05-15-2009, 03:06 AM
I don't know if this is allowed, but I was reading this and was interested.. maybe I can help with the weapons issue? Feel free to delete this and spank me if I'm out of line, just seems everyone's a little lost.
First of all, speed and agility are -great- traits for, as has been said, a feral form - i.e. staying in Lupus and slashing/gnawing things to bits. If you want her to be able to hunt and have her be agile/fast but not too strong, that is definitely the way to go. In a feral form, she wouldn't have to be strong (that is, wouldn't have to deliver hard blows) if she could deliver many quick blows (creating a cumulative effect, basically).
That said, if you like weapons for such a character, daggers are fabulous, as are shuriken, particularly hira-shuriken. The latter can be used as both throwing and melee weapons, and are lightweight (good for lesser strength) and don't require draw-back such as bows or crossbows do. I'm not entirely sure of how much strength it takes to throw them, but I do know that I can throw one and successfully stick it in wood, so your character should be fine hunting with them - I'm not incredibly strong.
The really nice thing about those shuriken, by the way, is that they have such a variety of uses (read the linked article) so it could make for great threads, especially featuring odd ways of hunting (one could be embedded in the ground, as is mentioned, then a rabbit scared towards it to be injured and disabled by it.. funny plot if someone else were to step on it first, haha) so yeah, very versatile, useful weapon.
Another great weapon that the Japanese have come up with: kunai. These are great weapons that can be used as a stabbing weapon (like a dagger), a throwing weapon, or a swinging weapon (note the ring at the top). They are also versatile, and they would "grow with her" so to speak, if she were to develop more strength. It might be questionable where she would have gotten these, but as Japanese and Chinese martial arts have become highly popular in the US and Canada, she probably could have found them somewhere along the way, especially if she fought, since they would have needed to find weapons somewhere most likely, and an old armory/whatever for a martial arts school would have been a great place for that (since they have swords, spears, polearms, staves, daggers, various small thrown weapons, etc).
As a note, the "actual javelin" displayed is more like an partisan or a type of pike (please note that both of these weapons are spears, not javelins), which were never meant to be thrown weapons. However, a javelin, seen here and here, is a much smaller, more lightweight spear, meant for throwing.
At any rate, any spear, or even a half-spear (such as a half-pike) would require some amount of strength. A spear would be more realistic, if either, than a javelin, as javelins -are- thrown, and thus are weighted. They are very heavy and difficult to wield. A spear would be more realistic, though you'd want something smaller, not like a guandao (literally a polearm, it's basically a sword on a stick). A small-tipped spear, such as a guanyin and a small spear like this.
If you're really set on a spear, you might want to consider a very small-tipped spear with the wooden bit cut in half.. basically making it a smaller, lighter spear. It would be a melee weapon, of course.
Something to think about is that a melee weapon is sort of goofy for hunting.. are you going to have her run up to a deer and poke it with a spear? A thrown weapon is the more logical for hunting. Alternately, for fighting, a thrown weapon would make minimal sense - once you throw it, you're shit out of luck. A melee weapon is a better idea for a warrior-type character, unless she's going to have impeccable aim with her thrown weapons.
An extra note - while you do have to be strong to use a bow, it's really more of endurance than strength. Honestly, I am not strong, and my legs are stronger than my arms - I can't lift myself up with my upper body strength. But I can shoot a bow plain and clear, and hit the target eight times out of ten. I took archery at summer camp and in high school. Now, do I use a smaller bow than someone who is 5'8"? Yes. (I'm just barely 5'0" to be clear, and weigh about 160lbs) But can I use it properly and effectively? Hell yes.
Swords are also easy to find, and while a smaller one might seem more realistic, even large swords (please keep that in moderation, not talking Cloud larger) are relatively manageable. They'd probably take a little work and practice to learn, but I learned the basics of wielding a katana within a month, and I can barely wield a knife and fork at the dinner table sometimes (exaggeration.. but just barely). So.. don't limit yourself too heftily, unless you're seriously making an "Ethiopian" wolf (lol pun.. there's a such thing I think.)
With proper training, a thin ten-year-old boy can wield a sword, spear, polearm, dagger, chain weapon, just about anything. A ten-year-old boy can only be just so strong, even if he is a Shaolin monk in training. So be careful how "weak" you make your character - you don't want them unrealistically weak, or they'd be defeated too quickly if they were ever to get into a fight. Just as you don't want others to God-mode their characters winning to easily.. you don't want them to have to do the opposite in order to keep your character alive for more than one post. =/
Just some thoughts. All of this is to the best of my knowledge and research, with the help of my husband.
