Editing Mace (section)

==Maces in Fantasy==
Maces have been largely stereotyped as a brutish weapon in fantasy, and are thus the common go-to weapon for the large ogre-and-troll types. It's also a symbol of strength for characters, so maces (more commonly, warhammers) are also sometimes given to stoic warriors.

This stigma is due to their use: maces require a degree of strength to effectively crush their opponents. This is perfect for the absurdly muscular bloodthirsty monster who can just flail his arms around and he can swat away fighters left and right, or for the strong warrior who can put his entire strength behind the weapon to crush his opposition in a single blow.

Earlier editions of ''[[D&D]]'' included injunctions against holy men bearing bladed weapons, based in part on real life taboos about clergy being banned from "shedding blood"; as maces use blunt force trauma to kill, [[Rules lawyer|they were free game]] for any bishop with a militaristic bent to wield, so [[clerics]] that couldn't use spear and swords and such generally settled for maces and warhammers. Even now, maces remain on the "simple" weapons list for any cleric that would prefer not to use their deity's "favored weapon" for whatever reason.

{{MedievalWeaponry}}