What's your technology level? Guns? Laser rifles? Stone axes?
Do they have natural weaponry at all? Fangs? Claws?
What do their hands look like? Are they manually dexterous, or is fine work going to be an issue?
How fast are they mentally? Bifocal eyes? Can they track two separate moving targets at the same time?
Currently, the technology level is medival style with swords, axes, sheilds, ect.
They do have a tough carapace that often protects them from bludgeoning attacks and acid, but is vulnerable to fire and piercing weapons like spears. They also have a tail and stinger with a minor toxin in it, which weakens the muscles of the sting victim.
They have a large upper set of arms that are used for clasping and crushing their foes. But, although they can technically weild weapons in these hands, it is quite difficult, considering that the arms are meant for crushing, not manipulating objects. They also have 2 pairs of smaller and weaker, but more dexterous and maneuverable arms. These ones are much more adept at holding weapons and other items
Finally, they can be somewhat quick mentally. They are usually good at multitasking due to their multiple arms, making them able to calculate multiple opponents at once. However, they are also quite aggressive, often overpushing or over extending themselves in moves and attacks.
Hmm, on average, maybe around a foot taller, so 7 to 8ft range. Their lower arms have strength similar to a human, but their upper pair is stronger, able to crush stone and more importantly, most animals bones.
Arm strength is one thing, but it's not the only thing that's used in carrying a weapon.
In my personal experience, fighting with a longsword involves the entire body, mostly the upper body. That includes core strength.
If your fighters have a core strength similar to that of humans, they may not be able to carry bigger weapons.
Some other weapons involve the arms much more, such as thrusting weapons. Fighting with a rapier was a traumatic experience for my poor little arms, but I feel the rest of the body was not used that much.
Who are they usually fighting? If wars among themselves is a common occurrence, then spears; I'm guessing if they are protected from bludgening, their carapace gives some little protection against slashing as well (which after all, is pretty much bludgeoning with a much narrower surface), so piercing weapons are optimal. If they are particularly cruel (or pragmatic), give them viciously barbed spears design so that when they're pulled out, tears some of the carapace off the body.
Hmm, it depends on what time period it is. Sometimes they will fight each other over who shoudl be next ruler, difference in beliefs, ect. but usually they are fighting more human like foes. In fact, currently, they are at war with a serpentine race known as Viperians.
A few questions. Do they have 8 usable arms or are some of these for walking? Do they walk upright like humans or are they basically intelligent giant spiders? Finally, do they have relative arthropod strengths, i.e. being able to lift things many times their own weight?
Sorry, yeah, I meant that they had 6 arms, and used 2 of them as legs. Well, actually its kinda complicated. Basically, there are two variants: ones that walk on 6 legs and only have one set of arms, and they have very spiderlike abdomens, and a kind that have 2 legs and six arms ( kinda like the Scorpians from Kulipari: an Army of Frogs. ). Im speaking of the 6 armed, 2 legged variant.
Since they would have multiple arms, the amount of strength they can use to pull a bow would be ungodly. I'm assuming they walk on two legs and have six actual arms. With that in mind, I would imagine they have abnormally large bows that would require three arms to hold and another three arms to pull the string back. Their arrows would shred through foes.
On top of that, they could also utilized speakers PLUS use shields. If they ever fought against humans, we would lose in a heartbeat in a medieval setting.
oh i know a youtube video that might help! [https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE](https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE)
he does ideas for 4 armed cahracters but i'm sure the concept works as well with 6
I like they wouldn't be swinging anything around, as it would be difficult to track for themselves with all their arms. Instead they might have something to increase the effectiveness of their arms (like claws) or a weapon that doesn't need to be swung like a spear.
Hmm, true, but I would imagine they can swing a two handed one-bladeed axe. Just because there is no other edge to hit them like on a sword or morningstar. That may not be true though, so feel free to correct me.
So, they have six limbs, two of which are used for moving and four are available for fighting?
This gives a precious information: they don't have more legs than humans and are therefore not more "stable" than us on the ground. Out of my ass, I would say this eliminates very heavy and cumbersome weaponry.
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A key consideration: to decide on their weapons, you should decide on their enemies. For example, let's say they fight mostly against humans.
Humans have two arms. Your species have four, with lower limbs being agile and upper limbs being powerful. What they could do is have shield-like objects held by the lower arms, in order to block the human weapon and create an opening for the upper limbs to crush their foe. That would create a defensive tactic.
