The Best Medieval Weapons for A Fantasy Warrior?

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So the payment structure is really flexible. If you have access to any type of web browser, you can still access all the features of Campfire Blaze. So you get the option. Highly recommended. Campfire Blaze, thank you for sponsoring this video. And there is a link, of course, in the description below. Greetings, I'm Shad. And in Fantasy Rearmed, we have looked at some interesting character classes or character archetypes and tried to assess the best weapons that would suit them. We've done wizards. We've done rogues. But what's interesting is that we haven't done the main archetype that would most commonly use the widest range of weapons. The warrior. Part of me thought, well, it's kind of self-evident. They can pick whatever weapon they want, but really, no. This deserves a proper deep dive and consider all the different aspects. What would be the best weapons, generally speaking, for a fantasy adventurer? That's what we're going to dive into. Now, one of the first things that we kind of need to understand about this, one of the purposes of Fantasy Rearmed is to look at fantasy from a more realistic lens and usually, to the best of my ability, informed from historical information when they actually use the type of weapons that we see in fantasy. And so when looking at it through a more realistic lens, that means we should try and be free of certain tropes and baggage that comes with us through tradition. And that's what happens in the fantasy genre. And so in looking at the warrior, this is an important thing that we need to now do, is to break ourselves free of the tropes of what you consider to be a warrior. Because when it comes to fantasy, we usually get stuck into the idea of character classes because in many fantasy role-playing games, you pick a character class which can sometimes railroad you into a certain play style and the type of weapons you think are most appropriate. Also, because classes railroad us into certain archetypes, not always, because, look, a fighter, for instance, if we look at Dungeons & Dragons, has a lot of versatility to pick any weapon on its own. You can train a really good archer who is a fighter, and you don't have to be a ranger. And a barbarian, you could be just as good as an axe as a regular barbarian. But if you look at, say, barbarians and rangers, who are warriors as well, they generally have certain stereotypical weapons that are associated with them. And so instead of looking at the best weapon for a class, we want to disregard that. We just want to say, OK, if you're an adventurer and you're going out and you have certain foes that are more likely to run into and certain situations that you might end up in, what are the best weapons that would be most effective for this, irregardless of character class and things like that. So what I have with me here is basically a collection of some of the most iconic, classic weapons in the fantasy arsenal. Now, I was almost going to say medieval arsenal, but there are some weapons here that, well, there's only one, actually. Well, there's one that represents the late medieval period, which is the Bechtor Corbin, which is going to represent the area for halberds, poleaxes, and stuff. But then we have a rapier here as well, which is not a medieval weapon, but is included in fantasy. So anyway, these actually represent some of the more iconic sets. And it's going to be a bit of a process of elimination to figure out what one would be better than the other. But before we even get to these weapons, there is a consideration that we need to understand beforehand, which legitimately informs and has an effect on the weapons you pick. And that is the armour you're wearing, and therefore, if you're wearing it, using a shield. Because, of course, if you were using a shield, that discounts all two-handed weapons. Then we need to ask, do you need a shield? Because shields are hugely important. So let me quickly grab one of my favourites, the kite shield. Should a warrior always opt for a shield? If he's not wearing an armour, I would probably say yes, absolutely. If he's not wearing enough armour, a shield is almost essential for how effective it is. This doesn't usually play out in role-playing games as effectively, because you can get away playing a role-playing game and character without a shield, and you don't run into certain limitations. In reality, a shield is so vital. If you go back in time a bit and look at our point of reference, the medieval period, to when armour wasn't wholly developed, if you're going into a battle situation, a shield is almost essential, with a few exceptions. And there were exceptions, but for the most part, a shield is your best friend. So again, adventuring is not like self-defence, and it's not like a battlefield, but it's closer to a battlefield than it is to self-defence, because you are actively looking for trouble, essentially, or adventure, and part of that adventure is combat. And so then that brings into what I was basically saying in the beginning, a shield, okay? A shield is going to be a massive consideration, but then we need to ask another question. What about dragons? And in an adventuring situation, that is a really good