Why are druids allowed to use scimitars ?

BardsSuck_

Unpopular opinion here:

This doesnt make any sense to me, im thinking every single druid related region in the world, from picts to celts, gauls, to other regions like aztecs or inuit. No one would use scimitars. It doesnt make sense, its like a priest using edge blades.

Is the scimitar the "chaotic" brother of swords ? I dont get the rational.

What is your view of this ?

Valafein

because the scimitar is a weapon with a curved blade and therefore it is traced back to agricultural tools, for example it can be seen as an elongated sickle

BardsSuck_

To call that extrapolation would be a compliment... a battle ready scimitar is quite different from a sickle....

Not convinced personally...but i appreciate your take.

Edit: If it was derived from machetes in jungle....then i might understand, in fact the terrain in BG2 druid stronghold is full of vines and swampy...a machete would make all the purpose to survive in that...

atcDave

Druids in D&D predate anything related to Forgotten Realms by a lot. They were in 1E. I think the flakey connection to sickles actually hits the nail on the head. Origins of these things pretty much always goes back to European mythology, or fiction derived from that (Tolkien). Not sure why they didn’t just define sickle as a weapon all it’s own, but I’ve never doubted that was the intent.

jmerry

And remember, the original designers were a bunch of Midwestern folk in the pre-Internet era. Looking up original sources for any sort of historical accuracy would have been a lot of work, and they didn't do it. Secondhand myths and fiction were all they had to work with as inspiration.