Have you ever heard of centripetal force? Did you take high school physics? A claymore weighs about, 2.5 kg. The radius is about 0.1 meters. You swing it pretty much as fast as you can, let's say 30 miles per hour, which is about 15 meters per second.
F=m*((v squared)/r)
F= 2.5kg*((15m/s squared)/0.1m
F=2.5kg*((225m/s)/0.1m)
F=2.5kg*(2250meters squared/s)
F=5625 kg*meters squared/second
F=5625 N (newtons)
That's over 1000 pounds of force. So yes, that 5-6 pounds is quite a lot. Mr. Catchings was right, I do use physics in my everyday life. You still you can dual wield claymores?

It is possible to 1 hand wield a claymore, but it is pointless; less control, less strength, less balance. It is a scare tactic if you're trying to scare a 4 year old. Dual wielding...past pointless. Past ridiculous. Don't say we haven't gotten any good points, you obviously haven't read any of them.

lol, of course it would be conceived by Musashi.

Hooeay! Someone with the precise technical details to put it to rest once and for all.

Yeah, that's closer to the longsword/shortsword thing. And those are swords balanced to be used one-handed (even if the katana does have an extended grip that'll allow you to gain extra leverage & strength by 2-handing it.)

can anyone jump around, roll around, and swim in RL? with the exception of the latter, yes. but it wont be very effecient and you'll probably end up breaking a few bones if you keep at it. can anyone swing claymores in each hand in RL? yes, but he wont be very effective (and probably look like and idiot) and maybe even more likely to hurt himself in the process. i dont think its much of a stretch in the TES gameworld.

Mmmm... ir seems you don't want to undestand. It has nothing to do with weight (well, not too much). It's about design, and balance, and inertia... and that nobody have made it. It's dificult enough to dual wield longswords (there are examples, but very rare).

Yeah but Katanas are considered by many to be the best designed swords in the world for there ability to hold a edge and for there near perfect balance, infact many say that holding a Katana is like an extension of the wielders arm. There nothing like holding a Claymore or GreatSword.

Yeah, and I don't mind it bneing a little more unrealistic than reality, 2 longswords I'm not sure about, but 2 katanas, which are a bit shorter generally, I wouldn't mind at all. But 2 claymores is just utterly ridiculous and would look totally stupid.

Not to mention, one would die from fatigue if they fought with dual-wielding claymores, if that person even survives.

Are you seriously buying into the katana's over-hype? If you ask me, they're not. But then again, no weapon is the best designed, only for its function. A katana would be horrendous against a knight; the knight's armor alone would greatly damage, if not break, the katana. Not to mention a longsword would also cause a katana to warp or break on impact.

Fact of the matter is, the sword works, because Japan had hardly any iron, and what iron they did have, it was pretty bad. This was a way of making most from extremely low resources. Every sword made had to be perfect, because of the lack of resources. And because the iron was such low grade, it had to be folded a helluva lot of times, in order to better the metal. Its primary design is to kill light armored and unarmored targets with extreme ease. Heck, most samurai armor was mostly made of bear hides and leather, studded with bronze. The sword was no way meant for blocking, it's a purely offensive weapon.

If there's anyone who failed to doubt the mental capabilities of the OP, this should persuade you.

The lack of understanding of the most basic physics is astounding.

As the length of the sword increases, so too does the lever arm. Assuming an even weight distribution along the length of the blade, we can approximate the torque by calculating with the whole of the mass halfway on the length of the blade. 2.5kg * 9.8 m/s/s = 24.5N * (1.4 / 2)m ~ 17NM, which quite a strain to put on a wrist.

The weight of the sword isn't even the biggest problem I can see with this idea. Given the length how would a character walk around carrying the blade? Straight forward and maybe slightly downward like a tauren? That would require nearly the full torque to be resisted at all times, also the unweildliness of the blades would make it unpractical to bring from this position to a proper striking form. Mayhaps then he would carry it near the body with both points towards the sky? This would make it impossible to go into any sort of close quarters combat (which is difficult enough with a single claymore). Suppose even that the character managed to engage and bring the swords into striking position. I'll even let him strike with one, even though entirely unfeasible. How then would he go about striking with the other blade, as someone wielding two would want to? The length of the blade makes it impossible to hit the opponent until the first blade is completely removed, which necessitates fighting in a way that has absolutely no advantages over single wielding.