question, actually. You should always... But the thing is, dragons are actually a bit more rare. You'll come across other monsters, because what monsters you are more likely to run into is a consideration we need to consider, and dragons are a part of that. And I'll come back to it, I'll get a circle back, okay? But the other question is, two-handed weapons. In a lot of the combat situations and monsters you are fighting, just thinking about it even casually, two-handed weapons can do more damage, they have more reach, they have a lot of advantages. And so if you could use a two-handed weapon and get adequate enough protection, that is going to be a better choice than using a shield. So how do you get the protection and not need a shield? Armour, okay? Better armour is the answer. And we see that in a general sense in history. As armour developed and got better, shields become less prominent. They were still around. They were still around and very popular, but they weren't as prominent in the past, because you had the option. Armour can protect me adequately enough, and yes, if I wore a shield, even on top of the armour, it would give me extra, extra protection, but I don't necessarily need it. And now I got two hands, baby! Bring on the two-handed weapons. And I really think that process of illumination going through is a much better situation. Two-handed weapons, if you can always get enough protection and use them, is going to be the more optimal choice in an adventuring scenario, except for a couple of circumstances. And this is where we come back to, in what situations would you want a shield on top of armour, okay? As well as armour. And this is where we need that most important question, and the question comes back, what about dragons? Yes, that's one of those things. If you're fighting something that can breathe fire, it doesn't matter how much armour you're wearing, okay? That fire will get in the gaps. Like, wearing a helmet, if you've got eye slits, the fire is going to be very painful, okay? So if you are, in reality, alright? Because this is one of the differences between fantasy role-playing games and reality. If you had napalm essentially being, look, napalm isn't exactly fire, but even both, napalm or just, like, fire, that was basically gas being set on fire in the projectile and stuff like that. It doesn't matter if you've got full plate or chainmail, okay? That fire is going to mess you up, alright? So, that's when shield, forget this shield, this is the shield that you're going to want. I mean, if I have a dragon breathing fire against me, I'm doing this. I'm like... No, see, even if I did that, even if I poked my head above my shield, fire phase, like, seriously, fire in the face through the eye slits of your helmet and stuff like that, you're going to be writhing on the ground in agony. It's over, okay? I mean, if we're looking at fantasy in a more realistic sense, there's a lot of injuries that you would take that would wholly debilitate you and you're not getting back up on. And fire in the face through the eye slits of a helmet is one of them, alright? And so, in those situations, I think everyone is going to be using a shield and maybe have some type of anti-fire thing on there, like, just something that is fire resistant, not fireproof, because they didn't have advanced material science. But hey, magic, okay? Because I'm just saying, a wooden shield against a dragon, there is a problem there. Can you see what it is? Alright, so I've answered that very important question. One of the greatest, most important questions of all time, okay? But there are a couple of other situations in which a shield might be beneficial on top of armour. But it's interesting, if you have really good armour and you're fighting against monsters with conventional weapons, that's going to protect you against a lot. Like, think about it. Goblins, alright? Orcs and things. Trolls and stuff. Fairies are an interesting one. Check out my video on fairies. They can still be a problem. I'm not sure a shield will help you either. But okay, for most conventional types of attacks, good, solid, protective armour. And I'm not talking about full plate either, okay? I would actually probably want a bit more than just a cuirass. Like, I'm wearing a brigandine cuirass. It's not studded leather. Don't even, dude. But yeah, I think a cuirass is not enough. You'd want arm protection at least as well. So you've seen me where I've got my full get-up. It's too hot for today, okay? And I'm too exhausted. But pauldrons and arm braces and a good solid gambeson to protect a lot of the, like, leg strikes. That, it would be adequate enough, alright? And then full plate is just even more so. And when you're armoured to that level, then you have the option of the advantage of two-handed weapons over one-handed. And so, generally speaking, for a fantasy warrior, these are some of the best options. And so, there are very few circumstances in which not wearing armour is preferable over wearing armour. There are some interesting things. Check out my video on can the fantasy barbarian be realistic? I go into details on how you might get away with it. And that's, like I said, it's worth its own video, but I've already got it. This time I've done it. I don't need to make one. I've