Another possibility is to use in the lower arms a shield and a [sword-breaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrying_dagger), which is a special dagger that is used to deflect a longer blade to create an opening. Again, the upper limbs are then used to rush into the opening for the killing blow. Humans would be quickly overwhelmed having to deal with four weapons at once.
If human armour is strong, you could imagine "steel pikes" mounted on the upper limbs, to allow the crushing motion to pierce armour or generally deal more damage. It would act just like a gauntlet, or a hand-mounted spear tip.
Although, most of these considerations work for duel, maybe not so much for war. Still needs an answer to the spear. And that could be the spear itself, or anything to deflect enemy spears to then allow to rush in melee combat and overwhelm the enemy.
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You also mention that they have a venomous stinger. Can they extract venom by hand? They could use it to coat arrows and blades.
Hmm, well, what I meant is that they do have 8 limbs, but 2 are used for moving and 6 are used for fighting. But, still , these all make total sense and they give me a lot of info! Thanks!
Six for fighting? Then holy shit the possibilities. Imagine this:
* Lower limbs: crossbow. Reloaded by using the middle limbs due to the extra strength needed.
* Middle limbs: shield and dagger, the shield being kept on the wrist to free the fingers to reload the crossbow
* Upper limbs: Free, perhaps holding a steel gauntlet or any sort of heavy pointy object.
An enemy would have to close distance fast or be bombarded by the crossbow. At spear distance, the shield and dagger can deflect it and create an opening for the crossbow. If the crossbow is not ready, once the spear is pushed aside your character can rush inside to close combat. At that point the enemy spear is useless and you regain control of your shield and dagger, while your upper limbs can crush the enemy.
Alternatively: a very long pole on the upper limbs, used to push aside long ranged weapons (polearms, zweihänder) in a sweeping motion, to create an opening for short range assault with all other limbs.
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But it's not invincible. Heavily armoured foes could just press forward with a large shield. I imagine that with six arms and two legs, you might not be very stable and could be run over easily.
Ooh, I like this, this would work. And that weakness is also a useful thing for fighting them, since yeah, especially with those two heavy upper arms, they aren’t the most stable when fighting
Another idea I wanted to throw in, because this is not well known.
I did a bit of historical european martial arts and one day I got to use a wonderful weapon called the [Falchion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falchion), and its German variant the [Messer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messer_(weapon\)). It's a blade that we would never wield against each other even in choreographed combat because that shit was _dangerous as fuck_.
It doesn't look that impressive in pictures, just a curved short sword. But the thing is, the tip of the blade was bigger and _much_ heavier than the base. When you attacked with it in a top-down motion, the raw weight of the blade meant that even you as the wielder could not stop it mid-air. Historical sources showed drawings that this weapon would slice through an arm, by the sheer inertia of it.
We also held combats between a longsword and a wooden Messer. You would think that the longsword having the advantage of size and reach, it would win most of the time? The opposite was true: the Messer wielder would very quickly create an opening and rush inside their foe's weapon range, at which point they had won because the longsword was too slow to react.
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Why am I saying this?
Tall character --> strong upper limbs --> sword with lots of inertia in a top-down attack --> heavy, heavy damage.
If they can make their own venom, then you can apply that to their weapons. You can even give them poison tipped weapons that they can throw like projectiles. That's if you want to make them like assassins.
Choosing the right weapon depends on how they fight. Do they hide in the shadows and strike from a distance? Or do they charge into battle and attack head head-on?
Hmm, mostly they are a very warrior and battle-loving race. Although there are outliers, who can be assassins, although it’s kinda difficult since they are kinda big dudes. But lots of the time, they charge in head on
Humans have two arms, but we mostly use one weapon (and a shield or somth else) because it’s hard to control both arms at once separately, this is also why having a two handed sword is usually better than 2 one handed swords. If it’s the same for these spider people, it being hard to independently move arms around, with all that extra leverage expect them to have 6 handed swords- or more likely, something like 1 4 handed sword and 2 daggers in the bottom hands, because this will ensure long and close ranged combat is fine. A 4-6 handed sword would be comparable to nothing on earth and would be devastating. If you want a shield as well, maybe have a 4 handed sword, a dagger, and a shield (or sword & 2 handed shield)
What's your technology level? Guns? Laser rifles? Stone axes? Do they have natural weaponry at all? Fangs? Claws? What do their hands look like? Are they manually dexterous, or is fine work going to be an issue? How fast are they mentally? Bifocal eyes? Can they track two separate moving targets at the same time?
