Damage Types: Pierce, Slash, and Crush

[Wick]

GURPS uses a system like this but I've gradually decided I don't like it. The problem is that what makes a weapon/armor interaction cutting, piercing, or smashing is scale sensitive. If weapon damage refers to kinetic energy then the injury increases first with the depth of penetration then, once the vital organs have been reached, with weapon area. A mace that goes through the target does more damage then a arrow, right? When a Jotun swings a mace at a sprite he _will_ go through it. So it's a piercing weapon. Sometimes.

When a human attacks someone wearing plate armor she wants to use either a piercing weapon like a pick or a blunt weapon like a mace but not a sword. Why? Because a sword, unlike a pick, doesn't concentrate the force enough to penetrate but is more expensive and harder to use then a mace. Why doesn't it penetrate? Because the armor is optimized to resist a human wielded sword. A Jotun is still better off using a sword instead of a harder to use pick or less penetrating mace. A Rimtursar would probably be rambunctiously happy with a mace, unless he's fighting another giant wearing giant armor! Then getting penetration becomes important again and a spear carved from the trunk of the world ash looks good.

Yes, I am neglecting that you must hit small things faster then big things if you don't want them to be simply bounced out of the way.

Anyway, the distinction between piercing, cutting, and smashing has more to do with impact velocity and target depth then weapon shape.

Lastly, Dominions already has more weapon variation then most RPGs. While gilding a lily isn't necessarily bad it's usually wasteful.