done it. So check out that video, because there is a situation in which you could use a tactic that might be beneficial in certain types of combat where you would wear little armour to no armour. But outside of, you know, that example I give in that video, the idea that a barbarian is going to choose to wear little armour for a barbarian rage and stuff like that? No. And, seriously, I mean, ultimately, it's not a spoiler. I explain why. It still is worth watching the video, because I explain why, but the ultimate answer is you could get away with wearing less armour if you carried a shield. It relates to the point I'm making now, because if a barbarian wants to wear less armour and not carry a shield, that's, in reality, that's like insanity. Okay? It's suicide. Especially if you're facing arrows. See, this is what I mean about breaking free of certain stereotypes and archetypes that have been established in the fantasy genre, because a barbarian, stereotypically, must wear a loincloth. Not all, like, they can wear certain measures of armour, but there are ways you could justify it, like in my video, but outside of those justifications, even a barbarian, if he was looking at the best equipment and setup to be a fantasy warrior, in my opinion, armour, and then we'll be looking at two-handed weapons now, alright? And so, like I said, this is an interesting topic, and there's a lot to actually break down when you really give it the consideration it deserves. So now, now that I think, that answers that, and look, there are exceptions outside. I'm speaking generally. So if anyone says, Shad thinks you could all, fantasy warriors should always use two-handed weapons if you don't, you're an idiot. No, I'm not saying that, okay? There are situations where there are exceptions to this general standard I'm applying and establishing. But speaking generally, I think, on balance, these are the things that give greater advantages to the standard things that an adventurer would fight. And I say standard, and in my mind, dragons are non-standard encounters, okay? They're the big boss. They're the boss fights, alright? Now, what type of, you know, because there are a number of one-handed weapons here. Like, check it out, we've got a battle axe, you know? And axes are devastatingly effective and stuff, but again, this is one-handed. So, daynax. Ah, now we're getting there, alright? Um, one-handed swords? No. We've got warhammers. Interesting consideration. Would a larger, two-handed warhammer, something like this, because two-handed, you know, warhammers did absolutely exist, but they weren't necessarily called warhammers. This is called a crow's beak, or a bec de corbin, and the hammer actually isn't its main thing. It's the spike, okay? So, interesting, okay? This is literally, like, seriously, bec de corbins, poleaxes, billhooks, halberds, are some of the most devastating medieval weapons, okay? But this area of weapons are really, you know, they excel in one area. Of course, they excel in a lot of areas, like killing people. They're great at killing people, okay? But one of the areas in which they are focusing on doing really well is combating armour, all right? And you can imagine, like, this spike, okay, if that actually got in between, you know, the plates, could do some serious damage. And, depending on the level of quality, the metal, and, you know, the level of quality on the metal on the spike, could actually punch through certain types of armour, okay? And if you hit with the hammer, that's a lot of concussive force. So these are, you know, people call them the can-openers of the medieval period, right? The can-opener seems to accentuate their effectiveness too much against armour. There's some issues that you would run into trying to use this against well-made armour. For one, having the spike get stuck in metal, okay, that'll be a problem and stuff, which is why it does have a hammerhead. But mail, that spike would be devastating against, okay? But to say it could always crack open any type of armour, no, no, no. It'll still run into resistance and difficulty. So the question is, do adventurers combat heavily armoured foes a lot? I don't think so. I think a lot of the monsters that they're fighting are either unintelligent, so we're looking at, yes, orcs. The stereotypical orcs are less intelligent. Goblins, okay. If we want to expand a bit, trolls are less intelligent. We have strange monsters like oozes and things like that. We've got natural monsters like dire animals and such. And one of the things that we're kind of running into is that a lot of these creatures are not wearing armour. Some might have particularly tough hides, and especially when you get to things like dragon where they have scales as tough as steel, something like this could come back into the forefront. But I actually think for the most part, giving a fair consideration, most creatures that you come across are not wearing as effective armour that this was made to fight against. Would it still be effective? Yes. But there is a bit of a limitation with this kind of weapon, and that is it's almost, okay, you might get away with a couple of other things, but it's almost like a single target, single strike weapon, meaning I can't hit more than one person with one swing. If I'm swinging