What would be the ideal melee weapon made of "Phase Metal"?

Question

Phase Metal is a material that is functionally similar to steel but can pass through its user (a single person bound to the metal when it is forged into a new form.) as if it didn't exist. Phase metal interacts with all other things normally.

If a person holds a phase weapon that is attuned to them, they must hold it by part of the weapon not made of phase metal. The metal still has weight for its user. The handles of Phase Metal tools and weapons tend to be of wood or other non-phase metal materials so that they can be held by their user at all.

A phase weapon can only be distinguished from ordinary steel if it comes in contact with its user and passes through. Phase weapons interact with armor and clothing normally; a phase metal hammer used against its owner would still deal some amount of blunt damage if it struck armor or clothing, but would not deal damage to exposed skin.

What melee weapons would uniquely suited for this metal? What stylistic modifications could be made to a phase metal weapon that would enable it to beat someone using its normal steel equivalent? Is there a best possible melee weapon for this type of metal?

Answer 1

Chain Whips and Meteor Hammers (and some specially crafted armor)

Both weapons have techniques similar to nunchucks but with the added flexibility of length. There are still catches and pivots that involve the weapons, but that's where the specially crafted armor comes in. Instead of the traditional pivot points for these weapons, such as arms and legs for redirecting or acceleration, each piece of a user's armor can be crafted as not only protection, but specific pivot points for unique moves.

For example, having a shoulder pauldron but no chest plate could allow a user to sling the whip or hammer over the shoulder, swinging the weapon through the body, and redirecting it to come directly out of the chest of the user. Having a partial shin guard, the user could commit to or feign a pivot around the leg by adjusting slightly directing the chain to either hit the guard and rotate or barely miss it and pass through the leg; the same thing could be done with a gauntlet or bracer.

You could even have masters of specific techniques identifiable by what armor pieces they use or how the armor is crafted.

Answer 2

Outside-in armor.

Armor is bulky, which sucks. No-one can tell how hard you have been working out when you have on all your armor.

Phase metal can be used to make inside out armor. You can wear your skin tight fightin' leotard that shows your calves and stuff. All the armor plates are on the inside of the leotard which means they are phased thru your body. You can ninja around looking svelte and arrows will not puncture your gut.

Arrows probably will still break the skin, so you will bleed some. Which will look tough and the people you are fighting might not figure out you are armored.

The physics of getting hit with a hammer are tough for me. I think if you have an internal plate of phase metal armor attached to a leotard and it gets hit by a hammer, the plate will get unattached and fly through your body until it hits the plate on the opposite side. That is good because none of the kinetic energy goes toward rupturing your spleen. But that loose piece of phase armor will might bounce around inside you and then wind up hanging down through your body at some weak spot. That might mess up the lines of your leotard or even rip a hole which would then have a piece of armor hanging out. You would need to tuck it back in with a special tucking stick, since you can't grab it.

You might be able to pick out people wearing internal phase metal armor because they would also have a tucking stick on their person, unless they kept it disguised inside the leotard somewhere.

Answer 3

Shields.

The problem with nunchucks and other weapons made out of phase metal is at most techniques in using them actually require the wielder's body to be solid; one often uses (say) the armpit to land the chain, causing the free arm to swing up to grab easily to switch hands mid-combat. Also, if the phase metal passes through the body, you'd never be able to grip the thing in the first place.

A shield on the other hand has a grip inside it that can be safely made of another metal and welded into the base of the shield, meaning you can always grip it. But more importantly, a shield that is a large circle (for instance) can be wielded as a weapon, especially with the flat edge, if you're not constantly trying to get your head or the rest of your body out of the way.

More importantly, one of the chief limitations on shield size is the fact that it can't be awkward to work around when trying to dodge missiles or instigate your own attacks. Part of that is that the bigger the shield, the less range of angle you have to wield it because it keeps banging either your shins or your head. So, this phase metal means that a larger shield can be brought up on steeper angles by 'ignoring' your head or shins, making it more effective in that regard but also useful as an offensive weapon that can be struck out almost horizontally because your body is no longer in the way.

