Scythes

[BlueMage]

Axes also have connotations with death. Executioners and vikings people.
Also, only the inner part of the scythe is bladed not the outer part, so you basically need to get it around your target.

That's actually the beauty of it - against a shielded opponent, its curved blade allows you to slip behind their guard and tear their innards out through a nice gap in the side while you're at it.

Also, manreapers. Chaos Lords use 'em for a reason.

 

[Acaroid]

Why do people act like scythes are weapons as opposed to harvesting tools?

At your most badass while holding a scythe you look like a rather annoyed farmer who could not find a shotgun or pitchfork.

Me I personally blame those guys who decided to personify death as a skeleton in robes with a scythe.

Um if you look at history all hand weapons came from tools of some sorts...

so your point really isnt much of a point...

 

[Thaliur]

No. No they won't. They'll cut hay in half with a single swing. The shape of a scythe means swinging it 'at' someone is impossible, you'd need to move it past them then pull it towards you, no where near enough momentum to go through bone.

You can swing the scythe from side to side, that works quite well.
Actually, it's about the only way a scythe works without endangering the wielder, and also the way it's used for cutting grass.
Interestingly, on a somewhat related topic, Death, as mentioned in the Bible, uses a bow, probably because it was one of the most inescapable and deadly weapons at that time. I don't know if longbow arrow hails were already in use back then, but I definitely wouldn't like to get in one.

 

[Knight Templar]

I've heard of a war scythe been used in war. Seems logical for an army to use whatever they can in a time of need.

The fail was a tool not unlike the scythe before its use in war.

Your absolutely right. Just not in the way you expected.

Ha ha, I missed that.

Anyway I have no doubt it was used as a weapon, most likely not a very good weapon due to it's odd shape. It could get stuck, not hit or hurt the user instead of the target.


Not a good weapon from my point of view because it requires long sweeps, it could work well sometimes but...

No it would be bad in the long run.

 

[Copter400]

Actually it would be more of a glaive. A halberd is a poleaxe and a longspear hybrid.

It would be more of a UR MOMS FAT LOL

I stand corrected.

 

[Xhumed]

"once it gets moving, no-one, not even the wielder, knows where it's going to be next"

 

[Xhumed]

I am not talking about how effective they are in all situations I am just talkin bout how badass they are.

The thing a scythe by definition is a tool for reaping grain. Therefore warscythes are not scythes and scythes can not be effective weapons!

HA VICTORY BY TECHNICALITY!

Overturned on another technicality. 'Reaping' is much more badass than 'Chopping'.

Seconded. Motion is carried.

 

[Aries_Split]

I am not talking about how effective they are in all situations I am just talkin bout how badass they are.

The thing a scythe by definition is a tool for reaping grain. Therefore warscythes are not scythes and scythes can not be effective weapons!

HA VICTORY BY TECHNICALITY!

I doubt you'd be saying that after someone "reaps" you a new ass hole with one.

 

[Xhumed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe
Also mentions war scythes.

 

[Versuvius]

why I love scythes. Get diablo2. Get a paladin. apply zeal to scythe and you become Mr.Lawnmower.

 

[Versuvius]

war scythes are also tools i think. I have a Brush axe, which looks like the war scythe from Diablo2 (Which i will take as a reliable source, and dont try and dissuade me because i will throw peanuts at you).

 

[khululy]

well very very interesting... if Scytes won't work (wich they will because stones can be effective weapons too) we could also use other farm tools for weapons... like a flail maybe.
Where did you think weapons like nunchucks came from.

Warscytes are made from normal scythes like an improvised weapon

"A war scythe is a kind of improvised pole weapon, similar to a fauchard, usually created from standard scythes. The blade of the scythe is transformed so as to extend upright from the pole, thus forming an infantry weapon practical both in offensive actions against infantry and as a defensive measure against enemy cavalry" this wiki quote might help you stubborn people out there.

In the hands of a trained warrior all can be a weapon. I guess it would be harder to master a regular scythe in combat. But I do not doubt it's effectiveness as a weapon.
I thing a well timed swing at ones ankles or neck will severly injure, immobilize or kill a person.

