What medieval weapons would a VAMPIRE really use? FANTASY RE-ARMED

[Music] out of this greatings I'm Chad and welcome back to fantasy where yond and even though I've expanded the breadth of fantasy rearm to look at different fantasy tropes it started out by looking at the best weapons that would actually suit certain fantasy creatures if you looked at their physical characteristics from a realistic perspective with an understanding of these weapons and how they operate in the real world and we have come to some really interesting conclusions and sometimes some conclusions that were not really intuitive but suited these creatures so much more and so with this episode we've gone back to the original style and we're looking at the best weapons that would suit vampires this creature type is being requested a lot in the comments of so many fantasy rearmed episodes and it's been an interesting one because it's also very tricky because vampires well they're like a living weapon in and of themselves and from the outset you might say do I really need weapons well it depends and we're gonna get into some of the detail now for the average vampire who is just after their average prey you know a lone defenseless human to get their nightly meal they don't really need weapons at all they are so superior to humans in every way with strength speed and everything and even though certain characteristics physical characteristics can change between vampires especially on upon setting if we just go with the most common kind of vampire abilities they don't really need weapons for their standard prey but when they come up against you know enemies that are actually equipped to fight them all and now we might actually be in the realm of the type of weapons we want to use and what if a vampire actually comes across a human that is capable of defending themselves to a certain level what if they're actually an adventurer and the vampire didn't know well remember weapons are force multipliers so whatever force that a vampire can produce naturally they can multiply that force to a devastating degree with a weapon well in this regard weapons do become very useful even on top of their natural abilities even though they're a living weapon and so in those circumstances when they want a weapon what's the best one well there's a lot of weapons to pick between you know we can look at swords in the various different types of swords I cut this focus sword or a thrusting focus or or you can all get axes we can look at bars at all these other things so let's break it down a bit and the default always kind of is well swords are so popular okay and so if a vampire need a weapon would they pick a sword we can figure this out by looking at the results of vampire once if a vampire wants to defeat an opponent that they actually want to eat you know suck the blood out of any weapon that causes massive blood loss is a bit of a nori in that regard because that's their food right there it's getting spilt on the ground so they actually wouldn't in my opinion pick a weapon that would cause massive lacerations and cuts so that kind of takes swords out of the you know mix entirely now you could say what about purely thrust focus swords like a rapier or something like that well a rapier can penetrate very deeply and cause massive bleeding it's very hard to stop so even you know thrusting type swords no and then if we look at the other weapons regarding this they'll that would take out axes as well even knives so we're really going to be looking at blunt weapons weapons that cause impact trauma and so with their medieval weapons available to us what can we pick from well then this will lead us towards things like hammers and maces that's the interesting kind of result because from the outset you wouldn't really think that these are the type of weapons that suit vampires but when you really try and break down what they would want to achieve in this combat and that's basically to incapacitate their opponent take away any vulnerability that might be posed to them and nullify any threat to them well we're already guided to an interesting result that isn't necessarily intuitive but when you break down the logic it makes a lot of sense one solid whack in the guts by a mace or Warhammer I mean I don't care how muscly a well trained this human is they're gonna drop okay that's you know really taking out and again you have to think about this like breaking bones all these things can cause devastating damage and their food isn't really being spilt or lost any regard it can cause huge internal bleeding but that's not a problem at all the blood is still within this sack of meat that they want to eat alright so blunt weapons absolutely are at the top of the list now let's look at the different types of blunt weapons and figure out which one suits the most because there's not just maces and war hammers you have well I mean there's the flower but I made a whole video on the flower not really a fan and there's things like the pol hammer I mean what about different types of hammers you've got to the mallet or more which is what fantasy war hammers usually based on again I made a video addressing that as well I make it make a lot of videos what about the quarter staff I mean there's a good versatile blunt weapon so there's things to think about here now in my opinion I when I think of vampires they tend to like to float around populated centers and most the more people that didn't you buy them well that's their food sauce so when I think of a vampire hunting and stuff I don't necessarily picture them often being secluded away in a hidden forest or you know a hut where not many people are usually in populated centers so that means a weapon that suits their environment would be something that would be good for close confines like dark alleyways you know streets and things and so for looking at that well Paul weapons do become less effective now in my opinion the the trope to say that Paul weapons are wholly ineffective in close confines is overemphasize they could be used to a great level effect even in a cave all right a spear is a forward pressing weapon you don't need a lot of swinging action to use a spear effectively and so you have enough room in front of you and behind you could still use a spear quite well but with a vampire well no they