So yes, I support a strength master being able to dual wield claymores, as long as the can only attack with one at a time, takes a huge accuracy penalty, and does half the damage or less of a properly wielded claymore. Also, the rate of attack would need to be slower than with a single claymore because of the care the character would have to take to not cut himself while preparing for the next strike.

Wow, has this thread really gone on this long? Archmage, are you trolling everyone for the lulz? Because all you've done is ignore everyone's argument, given bad examples that don't correlate with duel wielding claymores, and apparently piss people off. The only argument which was even slightly plausible was the broom, but brooms aren't NEARLY as heavy as claymores. Most brooms today are made of hollowed out plastic anyway, so that makes them practically weightless. Even wooden brooms are extremely light weight.

Have you ever tried stabbing someone with a katana? No. And why is that? Because it's impractical, katana's are designed for slashing through opponents, not stabbing. Same with claymores, they just aren't designed to be held by one hand, the length see's to that. Like a lot of people before me have said, (which you seem to ignore completely), strength does not factor in. The balance, even if only 5 to 6 pounds, become much harder to hold. I remember when I was moving out of my parent's house I tried to bring my 9-10 pound dresser in my car by myself. I couldn't do it alone though because of the size of the dresser, I couldn't get a good enough grip on it to effectively pick it up. It's the same with a claymore, it's very design denies any possibility for duel wielding. Just as the design of a desert eagle denies the se of firing it off with one hand. You will damage your wrists.

Even if you did have the strength to wield two Claymores, either you would not have enough strength to swing them effectively, or you would lose balance so you would fall over and be easy prey. So, you can do it if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. :tongue:

Take a sledgehammer. Hold it by the very end of it's grip near the bottom. Swing it.
Now, hold two sledgehammers, one in each hand. Hold them by the very end of their grip near the bottom. Swing them.
I don't care who you are, no one can do this. Not even one. http://creditplushealth.org/health%20picture/ronnie%20coleman%206.jpg could not even do this if he tried.
It's unrealistic, silly, and laughable IMO.

That's not true. Katanas, very well designed blades, are excellent for both slashing and stabbing. They have a pointed tip designed for it. Although I still doubt the OP has tried to stab someone with a katana! Maybe threaten to do it, or tell them to do it to themselves...

Off topic but That is SO disgusting O.O

It's funny watching them used for hacking at a man in steel plate armor in Oblivion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYL2Brxskzc the technique to stabbing with a katana is to brace the butt of the sword, tilt it horizontally so that it could slide between a man's ribs.

I totally want this (for my enemies)

That way when I see a big dumb nord (because it's going to be a nord let's just face the facts) trying to be awesome and pick up these two weapons at once I can swiftly kick him in the nuts before he even gets a chance to swing

Please let that be a finishing move.

Haha, well I guess. But if the blade is curved it should be much less effective at stabbing, right? Doable maybe, but less effective for sure.

what have you been smoking
you obviously never have held a claymore in you're hands. i have, and i can tell you they are extremely heavy.
i don't think anyone would be able to dualwield those because of the sheer strength it takes just to swing a claymore with both force and control you can imagine what it would take to swing TWO of 'em.
it would also look terribly redicilous in third person (or even first person)
i vote no

Not that I want it but....

It would be very possible to hold them with one hand if you were strong enough.
Has anyone watched any boxing films? Or maybe the strong man contests? Ever see what they can do?
Or what they do before they compete...

They tape thier hands and wrists. Why do this?....It acts like a back brace, allowing
you to hold, carry & lift much more that you normally would be able to. Not to mention prevent breaks from jarring punches or twists from lifting. Ok so there was no tape back then but there was strips of leather......

Sure you wouldn't be as flexible, quick, or dexterous as with daggers. But his point was being a hulking nord, doing
one slow lumbering swing after another seems possible.

Large battle axes are most deffinately not used like they are in TES. The Vikings or bersekers would grab it and start swinging and spinning around without stop. Effectively creating a circle of protection rarely used in a chopping motion.

After balancing & timing, the dps could all equal out. You'd most deffinately leave yourself open to more damage upon yourself as a drawback.
Just my 2 cents.

Anyway, I would like to see a skill/attribute based system for determining what you can dual wield. I think the total weight of weapons you dual wield should be based on your one hand weapon skill and your strength. The highest reach of this system allowing you to wield 2 longswords, so it's beyond our reality, but not ridiculously so.

Haha posted that in the wrong thread at first, butno matter, because they're very similar subjects.

Oh..... I stand corrected. What about scimitars, those are bad at stabbing, right?

Possible to hold, impossible to fight with.