Azrael20
Topic Author
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun 09 Jan 2022, 20:24

Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Sun 09 Jan 2022, 20:51

Hi all,

Is there any difference at all between using a bayonet and using a knife rules-wise? They're statistically identical - is there something I'm missing, or are they just different for flavor?
 
paladin2019
Posts: 432
Joined: Mon 07 Dec 2020, 09:16

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Sun 09 Jan 2022, 21:26

A bayonet can become a spear. That's it. In terms of the rules, that's not addressed. Reach isn't a stat used in combat. Though you also have a rifle butt immediately available when using a mounted bayonet.
EDIT: or look at it another way. For 5 BUCs, you change the crit value of your rifle's melee attack from 4 to 3.
 
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ottarrus
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Mon 10 Jan 2022, 11:13

Functionally, no.
A bayonet can be securely attached to the muzzle of a rifle, a 'knife' can't.
However, there are some real world differences in all sorts of knives.
Bayonets have certain multi-function capabilities that have been designed in them. For example, most bayonets can be made into crude wire-cutters, most can be used to open bottle tops, etc. And there is a long country mile between the metallurgy of a Sykes-Fairbairn commando knife and your average kitchen knife. And you certainly don't want to use a straight-bladed commando knife for butchering game. But this is a level of realism and grittiness that most people don't want to get into, for obvious reasons. The T2K environment is hard enough without getting down to that level of ticky-tack.
I will say that my character in an R20 campaign specifically carries three knives... one for combat, one for work, and one to eat with. But that's my real-world experiences in the military and outdoors [hunting, Boy Scouts, etc.] influencing my character play.
 
starkillerbh
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 01 Nov 2021, 21:30

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Sat 15 Jan 2022, 06:15

Generally bayonets are dull with a very sharp point, knives have a very sharp blade and point.
 
starkillerbh
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 01 Nov 2021, 21:30

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Sat 15 Jan 2022, 06:16

Ottarus did they add the game on Roll20?
 
paladin2019
Posts: 432
Joined: Mon 07 Dec 2020, 09:16

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Sun 16 Jan 2022, 23:35

Generally bayonets are dull with a very sharp point, knives have a very sharp blade and point.
This isn't the intention. If your bayonet is dull, it is due to either someone intentionally taking a grinder to the blade or your own lack of maintenance. A dull blade simply doesn't work, even for a stabby thing.

But the OP was about rules, not bayonets in general. The difference between using a knife vs a fixed bayonet is that you don't have to switch weapons to get a better melee attack with your rifle when someone's too close to shoot. That's it.
 
starkillerbh
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 01 Nov 2021, 21:30

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Mon 17 Jan 2022, 01:24

Not true and in fact Civil War bayonets were not even flat like a knife but were concave with no sharpened edges and just very good point. You are not trying to cut with them, you are piercing with them.
 
paladin2019
Posts: 432
Joined: Mon 07 Dec 2020, 09:16

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Mon 17 Jan 2022, 06:32

If you are referring to this, Imagethat's three edges sharpened. But "Civil War bayonet" is a bit vague, so a specific model might be more helpful.

Regardless, these are the bayonets contemporary to T:2k

American
Image or possibly Image

British
Image

German
Image

French
Image

Kalashnikov
Image

Knives with sharpened edges, all of them. And bayonet drill since before WWI has included the slash.
 
starkillerbh
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon 01 Nov 2021, 21:30

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Tue 18 Jan 2022, 05:15

Well on discord playing with another Marine and a soldier who have never seen the old bayonets from the 70s 80s and 90s sharpened through multiple units each.
 
paladin2019
Posts: 432
Joined: Mon 07 Dec 2020, 09:16

Re: Bayonets vs Knives - any difference?

Tue 18 Jan 2022, 09:18

Refer back to
If your bayonet is dull, it is due to either someone intentionally taking a grinder to the blade or your own lack of maintenance.
They came sharpened.

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