A short, heavy, single-edged sword, with a broad, slightly curved blade, tapering away from the cutting edge. Probably derived from the saber and / or a variety of medieval European single edged swords such as the messer, the short falchion or storta, the dussack, the Italian coletasso etc, unlike these earlier weapons the cutlass features a cup hilt or a knucklebow to protect the hand, considerably enhancing its defensive value. The cutlass was used by infantry as well as sailors, pirates, and marines, they could be wielded in tight spaces and were also useful on board ships for cutting ropes, canvas, wood etc. This is a simple chopping weapon primarily, with a secondary thrusting capability. Cutlasses from the Early Modern era (depicted here) featured cup-hilts and had excellent hand protection, earlier forms usually had some form of complex hilts (2/3/3) and even the Medieval dussack had a kind of built-in knucklebow (2/3/2).

Name	Size	Reach	Speed	Defense	Base Damage	Attack Types	Primary Attack Types	Armor Pierce	Grapple	Hardness	HP
Sword, cutlass	S	2	3	2	1-6	SCP	C	0	0	10	6

A Naval ‘Dussack’ from Norway, 18th Century with a cup hilt. This is a type of cutlass. With this complex hilt, it would be a 2/3/3 weapon.