From a tactical perspective, this has another benefit; if you drop the shield in battle and your enemy picks it up, he can't use it to strike you and you can punch him through it every time.

In short, a shield made out of phase metal is the best of both worlds; it's a more agile shield and also a pretty good melee weapon.

Just one final word of warning though; this kind of shield makes phalanx tactics obsolete, unless the shield is trained to ignore your entire platoon, not just yourself.

Answer 4

caltrops or some other mine-like weapon that you could spread while ninjaing in, and then just happily run over when ninjaing back out. Not really "melee" but close.

Answer 5

Frame Challenge: Show/Training Weapons instead of serious weapons.

Forge phase metal blades of normal weapons to use for nobles in their duels. They can fight all out and not have to worry about injuring their opponent or losing face. Gladiators fighting without blood spectacle would also be possible and could be scored on a points system for number of time a blade passes through the opponents body.

Training can be much more rigorous if you don't have to worry about maiming your soldiers. It will be much more than just going through the motions.

Answer 6

Dagger pin Make a dagger almost entirely out of phase metal except for a small pin. Conceal the dagger in your body and attach the pin in you hair or to you clothing to hold it in place. You could get through a pat down and no one would know that you are armed.

Spear

Fight in two lines, the front line is bare chested an fights with spear or sword, and the back line fights with phase metal through the torso of the front line.

Now your enemies need to fight 2 weapons and 2 people at once.

Surgical tools It could be an amazing medical tool. You could do some types of surgery or scanning with out opening up a person. Does phase metal pass through infected tissue, tumors, foreign objects....?

Answer 7

Most meele weapons rely on the user's ability to touch any part of it. For classical weapons, make the blade phased but have a spine that can be touched by the user. That way, a double edged sword doesn't feel so double eged anymore but can be pushed at its end to greatly increace force.

But we can take this further: Build a staff that is sourrounded by phased blades. The wielder's hands are mostly safe since the blades reach further than them. Normally when fighing against staffs, one tries to (block and) safely grab it and abuse the fact that the attacker holds on to it. But wow your enemies can't do this since they can't safely grab a blade and they can't crush your hands that are safe within the blades (or even a phase metal cylinder around the solid staff but that's going to be quite heavy).

For one handed weapons, just forge a spiked (hollow if you want to save weight) sphere around a solid core (or even gauntlet) so that your hands are completely covered by the sphere. Don't connect them to your vambraces though or you might get disarmed eventually. But that's about it. If you add phased blades to pretty much any weapon (including nunchucks) that would likely cut the user if not phased, you would need to fight naked. Imagine a sword that has a medium sized, solid staff to handle it and has double edged blades pointing in all directions. You could "stab yourself" to reach enemys behind you, spin it around to create a deadly sphere and do many other things that are theoretically possible but humanly impossible to coordinate. There are hundreds of possibilities but most of them can't be used since the weapons grow heavier, you can't use them with armor and most of the moves you can imagine can't be coordinated in the heat of a battle.

To hide a dagger in your body like suggested by sdrawkcabdear would be handy for assasins but if you can't grab the handle, it would be hard to actually use it. [Edit: So be sure to bring gloves or other fabric that allows you to indirectly handle the dagger. Thanks for pointing that out. Now the only problem is to find a spot and size that allows to transport the dagger without hurting yourself with the weight alone.]

[Edit: You might also use this for medicine and/or torture. Make someone forge a long handle and add a solid ball at the end. Insert the ball and perform a haptic gastroscopy/coloscopy - or torture them by forcefully shake the handle or do any number of similar things. I don't want to go into this but the possibilities are only limited by your imaginativeness (and cruelty).]

Answer 8

Finally, those stupid spike-encrusted fantasy weapons make sense!