this against an opponent and I hit, it's only going to be hitting that opponent. Can I offend a wide area with perhaps wide sweeping strikes, like so? Yes, but as soon as you hit the first opponent, there is nearly no chance that it's going to go through that opponent and hit another one. Granted, even with weapons that can, hitting the first opponent will usually stop it, but there's a chance that they might travel through. The other weakness with a weapon like this is its striking ratio. What do I mean? I mean, if I am aiming at someone and I miss the mark and I overshoot it, the shaft is going to hit them and could hurt them. This is still a pretty heavy piece of wood, but it's going to do nothing against the damage that, you know, the actual damaging end will deal. And then if I'm too short, I'll miss again. And so its striking ratio is limited. So there are limitations with this. What about other things? This is good at blunt damage and piercing damage, but I can't cut. Are there situations where cutting is more effective than piercing? Yes and no. It depends. But it's a good pick, yet I'm not sure it would be the first pick because of how specialized it is. Of course, in the times when such specialization would be useful, great pick, but we're talking about what creatures you're more likely to run into because that's the thing that you need to consider. You're an adventurer, you're a warrior, you're about to go on an adventure, and if you don't know exactly what you're going to be fighting, you have to work through statistics and look at what are the things that I'm more likely to run into and then the best weapons for that. We haven't really talked about ranged weapons here. This is important because you do need two hands for ranged weapons, which discounts shields, but we're already there. And so ranged weapons, really useful. Devastatingly useful. In fact, I would say it's probably one of the most primary picks a warrior would choose, but there are weaknesses with it. For instance, ammunition. Carrying and lugging around lots of arrows is a pain, I know, right? I can fit 20 arrows into a quiver, and it's trockers, it's like really, really thick. And it's an annoying weight that swings around, but I might do it. Yet still, you'd be surprised how quickly you can run through 20 arrows, like really quickly, okay? And if you can't recover them, that could be an issue. Having two quivers is very cumbersome, and two quivers is 20, so you have 40 arrows full then. Yet still, you're struggling. You might be able to squeeze more in. I actually think maybe I could fit... No, I think 20 is the upper limits of a single quiver, depending on how thick the arrows are. And we're talking about war arrows here, so if you're saying, well, I could fit way more in my quiver, Shad, are you talking about war arrows? You know, arrows that have a half inch diameter? I think, you know, for a general adventurer, a bow is a really useful thing, okay? And it doesn't take too early, it just takes some training, not too much to be adequate at it. Do you want a war bow? It depends on how thick the hides of the creatures you're fighting. See, war bows are interesting. They were made to combat armour, okay? Shields as well, in the very high categories. But a 70 pound bow is easily lethal enough against someone not wearing armour, and most animals as well. So you might not necessarily even need a war bow, but if you want to get chances of doing real damage, war bow, even better. Especially if you come across creatures with thick hide, and the occasional armoured opponent. So, yes, if you can manage it. Might be too cumbersome, and adventurous to travel. It's interesting that, again, stereotypes, things that we get stuck into in fantasy. Usually when we think of a warrior, we think of a warrior who's either dedicated ranged, or dedicated unarmed combat. Now when I say dedicated, of course, I'm not saying they can't use, you know, melee weapons, and there's many character types that do, okay? But think about Legolas, alright, in Lord of the Rings. How often is he fighting against an opponent, basically in melee distance, and still using his bow? When in reality, you wouldn't do that, okay? You would use a proper weapon. He pulls out his daggers occasionally, granted, but there are other times where, you know, he stabs someone with an arrow, then shoots them like, hmm, you know? Granted, there are concessions when we allow certain fantastical combat skills, but remember, this is fantasy rearmed, and we're trying to look at this in a more realistic sense. And in the real world of, you know, the effectiveness of bows in combat, and when you use them, stuff like that, if someone reaches you to be in melee range, you're dropping it, you're throwing them down, and you're grabbing your weapon. If you had a weapon on, you'd draw the weapon, right? You'd do that, okay? And so the idea that you have a character that is specialized in range, and is always going to pick ranged, like a bow or something, when in reality they'd be served much better going into melee, okay? That is a stereotype that exists in fantasy. More often, if you're looking at it in a more realistic sense, I think nearly every warrior would at least, you know, think, consider carrying a bow with them, because