to where you need it.

The nobility are the biggest funding for magic, theur castles keep good libraries for wizards to study.


Town guards are to a lesser degree trained in jow to respond to magical and monster based threats.

[ricknt]

An anime protagonists whose main weapon is anything with blade: *slices the bullets midair *

[zekrgen]

"theres one sword still very relevant across the globe today"

knife

[Davefloatedaway]

'a gun is just a wireless spear' Sun tsu- The art of War

[imperialphoenix]

In a world of magic and technology a mage would have a large stash of components, followed by a pistol sidearm with a small portion of extra amunition, followed finally by a utility knife that was in a combat ready sheathing.

This would function much like the current flowchart of 'use gun unless you runout of ammo or someone enters closer than it's effective range, at which point enter melee. However it would have the addition of magic, at which point protocol would be to use magic until you run out or someone enters some degree of range or position that prohibits it, then use your pistol if they're out of melee range.


But all of these weapons also function as utility items. Magic has non-combat applications in every setting, guns triple as offensive power, self defense tools and hunting implements, and knives do the same in addition to the convenience of a pry bar and.... being a knife that cuts stuff.



TLDR: guns and swords wouldn't be removed from combat, they'd be shrunk and consolidated to secondary and tertiary utility (swords became bayonets until guns became good enough not to need them so they became combat knives with additional use cases in real life, magic would just exacerbate that)

[ricardoronco]

Honestly I say just through the tropes people use for keeping swords relevant in Sci-if. Make the sword magical, give some ability to deflect magic, that kind of ordeal.

[rvyvyhn]

Depends on the type of magic in the setting. DnD spells usually need expensive reagents and can only be cast a few times in an engagement, which makes a definite need for Frontline fighters

[oatmealman]

If anything it seems like being a wizard would probably be a white elephant. Even if magic exists, the user has to have enough time to cast it which can take longer than pulling out a sidearm or a self defense item in an ambush. And let's not forget that messing up a spell in most fantasy settings is dangerous to the user meaning that charging a wizard would most likely mess them up. Magic usually also has splash damage in most fantastical works which means that getting up close to a wizard will prevent them from using spells that will harm them giving the attacker ample opportunity to take out the wizard with regular weapons. And also, if we're talking about fantasy magic, we need to address armor enchantments. Most fantasy works throw around runes, spells and other ways weapons and armor have been enchanted which means that knights could use armor specifically designed to negate magic attacks.

Now, even if you can't get up close, there's still ranged weapons like the extremely deadly sling which can kill anyone faster than they can react if done right, while only using a fabric sling and a rock which would make this item available to even peasants. so if anything, magic in fantasy settings would most likely only work as a support function rather than that of an offensive one since wizards would usually be too weak to defend or fight.

Tl;Dr most people forget that getting up close, messing up a wizard's spell, or just using a fast ranged weapon can easily take out any wizard with little to no effort. And other wizards can create magic resistant armor meaning wizards are basically just men in fancy clothes with no protection or strength.