Hilt

A Hilt (also called Handguard, Crossguard or quillon) is a piece of many swords and knives, sometimes other weapons.
They are discussed in GURPS Low-Tech:
*pg 54 describes a "round handguard" as a rondel
*pg 55 mentions bokkens sometimes have leather or wood handguards (but not always)
*pg 56 mentions an "edged handguard for punching" but doesn't elaborate on the stats
*pg 58 says lances usually have a handguard
*pg 61 gives +2 vs disarming if the handguard/pommel combo are discs locking into a DR4+ gauntlet
*pg 64 says lacking a handguard gives -1 to parry
*pg 75 says throwing knives tend to lack them
Low-Tech Companion 2 (Weapons and Warriors) discusses a basket hilt on page 15's right column. It adds DR in addition to glove DR.
The term hilt is used on 15's left column:
:A weapon’s hilt serves mainly to protect the wielder’s hands when parrying. Not all weapons have or need a hilt
This means GURPS uses the term more specifically to refer to a guard. In common parlance it can sometimes have a broader usage, which can be confusing. For example, Wikipedia:hilt:
:The hilt (rarely called the haft) of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel.
:The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons.
:A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.
Other terms of note include:
#a chappe (a rain-guard)
#a ricasso (non-sharp region for holding/parrying near base)
#a fuller (hollow in the flat for blood drain, reducing friction/sucking of insert/withdraw, and lightening the weapon)
Tang refers to the metal part of the blade underneath the padded handle and guard, while the shoulder refers to where a sword widens from a round length to a flattened sharp length past where the guard would be.
True edge and false edge are terms which apply to blades only sharpened on one side: the "true" edge cuts while the "false" edge is blunt
*with curved swords, the false edge is the side which the sword curves toward (concave curve) and the true edge is the side which the sword curves away from (the convex curve)
*a double edged sword basically has two "true edges" while a blunt training sword has two "false edges"
**the fictional "reversed sword" used in Rurouni Kenshin swaps the usual true/false orientation on curved swords, with true/cutting being concave and false/blunt being convex. This is similar to a scythe
***This is cinematic in nature since this would put excess stress on most swords, making them likely to break when delivering swing-crushing attacks with the false/blunt/convex end. Only unusually strong swords could bear that.
Forte refers to the strong proximal half of the sword while debole refers to the weak distal half of the sword.
A knuckle guard or sweepings can be part of a guard.
A turks head knot might be used to attach a pommel.
==Crossguard==
A crossguard (also known as a quillon) is a protective bar at angles to the blade, to protect the wielder's hand. It is referred to as a "hilt" in LTC 3: Weapons and Warriors, although this term is synonymous with the handle itself, and can result in ambiguity.
== See Also ==
* Swords
==Trivia==
All the other "armor" type of guards use a space between the hit location they protect and "guard", they are not a single word like handguard.
Category:Melee Weapons