Thoughts on this weapon concept?

[Moogle-Girl]

So I have this character who wields a unique weapon called a moonblade. It's a melee weapon designed for close quarters, to be paired with long-distance magic for a complete combat style. For context's sake, this is a low-tech fantasy setting, with the most advanced weapons being crossbows and the like.

Essentially the moonblade is a curved piece of steel shaped like this: http://images.clipartpanda.com/crescent-moon-clipart-black-and-white-9c4eagKgi.png It's held at the center of the curve, which bulges out in a cylinder and is wrapped in leather strips for grip. From there, each side gets thinner as you go out and points outwards, away from the body. The whole thing is slightly larger than the average human head.

The inside of the curve (minus the grip of course) is sharp and designed for chopping and slicing the opponent's limbs and neck, where the blade can surround its target and limit the opponent's means of escape. The points at each end can also be used for stabbing, though not in a straight outward motion as they're curved inwards slightly. The outside of the curve, on the other hand, is blunt and can be used for parrying small, focused strikes and clocking the opponent in the jaw or top of the head.

The shape of the moonblade lends itself to curved, sweeping motions, side-to-side or up and down, in order to catch anything on the sharp bits. Since the points don't face straight out, stabbing motions would be more likely to break the moonblade than anything. Also, it obviously has a very short range; the character who wields it uses a flowing, dance-like combat style that lets her get up close and personal while dodging as many attacks as possible until she gets an opening. She doesn't have much in the defensive department, after all.

I don't know if there are any bladed weapon experts in the area, but what do you think about this? Does it make intuitive sense? How effective do you think it would be?

 

[Villamvihar]

I am not an expert in bladed weapons, but generally, you want the sharp parts of the weapon that are designed to pierce gaps in armour or hack limbs off to face away from the weapon user. This is because pointy things facing the one who is supposed to be doing the damage is generally a bad idea, not to mention not very effective. If I am picturing this weapon correctly, then this is also the case here, as the sharpened ends of the crescent face the user, not the opponent. It would make far more sense of the sharp parts of the weapon were facing outwards, which makes it easier to perform slashing and piercing attacks. However, I would say that it gets the okay as long as slashing or piercing is not the primary focus of the weapon.

It would probably work as a fantastic knuckle-duster for close combat, though. It is shaped similarly to one and if you make the outside tough enough, it would become a good brawling tool, though I am not sure about its capability for blocking attacks from other weapons. With some training and proper construction, it could potentially serve as a weapon that can parry blows from swords or similar weapons, but it would have little effect against lances, daggers, polearms and any ranged weapon. This is because the wielder of such a weapon puts their hand at risk every time they parry a strike, so any weapon that carries a significant amount of force or is designed for primarily stabbing would have a high chance of injuring the wielder.

Hope that helps!

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Oh, sorry the blade parts face away! It wouldn't make much sense for it to be towards. owo'

 

[Villamvihar]

That means it will be a more reliable stabbing weapon and it will pack a mean punch if used well. It could possibly hack through the seams within armour. My commentary does not change otherwise; parrying strikes with it would still be rather dangerous to the user if stabbing / piercing weapons are the ones being used.

 

[Moogle-Girl]

Alright, that makes sense. Thanks!