Just cover your ordinary weapon with spiky phase-protrusions. Nasty, razor-sharp blades all around the hilt? Check! Awkward spikes at places you'd want to shimmy your hand up or down to, for leverage, on that polearm? Check!

Not only to you have the advantage of those nasty spiky bits slashing and tearing and mangling your foe if you happen to land a blow, you also don't have to worry about anyone wresting the weapon from your hands and using it against you. As far as your hands are concerned, it's just a smooth, elegant spear, or sword, or whatever. As far as your foe is concerned, it's an awkward, unwieldable mess. (Watch out, don't let the spikes catch on your armor!)

Answer 9

After reading all the answers, and synergizing a few ideas, I think the best use would be with a team of 2 unarmored fighters with a unique fighting style built on trust. Each would wield a sword attuned to the other. Tactics would involve protecting each other and being able to fight without worrying about hurting each other. This would be amplified with weapons with reach. For example, imagine the whirling dervish of twin halberds. Or two guys dual wielding morning star flails.

Answer 10

A Bo Staff would be amazing. You could add armanents to the ends to make it deadly. Make it extendable so you can shoot it through your body. And make the actual staff have a rough file like texture to rip flesh off your opponents.

Now usually a Bo Staff is used in unarmored situations. As a staff, it isn't really made to pierce or cut you. So Bo Staff wielders will likely be able to have less clothing on them and this gives them more opportunities to pass the actual staff through their torso, arms, head or leg to surprise their opponent. Once you put on amour, your phase weapon is basically a normal weapon because you need to cut through your armor to let it pass your body, or expose parts of your body to the enemy (e.g. Helmet, gauntlets, greaves, chest armor ).

Now if possible, I would of liked to say the double ended Lightsaber from StarWars as that seems like a great weapon when you can't hurt yourself. But you can imagine that no longer needing to worry about cutting or hitting yourself would be a great relief. A Bo staff basically shares the same moves as the Double Ended Lightsaber but it just won't cut through your opponent like that. Having a phasing ability would open up a whole range of moves as you can now shift and swing the staff through your body.

Armor makes the phasing ability mostly redundant. Choose a weapon that doesn't require it and gains a lot of additional flexibility.

Answer 11

Right. everyone is thinking medieval here. I think that's the wrong way to go about it.

My answer is :

Chainsaws

Chainsaws are uniquely positioned in that they're super reckless as weapons, so the point where you're likely to even cut yourself if you're not extra careful. We've all seen the horror movies where the bad guy has a chainsaw, and the good guy hits the chainsaw back into the bad guy, resulting in some timely comeuppance. This could never happen with phase weaponry, allowing you to be as reckless as you wish. What is a quickly moving series of chain links to your foe is but a dull butter knife to you.

Answer 12

Not so much a specific weapon, but this stuff could provide the ultimate hand guard on any weapon. Literally just a big ball of the stuff on the handle so that your hand passes through and holds the actual handle inside and is completely protected. It also means that nobody but you can use the weapon.

If you are able to get metal that is attuned to another person then you can make easily disguised assassin weapons that will only work against that one person. For example, you could encase a stiletto made from normal metal inside a block or bar of phase metal attuned to the victim. It is just a block of metal to anybody who touches it, but if you strike the victim then the outer shell passes through them and the blade inside pokes holes in their body. Instead of a plain block or bar it could be some type of small metal statue or something that can be brought past guards as a harmless gift.

Answer 13

Pretty much any weapon would find a benefit from phase metal. Users could fire phase metal cross-bow bolts through themselves at people behind them without harm. And, they could stab someone through themselves in case they were attacked from behind.

But, assuming everyone is moderate to well-armored, then I think any weapons made with flexible links -- morning stars, flail -- would all benefit from being made out of phase-metal.