 

[Versuvius]

well most things came from farming impliments, no argument. Nunchucks were wheat threshers i think...there are a good number more which i for the life of me cant remember. As for scythes, switch handled scythes which allow you to keep a swinging cross of death in front of you would be pretty effective against light armoured infantry, since with enough control the haft can be used to block, even more so if it has notches to catch the blade in. But thats assuming people have used one enough to be able to actually do that. odds are they havent.

 

[Akas]

http://www.spookhouse.net/angelynx/comics/kusarigama.jpg

Not the most realistic picture, but let's go with it. Big scythes are impractical, but kamas, sickles, etc. have been used effectively in battle. It's interesting, both the East and the West have used scythes as a weapon (well, sorta). In Japan, in fact, it was a fighting style (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusarigama). So scythes can be used effectively as a weapon, just not in the way that they're usually associated with.

As for why they're associated with fighting...look at technology and the media. Scythes are no longer needed to harvest, given our technological advances (besides, it was tiring and wasted a lot of grain). And then,look at shows (specifically anime and Japanese games), and see where the influence comes from. When people watch stupid stuff happening in fiction, most of the time they'll duplicate it in their works of fiction (or in real life). That's why such an impractical weapon is associated with fighting.

Oh, and as for improvised weapons...I don't know about in the West, but in Japan they banned both Okinawa and Taiwan from having weapons (I think it was both of them), so they came up with new ones: nun-chucks, tonfa, bo-staff, and the oar (which is kinda badass -_-). I think tonfa were the threshers actually, but I'm not sure.

 

[Versuvius]

Scythes could have been practical in a particular time period. Farmers and such could have turned them into effective weapons since they were used to handling them, such as the nunchuk thing. The people who used them all their lives wernt about to clout themselves on the noggin. But yeah...as technology progresses we have cheap guns, home made propellants for basic weapons and bits of metal pipe. Though saying that a sling rocketing a nice stone at your heads going to kill you or at least leave some major damage.

 

[keyton777]

if i may add this

tehy did have WAR SCYTHES in medevil euroupe the blade was bent so that it looked like a backward halberd and it was very dangeous,

Scythes have very thin blades that break if they are used to slice anything more durable than the grain they were designed for.

war scythes... can sut through full plate helmets...... OW!!!!

Yet another case of people confusing scythes and battle axes. Scythes have thin blades that break if they are used on anything more durable than the grain they were made for harvesting.

they REforged scythes so that they would be thicker and MUCH much more durable and the scythes that they didnt bend back they sharpend them on the outside edge.....so it looked like a resonable version of what zasalamel from soulcalibur would have used....if he were human...and mortal.
point is you can cut someone in half with a single hit from a scythe yes you would have to get the curve behind them but hey, its on a pole so thats not hard after that part it just depends on how fast the blade is moving and if the victim is wearing armor, or you could just put the pointy part thru their skull and be done with it

 

[The Lyre]

Yet another case of people confusing scythes and battle axes. Scythes have thin blades that break if they are used on anything more durable than the grain they were made for harvesting.

...I'm sorry, what?

It seems as if you've never heard of something called a War Scythe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_scythe#Specifics], which HAVE been documented as cutting straight through armour.

You can put a hell of a lot of force behind something that long, combine that with a hard swing and a sharp edge and you've got yourself a very efficient weapon, providing the wielder can lift it for extended periods.

An ordinary scythe is made for cutting through grain, not people, that is why they have thin blades - to make them lighter.

 

[Altorin]

best polearm is the lucern hammer.

designed specifically for destroying the armor of and killing the mounts of mounted foes

 

[Zombie_King]

Well would you like to be attacked by someone wielding one?

Yes actually, I for one encourage natural slection. It is our duty to prevent Mike Judges masterpiece Idiocracy from becoming a reality. If some idiot wants to come at me with a unwieldy piece of wood with a piece of metal with the blade facing towards the wielder then they are basically asking me to shove it where the sun does not shine.

Confused...do you mean Idiocracy, the movie?

 

[Stalington]

Well, as the guy who probably caused OP to make this thread with my mention of dual-wielding scythes in the dnd thread, I would have to say, even if it is the most ineffective, unwieldy, oddly shaped weapon around then why does it have the highest critical hit multiplier in dnd? HA I WIN!