Miskatonic
Dark Lord
The Elder Scroll games have glass weapons and armor in them.
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Glass sword
- Thread starter Gryphos
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DMThaane
Mystagogue
If you want a sense of what it could look like in the real world (obviously without the flowing over your opponent's weapon) you should research the Indian urumi. The urumi's even made out of metal and is so weird it probably killed most of its victims through shock.
AkamaruGames
Mystagogue
Video games are rife with glass weapons. Notably, the Ultima series has glass swords that shatter upon use but instantly kill whatever you strike with them. Not sure how believable that would be in an actual story though.
I am curious about how exactly your character can control sand. Like how much control does the character have? How long does it take to form the sword and what is stopping her from reforming it? I could imagine, for example, making this glass sword, swinging it and shattering, but then launching the glass shards at the opponent mid-swing. A volley of glass shards to the eyes and throat would be devastating. Or perhaps making a swirling sandstorm of tiny glass shards that would easily slip in between the gaps of armor and either shred flesh or in the very least make movement a bit more challenging. Forcing the opponent to inhale those shards could be equally incapacitating.
As for punching through armor, you are probably better off using a glass spear than a glass sword. Traditionally, swords fared quite badly against plate mail so people got to thinking of the best ways to get through this. They came with 2 solutions. The first were heavy blunt weapons that would basically just pound the person inside around, possibly denting the armor and forcing it to cave into the wearer. With a glass weapon, this wouldn't be a terribly great option because it would require multiple strikes with a lot of strength, which you don't want to be doing with a glass club particularly with a female who doesnt sound like she is much on the physical strength department (I am assuming, since she is a magic user).
The second option were various pole arms. Pole arms work great for a couple of reasons. For one they have superior reach and stabbing is quicker and harder to defend against than slashing. The second reason is that the kinetic energy is concentrated in a single point instead of distributed along the edge of a blade. If you were paying attention in math class, pressure = force / area. The tinier the area the more pressure a particular force is going to exert. With a sword, you basically only have the edge that is striking forcing itself down over a large area. With a spear, you have the weight of the entire spear trying to force its way through a very tiny area. What this means is while swinging a sword at armor all day is just going to ding the finish, a good strike with a spear could punch through the steel. The only problem is that if the strike is not completely straight, the glass could snap and stab the person doing the stabbing (which admittedly would not likely be an issue with a slashing sword).
I am curious about how exactly your character can control sand. Like how much control does the character have? How long does it take to form the sword and what is stopping her from reforming it? I could imagine, for example, making this glass sword, swinging it and shattering, but then launching the glass shards at the opponent mid-swing. A volley of glass shards to the eyes and throat would be devastating. Or perhaps making a swirling sandstorm of tiny glass shards that would easily slip in between the gaps of armor and either shred flesh or in the very least make movement a bit more challenging. Forcing the opponent to inhale those shards could be equally incapacitating.
As for punching through armor, you are probably better off using a glass spear than a glass sword. Traditionally, swords fared quite badly against plate mail so people got to thinking of the best ways to get through this. They came with 2 solutions. The first were heavy blunt weapons that would basically just pound the person inside around, possibly denting the armor and forcing it to cave into the wearer. With a glass weapon, this wouldn't be a terribly great option because it would require multiple strikes with a lot of strength, which you don't want to be doing with a glass club particularly with a female who doesnt sound like she is much on the physical strength department (I am assuming, since she is a magic user).
The second option were various pole arms. Pole arms work great for a couple of reasons. For one they have superior reach and stabbing is quicker and harder to defend against than slashing. The second reason is that the kinetic energy is concentrated in a single point instead of distributed along the edge of a blade. If you were paying attention in math class, pressure = force / area. The tinier the area the more pressure a particular force is going to exert. With a sword, you basically only have the edge that is striking forcing itself down over a large area. With a spear, you have the weight of the entire spear trying to force its way through a very tiny area. What this means is while swinging a sword at armor all day is just going to ding the finish, a good strike with a spear could punch through the steel. The only problem is that if the strike is not completely straight, the glass could snap and stab the person doing the stabbing (which admittedly would not likely be an issue with a slashing sword).
Aly
Apprentice
Most weapons, even metal ones, flex or deform to absorb energy. As a material, glass is not ideal for that very reason. It's energy absorption is poor and it shatters easily. Worse, a glass weapon, if it's all glass, may shatter at the hilt, seriously injuring the hand of the wielder. If it doesn't shatter and doesn't deform then a lot of the energy goes into the arm of the person using it - again not good.
I'm not a materials scientist. Umm, how about making the glass ring when it is hit? That suggests energy is being transmitted in some way and that the magic glass sword has properties that may be similar to a metal sword.
I'm not a materials scientist. Umm, how about making the glass ring when it is hit? That suggests energy is being transmitted in some way and that the magic glass sword has properties that may be similar to a metal sword.
Saigonnus
Dark Lord
Perhaps a metal that is transparent is native to the world. You'd still have the glass-looking weaponry or armor without having inherent weaknesses or having to add magic to keep them from shattering.
A mixture is another way to handle the concept... Perhaps if you were to mix metal with a specific type of crystal or glass, you end up with a translucent blade.
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A mixture is another way to handle the concept... Perhaps if you were to mix metal with a specific type of crystal or glass, you end up with a translucent blade.
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tantric
Apprentice
Out of curiousity, why sand? Couldn't he just as easily control carbon and make diamond swords?
AkamaruGames
Mystagogue
If she could control carbon, she could just tear the carbon out of a person or change it into a blade and spin it around, dicing them up from the inside or any other number of horrific things. At that point why bother with a sword at all?
Besides, thematically, sand manipulation is cooler than carbon manipulation.
Besides, thematically, sand manipulation is cooler than carbon manipulation.
Saigonnus
Dark Lord
I agree with this! Although if you can manipulate sand, if you get it moving fast enough, you could sand blast someone to death and not need a sword either.
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AkamaruGames
Mystagogue
True enough, but compared to carbon... carbon is in just about everything. Might as well be able to manipulate "stuff".