of how useful they are. If you can wipe out any opponent without getting into melee distance, that would always be the best option, okay? Like, seriously. Because it saves you from, you know, potential injury. I'm not saying you can't get shot back or anything, but you have much higher chances of injury in close range than at long range. And so, interestingly, this is what I do like in Lord of the Rings, is that we see Aragorn and Boromir have bows, and opt to use bows when it's appropriate, you know, when the troll is breaking in and they're breaking in Moria. But you know what they do when they get melee? They drop them, like any smart person would do, and then they whip out their swords. Does Legolas though? Again, the stereotype of dedicated range versus mix. When in reality, like in a realistic sense, I think a lot of warriors are actually going to be mixed. A bit of a balance. They're always going to allow, have an option available for ranged weapons. But, as we've already covered, there are many situations in which the ranged weapons, bows or even crossbows, are not good when the enemy closes the distance and you need to drop them. But I think we've actually found one of the primary golden weapons that every fantasy warrior would usually carry with them. And that is a bow. Alright, so now we're going back to melee weapons. Is there a weapon that would be most beneficial for a fantasy warrior? Melee weapon now. We've already got the bow as our first main thing. And so, we've considered pole arms, like hull birds, pole axes, Bechtor Corbin and stuff, and we've already said they're more specialised. So in those special circumstances, yes. But generally, no. So in terms of the classic stereotypical weapons, that leaves spears, swords and axes. And we're going to be focusing on the two-handed types. So, spear. Very interesting choice. And a lot to consider about the spear. The spear, generally speaking, is one of the most effective and devastating melee weapons above them all. The massive advantage is reach. The reach you can get on a spear is devastating. And a lot of historical European martial arts practitioners have put spears to the test. And they've tested people who are very competent in, say, longsword and more inexperienced with spear. They've only used spear occasionally. But still, the group with spears, who are using them just casually and not experts with them, still win more often than the swords do. Not all the time. It's a percentage rate. And so they win usually 70%, 80%, it varies. Sometimes it's closer, depending on how good the swordsman is and how inexperienced the spearman is. But generally speaking, the spears come out on top because the reach advantage is huge. That is in a very specific setup, though. Specifically, one verse one. Does it apply to adventuring? There are certain things that we can apply, but certain things that we can't. Because if you are in an adventuring group, a spear can be great, especially if you're working in a unit together. If you're fighting one-on-one, great again. If you are outnumbered, this is where we can run into some difficulty. Because the spear is what I was kind of saying about the Bechtor Corbin. It's usually a one-strike, one-target weapon. You can't offend multiple people. But the reach advantage is so significant that might balance it out. This might actually come into personal preference, but the spear is such a devastating weapon. Sometimes you can use it more easily one-handed with a shield. This could be used as a one-handed spear quite effectively. I could have a shield, or it could be a two-handed spear. So, versatility in regards to that. So, if you did have a shield with you, just in case of that dragon, and you're fighting opponents when you don't need a shield, you can two-hand it, and it's a devastating two-handed weapon. And then you can also one-hand it and have a shield, and this gives you the reach you would want more often against a dragon or something like that. Dang, the spear's coming out on top for a lot of interesting reasons. I was actually thinking we might be moving towards sword, and I'll tell you why, but on balance, I think the spear might actually have more advantages. But before I even get to the sword, we do need to address two-handed axe, okay? I don't have a real Dane axe yet. I will someday, you know. But this LARP one will suffice in the meantime. And so, it's got good reach, it's got devastating power, yet does have that limitation in usually being able to only hit one person. But there is a greater chance that the axe blade could slice through someone, especially if it's a headshot, or if you only get the tip, like through someone's, an enemy's neck or surface strike, and you could get a wider strike like that, which would be very beneficial against mobs, like goblins and things. One of the weaknesses it has is the cutting ratio. And again, if you miss the target, you'll hit the shaft. And that's one of the weaknesses with the spear, okay? If you miss the strike with a spear and they get inside, your ability to do damage with the spear shaft is greatly reduced. But the spear has unique benefits on top of that weakness that the axe, especially a two-handed, you know, and when I say two-handed axe, this can be the pole axe as well, can't really