<3
First of all, speed and agility are -great- traits for, as has been said, a feral form - i.e. staying in Lupus and slashing/gnawing things to bits. If you want her to be able to hunt and have her be agile/fast but not too strong, that is definitely the way to go. In a feral form, she wouldn't have to be strong (that is, wouldn't have to deliver hard blows) if she could deliver many quick blows (creating a cumulative effect, basically).
That said, if you like weapons for such a character, daggers are fabulous, as are shuriken, particularly hira-shuriken. The latter can be used as both throwing and melee weapons, and are lightweight (good for lesser strength) and don't require draw-back such as bows or crossbows do. I'm not entirely sure of how much strength it takes to throw them, but I do know that I can throw one and successfully stick it in wood, so your character should be fine hunting with them - I'm not incredibly strong.
The really nice thing about those shuriken, by the way, is that they have such a variety of uses (read the linked article) so it could make for great threads, especially featuring odd ways of hunting (one could be embedded in the ground, as is mentioned, then a rabbit scared towards it to be injured and disabled by it.. funny plot if someone else were to step on it first, haha) so yeah, very versatile, useful weapon.
Another great weapon that the Japanese have come up with: kunai. These are great weapons that can be used as a stabbing weapon (like a dagger), a throwing weapon, or a swinging weapon (note the ring at the top). They are also versatile, and they would "grow with her" so to speak, if she were to develop more strength. It might be questionable where she would have gotten these, but as Japanese and Chinese martial arts have become highly popular in the US and Canada, she probably could have found them somewhere along the way, especially if she fought, since they would have needed to find weapons somewhere most likely, and an old armory/whatever for a martial arts school would have been a great place for that (since they have swords, spears, polearms, staves, daggers, various small thrown weapons, etc).
As a note, the "actual javelin" displayed is more like an partisan or a type of pike (please note that both of these weapons are spears, not javelins), which were never meant to be thrown weapons. However, a javelin, seen here and here, is a much smaller, more lightweight spear, meant for throwing.
At any rate, any spear, or even a half-spear (such as a half-pike) would require some amount of strength. A spear would be more realistic, if either, than a javelin, as javelins -are- thrown, and thus are weighted. They are very heavy and difficult to wield. A spear would be more realistic, though you'd want something smaller, not like a guandao (literally a polearm, it's basically a sword on a stick). A small-tipped spear, such as a guanyin and a small spear like this.
If you're really set on a spear, you might want to consider a very small-tipped spear with the wooden bit cut in half.. basically making it a smaller, lighter spear. It would be a melee weapon, of course.
Something to think about is that a melee weapon is sort of goofy for hunting.. are you going to have her run up to a deer and poke it with a spear? A thrown weapon is the more logical for hunting. Alternately, for fighting, a thrown weapon would make minimal sense - once you throw it, you're shit out of luck. A melee weapon is a better idea for a warrior-type character, unless she's going to have impeccable aim with her thrown weapons.
An extra note - while you do have to be strong to use a bow, it's really more of endurance than strength. Honestly, I am not strong, and my legs are stronger than my arms - I can't lift myself up with my upper body strength. But I can shoot a bow plain and clear, and hit the target eight times out of ten. I took archery at summer camp and in high school. Now, do I use a smaller bow than someone who is 5'8"? Yes. (I'm just barely 5'0" to be clear, and weigh about 160lbs) But can I use it properly and effectively? Hell yes.
Swords are also easy to find, and while a smaller one might seem more realistic, even large swords (please keep that in moderation, not talking Cloud larger) are relatively manageable. They'd probably take a little work and practice to learn, but I learned the basics of wielding a katana within a month, and I can barely wield a knife and fork at the dinner table sometimes (exaggeration.. but just barely). So.. don't limit yourself too heftily, unless you're seriously making an "Ethiopian" wolf (lol pun.. there's a such thing I think.)
With proper training, a thin ten-year-old boy can wield a sword, spear, polearm, dagger, chain weapon, just about anything. A ten-year-old boy can only be just so strong, even if he is a Shaolin monk in training. So be careful how "weak" you make your character - you don't want them unrealistically weak, or they'd be defeated too quickly if they were ever to get into a fight. Just as you don't want others to God-mode their characters winning to easily.. you don't want them to have to do the opposite in order to keep your character alive for more than one post. =/
Just some thoughts. All of this is to the best of my knowledge and research, with the help of my husband.
<3