Weapons in Imperian may be crucially important or not-so-important, depending on your class. For instance, those of the monk class fight primarily with their hands and the power of their minds, and a weapon in their hands only inhibits the power of their martial arts skills. A templar, on the other hand, depends on his trusty longswords, and to be without them is to be rendered significantly less powerful. Having said this, all classes may benefit from occasional use of a weapon.
What follows is a discussion of weapons in Imperian, and how they work.
Using Weapons
Using a weapon in a basic fashion is easy. Simply PROBE the weapon to get a list of commands that may be used with it, wield it, and then use one of the weapon's commands. For instance, if it is a sword, JAB will work.
To wield/unwield your weapons, use the following:
- WIELD <weapon>
- WIELD LEFT/RIGHT <weapon>
- UNWIELD <weapon>
- UNWIELD LEFT/RIGHT - will unwield anything you hold in your left or right hand, and unwield a double-handed item.
If you are wearing a sheath or a scabbard, you can quickly sheath the weapon using SHEATH <weapon> [LEFT/RIGHT] [scabbard]. The left/right and the scabbard are not required, but will allow you to specify which wielded weapon to sheath and which sheath you want it placed in. Only edge weapons can be sheathed.
To draw a weapon from a sheath, use DRAW <weapon>.
Weapon Statistics
All non-missile weapons in Imperian possess three common factors that distinguish how well they work in combat. These are DAMAGE, SPEED, and TO-HIT. Bows are covered in the individual class-specific ability help files.
The higher the damage number, the more damage you will do. The higher the speed number, the faster you will be at using the weapon, and the higher the to-hit number, the more easily you will hit your opponents.
You may discover the statistics of a weapon once you have gained the WEAPONPROBE ability in Weaponry. This ability is fairly low in the skill, so if you intend to use weapons, it may be worth getting this ability as soon as possible.
Now, these are not the only factors that affect how effective you are with a weapon. The other factors are covered in the HELP WEAPONRY file.
Weapon Types
Below is a list of some of Imperian's weapons (all do cutting physical damage unless otherwise specified):
- Longsword : The standard sword against which all else is measured.
- Broadsword : Cousin to the longsword. Some prefer it, some do not.
- Shortsword : A smaller, quicker version of the large swords.
- Scimitar : A curving sword favoured by those in the east.
- Claymore : A long, straight, two-handed sword.
- Sabre : More accurate, but less damage than a longsword.
- Battleaxe : A one-handed battleaxe.
- Handaxe : A weapon designed to be thrown.
- Club : The weapon of the very poor. (blunt physical damage)
- Dagger : A throwing weapon.
- Dirk : A long dagger used to stab with. Fairly fast.
- Flail : Similar stats to a longsword. (blunt physical damage)
- Mace : Much like a flail. (blunt physical damage)
- Javelin : The strongest of the thrown weapons, it is quite slow. (Two-handed)
- Glaive: : Similar to a javelin, the preferred weapon of the Wardens.
- Halberd : A two-handed polearm with high damage.
- Morning Star : Slightly slower than a flail or mace, but with more damage. (blunt physical damage)
- Spear : A cheap but effective two-handed weapon.
- Warhammer : A massive two-handed hammer. Slow but with good damage. (blunt physical damage)
- Trident : Faster than a longsword, with slightly less damage.
- Whip : A stylish weapon that is fairly quick.
- Bardiche : A polearm, similar to the halberd.