come back on. If you want to do extra, extra damage, yes, but it lacks more versatility. For instance, what if you're fighting a creature with tougher hide, or the occasional armor, or just something in which a thrust would be more beneficial. You know, unless there's a pole axe, granted that has a spike on the end, it still comes up short, okay? And there are other limitations. So then, let's quickly go through some of the advantages of a sword. The first question when considering swords is, what type of sword? Okay? We're already in the two-handed realm, so we're looking at two-handed swords, but two-handed swords, they have a bit of a range. So, you've got your long sword, but what about the bigger versions, the great swords? And I really think, you know, when weighing up, you're an adventurer, the larger sword is usually always going to be preferable, because you are coming across more often creatures that are tougher to overcome, to beat, that have tougher hides. Like, for instance, a troll, or an orc, okay? You still have great thrusting capacity, but if you need to do wide, sweeping cuts, something bigger. Now, this is one of my new swords. Like, I only got it, like, I got it today, literally. So, I haven't seen it on the channel yet. And it fits the wonderful mid-range between long sword and great sword. And so, I would call it a war sword. It's definitely, you could just call it a two-handed sword, but categorization can get tricky, because you could call it a very large long sword, or a very short great sword. Which is why I call it war sword, because it fits so nicely in that category. And so, at the very least, I think, you're going to want something about this size and bigger. And, uh, this is such a nice sword. I only got it, okay? I got it today. Let me nerd out over it a bit. Because my goodness, this is a beautiful sword, alright? But this has a couple of big advantages. It has reach. Like, look at the reach. Like, this is a big sword, okay? Standing on the ground next to me. Look, it's coming up to my chin, alright? So, this is a long sword. Longer than your average long sword. So, you could very well get away with calling it a great sword. So, you get the reach, like I mentioned. You have very effective cutting capacity for something this beasty. And, uh, you can offend a larger range of people around you. And your cutting ratio is the whole length. One of the great advantages of swords, okay, is the cutting ratio. If you miss your attack and you strike too far down, it's still going to do damage. It's right on the blade, okay? And so, the ability, the cutting ratio, is a huge advantage with swords. Then there's their versatility, alright? Because not only can you thrust and get through tough hides and even armor and things, okay, so you get the thrusting capacity, you got the cutting capacity, if you're using something like a long sword, well then, you've got, you know, some bludgeoning damage as well. Half-swording. Absolutely, you can grab, you know, a sword, and this is sharp by the way, by the blade, and do some serious damage. So, a long sword, or great sword, in particular, is very versatile. And versatility, in an adventuring situation, is massively advantageous, because you don't really know what creatures you're fighting, okay? If you're fighting a mob of little creatures, and you can just do a massive swing to either keep them at bay, or potentially kill more than one, big advantage. Big advantage. Now, there is a caveat I have not mentioned yet, which is important to mention. And that is an important consideration in the weapons you're picking. And it's not just the monsters you're fighting, it is also the companions you have, and what weapons they have. Because sometimes you want one companion to have the shield to protect you from the fire, perhaps something like that. And so therefore, picking a weapon that accounts for what your companions have is very important. But that can really change up the consideration, and open up a lot of possibilities. So, even though you would always need to consider it, in this consideration, this video specifically, we're more considering the single adventurer, okay? And then we can narrow down the consideration a lot. And in that sense, the sword is giving massive advantages. Especially a sword like this. A two-handed sword, with great cutting capacity, great thrusting capacity, it's brilliant. I personally think this gives you more advantages than even the two-handed axe, a Dane axe. Can it do as much damage? It's debatable, because though the axe can hit with crazy power, it can't thrust. And look at the thrusting capacity you would have on a weapon like this, alright? And even though it isn't as messy, running someone through is not as messy as clefting their skull in half, but it can be just as deadly, okay? On balance, thrusts are usually more deadly than cuts, especially superficial cuts, okay? A cut that doesn't cleft the skull and bounces off, that's survivable, alright? But if you get this much penetration into an opponent, and there are many parts on their body that they have vital organs, they're going to go down. Maybe not right away, but certainly in time, where a lot of superficial cuts or surface cuts people will survive. And so having a good thrusting capacity is