For game purposes a spatha is any broad, single-handed strait sword about 3’ long which lacks a true iron pommel. The Roman spatha is the archetype of a variety of similar swords used all around Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East from the last days of the Roman Republic through the first few centuries of the Dark Ages. A spatha is similar to the ‘Viking’ broadsword in that is primarily a cutter with a long, broad blade, but the spatha is fairly stiff, making it better for thrusting, and also more blade heavy. The spatha derives from the La Tene (Celtic) culture, and was adopted by the Romans initially as a sidearm for cavalry. During certain military reforms of the early Imperial period it was adopted by infantry in order to help Roman Legionnaires cope with the increasing numbers of Scandinavian and Germanic tribes they encountered such as Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Vandals, Burgundians and Franks who used these spatha type sword extensively. This type of sword remained in use in a variety of relatively similar forms into the late Migration Era.

Name	Size	Reach	Speed	Defense	Base Damage	Attack Types	Primary Attack Types	Armor Pierce	Grapple	Hardness	HP
Sword, spatha	M	3	2	1	1-8	SCP	CP	0	0	9	4

Spatha replica, based on the bog find at Illerup Ådal, Denmark, 3rd Century AD


Gold hilted Spatha sword, Northern Germany, 2nd Century AD (excavated)


Replica Roman Spatha, 2nd Century AD