This would significantly change how the weapons were used. In the case of a morning star. The user could twiddle the weapons handle in any direction without worrying about where the spiked ball and chain were moving, in relation to their own body. So they could swing the weapons and maintain a high angular velocity --- deterring anyone from closing on them -- until they saw an opening to attack.

Generally speaking, chain-based mass weapons would be used differently. Take the case of nun-chucks. There would be no need to redirect them around the user's body to maintain angular momentum.

I am not clear on how phase-metal weapons interact with phase-metal shields when held by the same user. How this plays out might also significantly change the martial skills involved with those weapons.

Answer 14

Seems mostly useless.

If you encase yourself in a metal bunker, you can't attack from within unless you use your hands..

If you use it as a weapon, the only advantage is if it finds some advantage to go through you--I can't imagine a simple weapon where you could make that matter by enough to make a difference.

A door in a large wall: Nope, you'd have to get naked to run through.

Internal armor with various external mount points is interesting but would be heavy and it would still hurt you a lot to get hit (and you'd tend to bleed) unless it was slightly outside your skin (in which case, how is it better than normal armor?) All the disadvantages of plate (Weight) and more (Skin is still vulnerable if visible). Plus if it took a hit it would distribute the shock to the mount points instead of across the whole side of your body causing do more damage to you because of the concentration than external mail.

It wouldn't even make a good solid cube vault, although you could get into it (naked) you couldn't add or remove anything.

Sorry, can't come up with a single realistic advantage.

Oh, got it! you never said we didn't have new technology: It's not an existing weapon but I'd make a backpack with a motor and a couple large (7' radius?) counter-rotating quad blades that went through my midsection. Not only could nobody get near me without a gun, tilting the blades might let me fly :)

Oh and if you hadn't said it had to be melee weapon I'd say bullets would be a good answer.

Also, smuggling entire items like guns (as long as nobody x-rays you)

Answer 15

Imagine a blade attached to a bracelet...it is only long enough to protrude when you bend your wrist otherwise it is hidden in your hand.

Could be applied in other ways like this with larger weapons...band just below the knee with blade pointing up...do a standard strike with your knee(think Muy Tai) and a blade is the striker..not the knee.

"Beware the person walking with small steps"(small joint movements would keep the blades hidden)

Answer 16

Any poison tipped weapon. The highest risk is accidental self infliction. Imagine a poison tipped ice pick rapier that can't cut you. Or a set of armor with thousands of tiny spikes so you can give poison hugs.

Answer 17

Send an innocent looking messenger to your enemy on the eve of battle with a fabulous Enter-name-of-his-favourite-weapon-here and convince him to wield it against you. As he comes in swinging and sure he's got you pinned, beat him to a pulp through the weapon.

Answer 18

The problem here is that since its a melee weapon you expect to be wearing armor. Only when the skin is bare and unarmored can you use phase metal but that means also exposing your skin to the opposition.

The only option for combat purposes would be armor. One of the biggest problems with armor is how bludgeoning weapons can still effectively hurt you and if the metal warps you are in big trouble. But if you can phase supports through your body you can spread the force over a larger area. Now not just the (regular metal) "top" armor protects you but the armor on the other side helps absorb blows!

The other option is more is more of a sneaky thing. Say smuggling a weapon into a bar or when trying to assasinate someone. All that would be visible would be a piercing or something similar, you use a handle on it and pull the blade out, then connect the handle to the blade. It could be a knife, spearhead or if you can bear the strain on your skin where its carried a small sword.

Answer 19

I don't know what your tech-level is so this might be too modern, but I'm thinking giant circular saw, or possibly just a circular saw motor hooked up to a ring of long swords. You hold the motor in front of you with the axis of rotation roughly vertical (so the plane of the blade rotation passes through you), crank that sucker on high speed and you become just a walking circle of spinning death. You can also turn the motor forwards to block incoming projectiles. You'd obviously need to keep some power source available, spare batteries or gasoline, depending on what it runs on. (Or a really long extension cord if you're just protecting a small area.) Down-side is you have to keep your distance from your friends, but if everybody in your army else was similarly equipped, you could just become a wall of spinning blades with a relatively small number of soldiers covering a wide area.