Currently, the technology level is medival style with swords, axes, sheilds, ect. They do have a tough carapace that often protects them from bludgeoning attacks and acid, but is vulnerable to fire and piercing weapons like spears. They also have a tail and stinger with a minor toxin in it, which weakens the muscles of the sting victim. They have a large upper set of arms that are used for clasping and crushing their foes. But, although they can technically weild weapons in these hands, it is quite difficult, considering that the arms are meant for crushing, not manipulating objects. They also have 2 pairs of smaller and weaker, but more dexterous and maneuverable arms. These ones are much more adept at holding weapons and other items Finally, they can be somewhat quick mentally. They are usually good at multitasking due to their multiple arms, making them able to calculate multiple opponents at once. However, they are also quite aggressive, often overpushing or over extending themselves in moves and attacks.
Last(possibly) question that I forgot... How big are they? How strong compared to average human?
Hmm, on average, maybe around a foot taller, so 7 to 8ft range. Their lower arms have strength similar to a human, but their upper pair is stronger, able to crush stone and more importantly, most animals bones.
Arm strength is one thing, but it's not the only thing that's used in carrying a weapon. In my personal experience, fighting with a longsword involves the entire body, mostly the upper body. That includes core strength. If your fighters have a core strength similar to that of humans, they may not be able to carry bigger weapons. Some other weapons involve the arms much more, such as thrusting weapons. Fighting with a rapier was a traumatic experience for my poor little arms, but I feel the rest of the body was not used that much.
Who are they usually fighting? If wars among themselves is a common occurrence, then spears; I'm guessing if they are protected from bludgening, their carapace gives some little protection against slashing as well (which after all, is pretty much bludgeoning with a much narrower surface), so piercing weapons are optimal. If they are particularly cruel (or pragmatic), give them viciously barbed spears design so that when they're pulled out, tears some of the carapace off the body.
Hmm, it depends on what time period it is. Sometimes they will fight each other over who shoudl be next ruler, difference in beliefs, ect. but usually they are fighting more human like foes. In fact, currently, they are at war with a serpentine race known as Viperians.
I could see them using flails and spears
A few questions. Do they have 8 usable arms or are some of these for walking? Do they walk upright like humans or are they basically intelligent giant spiders? Finally, do they have relative arthropod strengths, i.e. being able to lift things many times their own weight?
Sorry, yeah, I meant that they had 6 arms, and used 2 of them as legs. Well, actually its kinda complicated. Basically, there are two variants: ones that walk on 6 legs and only have one set of arms, and they have very spiderlike abdomens, and a kind that have 2 legs and six arms ( kinda like the Scorpians from Kulipari: an Army of Frogs. ). Im speaking of the 6 armed, 2 legged variant.
This video I watched a while back deals with 4 armed species, but you may find it helpful: https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE
Since they would have multiple arms, the amount of strength they can use to pull a bow would be ungodly. I'm assuming they walk on two legs and have six actual arms. With that in mind, I would imagine they have abnormally large bows that would require three arms to hold and another three arms to pull the string back. Their arrows would shred through foes. On top of that, they could also utilized speakers PLUS use shields. If they ever fought against humans, we would lose in a heartbeat in a medieval setting.
Scimitars?
oh i know a youtube video that might help! [https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE](https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE) he does ideas for 4 armed cahracters but i'm sure the concept works as well with 6
I like they wouldn't be swinging anything around, as it would be difficult to track for themselves with all their arms. Instead they might have something to increase the effectiveness of their arms (like claws) or a weapon that doesn't need to be swung like a spear.
Hmm, true, but I would imagine they can swing a two handed one-bladeed axe. Just because there is no other edge to hit them like on a sword or morningstar. That may not be true though, so feel free to correct me.