don't want to use Spears because too much blood loss on their opponents but what about a quarter staff okay well yeah poking action they could get some pretty powerful for us especially with how strong a vampire is but to get the most effective out of a quarter stuff you do want to swing it and then this is where we get into some difficulties if you're in a close confined ally you wouldn't be able to use it as well but generally is not much you know obstructions over top so you can do some really large over you know downward swings yet having said that it still doesn't feel like the most efficient weapon because you can take all the weight that is in this quarter staff and use a heavier material so you're kind of condensing it into a smaller package yet get easily as much punch and so again looking at the mace or Warhammer hey I can be hugely devastating there don't need nearly as much room to use affect bid to be used effectively even the quarter staff can be used to a level of effect in my opinion in close confines use after change the way using it you get less restrictions with a smaller weapon and they can pack easily as much punch because of their greater weight being made out of metal so we've kind of come back to the war hammer or mace or let's compare these two which one out of the war hammer mace would suit a vampire more well the war hammer interestingly there there hammer heads are usually much smaller in reality than people see in fantasy and so that force is confined to a very very small area nowhere near as small as the edge of a blade like on a sword or axe but still quite you know focused in because of that I actually feel it's far more likely that you would puncture the skin with a Warhammer than with a mace depending on the type of mace I really gotta specify this because if you're probably thinking of the morning star or something like that with big spikes on it that's gonna puncture the skin and then cause bleeding and blood loss and you don't you know all those reasons no I would actually say a flanged mace okay something that doesn't necessarily have spikes but enough pointed ends to focus that force onto a condensed part but in my opinion far less likely to break this skin and remember vampires are so much stronger than humans okay so they can put a lot more force behind this and having that force dispersed over a large area not nearly as large and safe fantasy war hammers and things like that well actually it might be because depending on the size of the mace head will cause more area damage okay I feel that would be more incapacitating it with a really powerful strike then say a Warhammer a Warhammer would still be pretty done devastating and incapacitate an opponent to a great degree but again much more likely to break the skin which we don't really want this vampire wants to break bones and tenderize the insides cause massive you know I've a concussion or internal bleeding things like I'd just take out their you know their prey really quick like one solid hit okay with a vampire behind a mace the guy's gonna drop and then all the blood is there for them to feast on so in my opinion the mace is more preferable over the Warhammer and what's interesting going into this analysis the mace was like one of the last weapons I was really I thought would have come up as the most preferred and logically applicable weapon that's to vampires not only physical abilities cause really physical abilities would enhance the effectiveness of any weapon but really the result of what they want to achieve okay in fighting now is this the weapon the mace as applicable when we try and say change up that what they want to get out and change up the enemies they're fighting because vampires they wouldn't just fight prey I mean that's what they would only want to fight but one of the most prevalent things if you have vampires in a setting are vampire hunters so these are guys who know what the vampire okay is capable of and they're there to exploit those weaknesses so if I was a vampire hunt like one of the main things I would want to do is protect myself from their jaws latching onto my skin so that means a armor absolutely armor all the way and like vampires they're they're obviously much stronger than humans but is that strong enough to just crush hardened steel plate I don't think so in my opinion with the weapon maybe but not by themselves and so files dig down improperly made full plate armor that vampire can latch on to me and try and buy me it's not gonna get through it's not gonna crush my armor but they could certainly grapple me and hold me in place and so what would I do next to try and prevent that grappling action I would line the coating of my plate with silver okay so my sorry that means a vampire wouldn't even be out of touch me and me as a vampire hunter is it a pretty good strong position try and combat these nasties I mean seriously vampire hunters who do not wear armor I don't know what ain't no medieval setting don't know what they're thinking about okay because they're not wearing armor so if the vampire hunter isn't wearing armor and the vampire isn't as concerned about preserving its meal and in my mind because the vampire hunter is a threat that wouldn't be as higher priority they would want to just take out the that threat and in this case there are much better weapons than the mace to take out an opponent the sword being one of the best it is so versatile and so effective in causing huge damage specifically to people not wearing armor against armor the sword is quite poor you can still use it it can still be effective but there are much better weapons when fighting someone not in armor absolutely the sword comes back up to the top now there is the spear and generally the spear is a superior weapon to the sword except that it is not good against multiple opponents if vampire wanted to take out several vampire hunters who weren't wearing armor in one stroke they would definitely have the strength to slice through one opponent and hit the next the sword is much better for area control and multiple opponents so then what type of sword one-handed vers two-handed well the specific pros and cons of one-handed vers two-handed two handed swords can get away with being longer because you can use two hands on them so therefore you get more reach but if you had