Why do weapons weigh so much?

[RedMonika]

If a longsword actually ways about 4 pounds why do they way 10 in game?

[27X]

to prevent this

 

[Mez558]

2 hours ago, RedMonika said:

If a longsword actually ways about 4 pounds why do they way 10 in game?

 

4lbs is pretty heavy for a Long Sword. Not that any actually exist in vanilla skyrim. They're either back/side/arming swords or Great Swords.

 

What you're seeing as weight is actually emcumberance. Not how much an item weighs but how much it would encumber the person, how awkward if is to carry, especially multiples of them.

 

Really the Player character can carry a lot more than would be realistically possible IRL. Especially naked, with no belts or bags.

 

[ppp]

Indeed. Units are never specified.

 

In theory, there's a trade off between weight and damage. This mattered more Morrowind and Oblivion; swinging a weapon reduced your Stamina (then named Fatigue) by an amount determined partially by the weight of the weapon. Stamina also affected how much damage you dealt. Low Stamina meant you did less damage. The idea is you use the weapon that has the optimal ratio of weight to damage depending on your carrying capacity.

 

It also limits how much you can haul back to town to sell.

[NoirXiaoba]

1 hour ago, Mez558 said:

What you're seeing as weight is actually emcumberance.

This is what makes Backpack mods realistic and lore friendly. They don't increase your carrying strength. Instead, they give you additional space to store stuff.

[kmaaier]

11 hours ago, RedMonika said:

If a longsword actually ways about 4 pounds why do they way 10 in game?

I do have a long sword in real life, hanging on the wall. It is really not 4 pounds. If it is, you don't have a version of real nordic steel, but from the plastic ALIBABA version. Mine sword is 175cm long, and weight is 5 kg (about 11 pounds), and is a real two handed weapon.

[Mez558]

25 minutes ago, kmaaier said:

I do have a long sword in real life, hanging on the wall. It is really not 4 pounds. If it is, you don't have a version of real nordic steel, but from the plastic ALIBABA version. Mine sword is 175cm long, and weight is 5 kg (about 11 pounds), and is a real two handed weapon.

 

A Great Sword like a Zwei Hander maybe but even then that seems heavy for anything other than a display piece.

[Speed Metal]

1 hour ago, kmaaier said:

Mine sword is 175cm long, and weight is 5 kg (about 11 pounds)

11 lbs for a greatsword? Boy you've got scammed. My Lowlander's 5.8 in and weighs 6.4 lbs.

[Psalam]

13 hours ago, RedMonika said:

If a longsword actually ways about 4 pounds why do they way 10 in game?

You can use TES5Edit to change these numbers if you think they are out of line. However, doing all of them will take some time.

[MadMansGun]

The Anduril from LOTR is 4lbs:

https://sbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product409.html

(no, i don't own one, it's just the biggest sword you would want to use)

[karlpaws]

Longsword / arming sword / greatsword classifications aside (since Skyrim doesn't use them correctly) I'm with the people on the encumbrance argument. Also since the devs don't have a lot of consistancy on these kinds of things, probably a good half of the weapons are the wrong weight for internal consistancy. With Skyrim not using the weight (as far as I know) for damage calculation and swing speed is its own independent stat, weight is just a way to limit how much you can carry and the heavy and light armor perks to make armor weigh 0 helps when the (particularly heavy, like ebony, dragon and daedric) stuff becomes available.

 

This is one of several places where game mechanics, I think, supersede any connection with reality.  Sorex's line that the Winking Skeever isn't just the best inn in Solitude, its the only one, is another example.

[RedMonika]

11 hours ago, kmaaier said:

I do have a long sword in real life, hanging on the wall. It is really not 4 pounds. If it is, you don't have a version of real nordic steel, but from the plastic ALIBABA version. Mine sword is 175cm long, and weight is 5 kg (about 11 pounds), and is a real two handed weapon.

huh.. that's weird cause my hubbies claymore weighs about 6 pounds. We used to do SCA and his long sword is about 4 pounds...

*quick note.. okay guys... out of the gutter...

 

[RedMonika]

9 hours ago, karlpaws said:

Longsword / arming sword / greatsword classifications aside (since Skyrim doesn't use them correctly) I'm with the people on the encumbrance argument. Also since the devs don't have a lot of consistancy on these kinds of things, probably a good half of the weapons are the wrong weight for internal consistancy. With Skyrim not using the weight (as far as I know) for damage calculation and swing speed is its own independent stat, weight is just a way to limit how much you can carry and the heavy and light armor perks to make armor weigh 0 helps when the (particularly heavy, like ebony, dragon and daedric) stuff becomes available.

 

This is one of several places where game mechanics, I think, supersede any connection with reality.  Sorex's line that the Winking Skeever isn't just the best inn in Solitude, its the only one, is another example.

I use an encumbrance mod and it hit me last night. I've read that the weight doesn't really matter or contribute to anything other than just that weight.

[GimmeBACON]

22 hours ago, 27X said:

to prevent this

 

That crossbow looks so much better then what we got in game.