(If you're sticking to strictly medieval style weaponry, you could just have something crank- or pedal-driven, I suppose.)

Answer 20

I can see this being useful for either offense or defense, but not both at the same time. The main problem is kinetics.

Defense:

There have been plenty of suggestions of internal armor. This is quite clever, but would be difficult to pull off. The armor would need to be anchored to you in some fashion. If hit with a heavy hammer, all of the kinetic energy will end up focused on that anchor.

This means that if the armor was anchored at your wrists, ankles, and/or neck, the entire blow would be focused there. Your armor would need to be made to dissipate that energy quickly like kevlar to prevent serious injury.

If the armor was "worn" inside a thin jumpsuit, that would help keep it in place as well as spread the secondary jolt out across your entire body.

Offense:

I'm picturing a screaming naked person running at me with the blade-iest, deadliest looking spinning monstrosity whirring around and through them. Pure offense to a degree that defense is pretty irrelevant.

Why naked? If they had anything that the weapon could interact with, it would throw them around like a rag doll.

Answer 21

Since your world has magic, find an illusionist to fill the battle field with spinning blade towers. After your enemies advance on the blades and find them to be illusional, they will charge forward until the find you in the center of the field, standing in the middle of a spinning blade tower which is identical to all the rest but is made out of phase metal which is attuned to you. Assuming that your unharmed presence among the spinning blades proves that they are just another illusion, your enemy will charge you fearlessly, feeding themselves to your warrior-sized paper shredder in the process.

Answer 22

Double bladed sword

Ever heard of Dark Maul? As a child, I used to wonder how impractical his weapon must be: You can't make a full swipe of one blade without awkwardly bending to avoid the other. It must have taken years of practice to reach a somewhat adequate level of fighting skill (I.e, enough not to kill yourself while swinging your weapon around).

See where I'm getting at? Let's assume both your blades are made of phase metal, and the handle of regular, just as you mentionned in the question. Comparatively, it's ridiculously easy to learn to twirl a staff. The fact that you are not concerned by the blades offers a whole world of possibility. You can make a wide swipe and still have a blade ready to parry a counter attack - and you do not compromise your stance to do so. You can wield it way closer to your body without restraining your movements (since you won't be accidentally cutting your leg off).

Worst case scenario, you can wield it almost like a normal sword, with just one end sticking through you.

If we're talking about one on one, a double bladed sword where the user does not care about injuring himself would be terrifying. And completely cinematic, though not sure how effective it would prove compared to duel-dedicated style, such as fencing. Lucas choose a kendo-ish style mostly because it was way more visually satisfying. (And it's probably worthless for an army. Completly unwieldy in large groups)

Answer 23

'Magic' is a tag but if modern weapons are a part of the equation then tag teams with the according bullets would probably benefit the most (with magic I personally think of a medieval setting). Person A has bullets that can pass through person B and vice versa. It's difficult to produce those bullets so having them either in special magazines or weapons would probably be common practice. Think about hostage situations... no worries about friendly fire just hit the target behind.

The same goes for non-modern weapons like throwing knives and spears.

The best usage for those weapons would be, again, in teams of two or more (with fitting fighting techniques), really long swords or spears that you can thrash around without worrying of hitting your own people.

In general, very few weapons used by the person attuned to it would get an in combat benefit from those properties. Concealing weapons would be way easier, concealed armour for fast-moving objects, slow ones would push the clothes that the phase-metal is attached through the body of the wearer, completely negating the purpose of armour (the phase metal parts would simply pass through the body, it would be like hitting an empty set of armour).

To digress a little bit: for utility tools, you could probably come up with quite some nice things. Like having a non-phase-metal hook on you and the chain attached to it is simply filling up space where your leg goes.