a big advantage, which I think, in my opinion, puts this above the axe. Just on balance, I'm not saying the axe isn't effective, but on balance, a sword like this gives you more advantages than a two-handed axe does, okay? It's more versatile. Now we come into that consideration of this sword. We've narrowed it down, in my opinion, we've really narrowed it down to the best weapons. We've got the longbow, and now we're really just tossing up between a great sword, a war sword, and a spear. That's a tough one. A spear gets even additional reach, and on average, it can outperform one-on-one combat than a sword like this. Well, actually, usually the swords you're using are smaller than this. This is bigger than your average longsword, so that would be interesting. But it can't offend multiple people, and thrusting is deadly, so this is the thing. Okay, I think you are more likely to run into mobs of creatures, kobolds, goblins, stuff like that, than a single large creature on average. And this is more, I guess I can only draw this conclusion from my subjective experience. But on average, I tend to find or see adventurers coming across multiple weaker enemies than a single really tough enemy. Of course they do, okay. But I think if you're fighting multiple weaker enemies, it's going to be big sword. Single larger tough enemy? I would go spear. Can you carry both? Maybe. You might. You might be able to get away with it, actually. Like, this would be the setup. Bow, arrow, sword, spear. Let's test that out. So, this is kind of making me revisit my thoughts in the video how many weapons can an adventurer carry. And now that we're really breaking down the most effective weapons, okay, I am running into one of the limitations that came before, is that of the bow. Because the bow takes time to set up. Maybe a minute to take it off, string it, and get ready. So it's not a quick-draw weapon at all. Granted, you could string it if you know you're going into an area where there will be monsters. So you'd string it beforehand. And then, as an awkward thing to carry, it might need its own dedicated video of how I explore different ways to hang a strung longbow on your back. Longbows in particular are hard. If they're a smaller bow, there's easier ways to do it. This is awkward, okay, because if I could hang this on my body somehow, in a quick way, because maybe even putting it through my arm will make it drag on the ground. It's awkward, okay. The arrows, honestly, if I wanted to carry a spear, and the best way, spear over the shoulder on your back, but with the spear on my shoulder like this, I could actually put the quiver on my back. I have a back quiver. I think this back quiver has the arrows hanging too low, but I wanted to test it out anyway, because if I grab my spear now, and I sling it over my shoulder this way, this could potentially still work. To grab the arrows, I need a... actually, this is a bit better. Okay. Let me see. I actually... Alright, I can grab the arrows. So, I could theoretically... this might be the limit though, but I could theoretically do this. Have a good sword at my hip. I've had to slip it through the belt, because this is actually... I haven't made it to fit in my sword carriage yet. I'd need a loop to hold it from sliding down any further. And then this would actually fit nicely. But currently, it's sliding all the way down and hitting the ground. And it needs to sit there. But, if I had the sword here, okay, and it stayed where it needed to stay, this... this is workable. Could I fight this way though? Because that's the tricky thing. I could. Could I fight as effectively? Potentially not. If I really got in a fight, and depending on the opponent, remember, because I could probably fight with the sword in if it was secure better, and if it was an enemy that was... if it was an enemy that was a single larger opponent, okay, I could take off the spear, fight with it the way I need to, okay. But the question is, could I secure the spear, right, and then... Oh, this is going to be a tricky... There we go! Did it. And fight with the sword. Again, if it was made to fit in there, it would sit more securely. It's tricky that I would need to have the spear secured pretty... pretty good. But, I actually think you could. This would flapper... like honestly though, if I couldn't secure this right, I'd be happy to drop it, fight, do what I need to do. So ultimately, I think we've found our answer. You could get away with carrying both, but it might be a matter of personal preference if you want to go sword or spear. Whatever preference you have. I love swords, but I do love spears as well. What is an adventurer to do? It's like choosing between two loved ones. But there we go. Like, I told you it was going to be a bit of a process of elimination, but considering all, going through it all, I think we've come to some pretty darn solid conclusions. Bow, large sword, or spear. And depending on... but the sword, I just can't decide, but it could be bow and sword, or bow and spear would be the best weapons for a fantasy adventurer, in my opinion. What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below, I'd love to read them, look forward to it, and of course I look forward to seeing you in the next video. So until that time, farewell.