a sword of similar length that's one-handed you can extend your body further and get more reach and because vampires have greater strength I don't actually think they need a two-handed sword and keeping that off hand free for another weapon or defensive item is actually quite a beneficial thing so the circumstances that would encourage you to use a two-handed sword don't really apply as much to a vampire and keeping that off hand free for another weapon or a shield which would be very beneficial or protect against silver-coated arrows or spikes or whatever would be very useful and with their greatest strength they could get away with using a one-handed sword that has a much longer blade they're not as restricted to the weight categories and sizes that regular humans have so a more custom longer bladed one-handed sword would be my pick for the vampire if they're fighting an opponent not wearing armor and they weren't concerned about saving the blood I kind of like vampires as I'm on say yeah I usually you know like the overpowered monsters less and vampires are very overpowered but the thing that kind of balance this is a matte is their many weaknesses which makes them a bit more fun to come out because you know there are ways to get them okay sunlight stake through the heart garlic silver all those good things okay so now going back to the weapons at a vampire want to use if a vampire is facing a properly equipped all right vampire hunter in full plate armor what is the best weapon to fight them well it doesn't really change okay the vampire you don't doesn't wanna get too close don't want to touch them okay if their armor is coated with silver so you're going to specifically need a weapon that is designed to combat plate armor and that's already kind of their favorite weapon the mace is perfect keep soon you know I had a long enough distance to not touch the silver and they can just especially with their strength because even though they wouldn't be out of crush just with their own you know crush plate armor with their hands with a mace and the amount of force that they extra force they can throw behind a may strike or I don't know if the guy in that full plate arm has much of a chance okay that blunt force gets transferred to a fairly large degree especially there's enough power behind it and if they get a strike on the head I mean it's game over is gonna cause concussion just there but even on the chest okay with a powerful enough strike I could wind them incapacitate them and then the vampire just has to keep beating the other than theirs you know fair by hunter until he's out of the game and they're not I know they can use a stick to take off the armor and have a nice drink you know you know Chardonnay made of blood and remember another advantage about the mace is that they haven't caused massive blood loss in the guy even in the armor even the armor they still preserve their meal it works now this isn't really addressing the super Opie vampires that are as fast as the flash that you see in certain other you know fantasy settings or whatnot because vampires do change a lot again I've just been focusing on the more classic kind of monstrous vampire that you see in more general fantasy so you will need to adapt these thoughts and comparisons these weapons based on the specific characteristics of your vampires in your own fantasy settings whether that is a book you're writing or a role-playing setting that you're of crafting stuff layout again adaptation needed but yeah I really think that is the best weapon yet what about ranged weapons because there might be some situations where a vampire doesn't want to get him close okay and America we do kind of fall back to some of the classic ones that we do fall back to you in regards to Range Rovers because they have greater strength now that means I would be able to use really powerful bows really effectively but borrows lots of blood damage this is the thing when it comes to range combat I would feel the vampire would only want to be at range if they are particularly threatened by their enemy okay not much can harm them but if their enemy has a lot of nasty things that can really affect them or if they're outnumbered then they might want to fall back to range weapons and if that if it's so serious perhaps preserve their meal isn't as much of a priority and if that's the case bows are a perfect fit for them but there is a type of blunt impact range weapon and has come up in fair to see round before that is a great fit for a vampire and it's the good old sling okay the sling is powered by your own strength and ability vampires have greater strength so they could either you know spin the sling to a much higher degree or put in larger projectiles in those slings I mean if they are able to hurl say a rock of just even this you know size at a particular speed doesn't matter if the guys wearing out or that thing hits their head kou instantly or even in the chest cuz rock their hefty orion and with good enough speed this is some dangerous stuff so slings are actually a really good fit for the vampire especially if they don't want to cause massive blood loss and they can have a nice meal afterwards on top of it and there we go these are my thoughts on the best medieval historical weapons for the classic fantasy vampire based on their physical characteristics and how weapons operate in the real world looking at what results they would want to you know attain in fighting with a weapon so again a very different conclusion than what I was kind of expecting going into this exploration I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below are there any other weapons you think would suit a vampire really well say yes I look forward to reading them and of course I look forward to seeing you in the next episode of Shadow versity so until that time [Music]

Channel: Shadiversity

Views: 510,115

Keywords: medieval, history, historical, vampire, weapon, weapons, middle ages, arms and armor, armor, armour, longsword, fantasy, vampires, hunter, dungeons and dragons, dnd, d&d, skyrim, game of thrones, monster, monsters, top ten, top 10, mace, blade, twilight, dracula, van helsing, hema, historical european martial arts, greatsword, katana

Id: TX0qlsV1Yxk

Length: 17min 26sec (1046 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 30 2019