As the formal judicial combat of the high middle-ages began to give way to the unregulated private duels in the mid-16th century, the rapier was eveloped from older cut-and-thrust types as the weapon of choice for dueling. The rapier was a very long, double-edged, slender, single-hand thrusting sword, usually featuring a complex hilt. It is unknown whether the true rapier was first developed first in Italy or Spain, but it soon became popular all over the Mediterranean and then across Europe (England was one of the last countries to adopt the deadly new weapon). It is related to slightly less specialized types such as the espada ropera (see Sidesword) which continued to exist alongside the rapier for decades if not centuries. In role playing games, the rapier is often confused for the smallsword, which was a very different weapon from a later era, see Smallsword.

Name	Size	Reach	Speed	Defense	Base Damage	Attack Types	Primary Attack Types	Armor Pierce	Grapple	Hardness	HP
Sword, rapier	L	6	3	2	1-6	SP	P	1	0	8	3

Early Rapier, Bologna, 1520


Rapier, Rome, 1590