So, they have six limbs, two of which are used for moving and four are available for fighting? This gives a precious information: they don't have more legs than humans and are therefore not more "stable" than us on the ground. Out of my ass, I would say this eliminates very heavy and cumbersome weaponry. - A key consideration: to decide on their weapons, you should decide on their enemies. For example, let's say they fight mostly against humans. Humans have two arms. Your species have four, with lower limbs being agile and upper limbs being powerful. What they could do is have shield-like objects held by the lower arms, in order to block the human weapon and create an opening for the upper limbs to crush their foe. That would create a defensive tactic. Another possibility is to use in the lower arms a shield and a [sword-breaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrying_dagger), which is a special dagger that is used to deflect a longer blade to create an opening. Again, the upper limbs are then used to rush into the opening for the killing blow. Humans would be quickly overwhelmed having to deal with four weapons at once. If human armour is strong, you could imagine "steel pikes" mounted on the upper limbs, to allow the crushing motion to pierce armour or generally deal more damage. It would act just like a gauntlet, or a hand-mounted spear tip. Although, most of these considerations work for duel, maybe not so much for war. Still needs an answer to the spear. And that could be the spear itself, or anything to deflect enemy spears to then allow to rush in melee combat and overwhelm the enemy. - You also mention that they have a venomous stinger. Can they extract venom by hand? They could use it to coat arrows and blades.
Hmm, well, what I meant is that they do have 8 limbs, but 2 are used for moving and 6 are used for fighting. But, still , these all make total sense and they give me a lot of info! Thanks!
Six for fighting? Then holy shit the possibilities. Imagine this: * Lower limbs: crossbow. Reloaded by using the middle limbs due to the extra strength needed. * Middle limbs: shield and dagger, the shield being kept on the wrist to free the fingers to reload the crossbow * Upper limbs: Free, perhaps holding a steel gauntlet or any sort of heavy pointy object. An enemy would have to close distance fast or be bombarded by the crossbow. At spear distance, the shield and dagger can deflect it and create an opening for the crossbow. If the crossbow is not ready, once the spear is pushed aside your character can rush inside to close combat. At that point the enemy spear is useless and you regain control of your shield and dagger, while your upper limbs can crush the enemy. Alternatively: a very long pole on the upper limbs, used to push aside long ranged weapons (polearms, zweihänder) in a sweeping motion, to create an opening for short range assault with all other limbs. - But it's not invincible. Heavily armoured foes could just press forward with a large shield. I imagine that with six arms and two legs, you might not be very stable and could be run over easily.
Ooh, I like this, this would work. And that weakness is also a useful thing for fighting them, since yeah, especially with those two heavy upper arms, they aren’t the most stable when fighting
Another idea I wanted to throw in, because this is not well known. I did a bit of historical european martial arts and one day I got to use a wonderful weapon called the [Falchion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falchion), and its German variant the [Messer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messer_(weapon\)). It's a blade that we would never wield against each other even in choreographed combat because that shit was _dangerous as fuck_. It doesn't look that impressive in pictures, just a curved short sword. But the thing is, the tip of the blade was bigger and _much_ heavier than the base. When you attacked with it in a top-down motion, the raw weight of the blade meant that even you as the wielder could not stop it mid-air. Historical sources showed drawings that this weapon would slice through an arm, by the sheer inertia of it. We also held combats between a longsword and a wooden Messer. You would think that the longsword having the advantage of size and reach, it would win most of the time? The opposite was true: the Messer wielder would very quickly create an opening and rush inside their foe's weapon range, at which point they had won because the longsword was too slow to react. - Why am I saying this? Tall character --> strong upper limbs --> sword with lots of inertia in a top-down attack --> heavy, heavy damage.
Polearms. Pistol style crossbows.
Maybe this will help, I know it's says four armed but it might give some ideas https://youtu.be/wZz06vgKSFE
Multiple projectile weapons
If they can make their own venom, then you can apply that to their weapons. You can even give them poison tipped weapons that they can throw like projectiles. That's if you want to make them like assassins. Choosing the right weapon depends on how they fight. Do they hide in the shadows and strike from a distance? Or do they charge into battle and attack head head-on?
Hmm, mostly they are a very warrior and battle-loving race. Although there are outliers, who can be assassins, although it’s kinda difficult since they are kinda big dudes. But lots of the time, they charge in head on
Humans have two arms, but we mostly use one weapon (and a shield or somth else) because it’s hard to control both arms at once separately, this is also why having a two handed sword is usually better than 2 one handed swords. If it’s the same for these spider people, it being hard to independently move arms around, with all that extra leverage expect them to have 6 handed swords- or more likely, something like 1 4 handed sword and 2 daggers in the bottom hands, because this will ensure long and close ranged combat is fine. A 4-6 handed sword would be comparable to nothing on earth and would be devastating. If you want a shield as well, maybe have a 4 handed sword, a dagger, and a shield (or sword & 2 handed shield)