The following is a basic guide to available weapons in the game. However this is not the limit of available weapons merely guidelines and suggestions. You may choose to go with a less conventional armament or even carry no weapon at all.

It's been said "Anything can be a weapon if you swing it right" but most every kind of weapon can be devided into a handfull of categories.

• Bludgeons
  In short a blunt hard object. Things such as clubs, great mauls, warhammers, and staves fall into this category. They can't cut through an enemy but rather they can crush with tremendous amounts of force when used in the propper hands. Short staffs and clubs are light weight and easy to use for those not skilled with weapons.
• Edged
  The most obvious among these is the sword but, other great weapons of the battlefield also fall under this category, including knives, daggers, axes, and anything else you can sharpen. The larger bladed weapons require skill to use and without a swordsman class they pose as much danger to the user as they do to the oponent. However smaller weapons such as daggers, and maces can be easily used by most anyone given their light weight.
• Pole arms
  The hybrid of a staff and a bladed weapon a pole arm covers Spears, Halberds, lances, javelines, and pole-axes among others. They produce tremendous power upon impact piercing even armored targets and provide more range than a sword. Though they are better left to skilled melee fighters. In every way superior to other melee weapons in the open field there is one major limitation to a pole arm. In confined areas they become useless allowing an oponent with a smaller more conveniant weapon to take advantage.
• Flails
  These are the strangest and most difficult to weild of all weapons but posessing no single solid form they are also the most versetile. Included among flails are the three section staff, a nearly impossible to use weapon except to the most skilled of warriors, the morning star a weapon capable of crushing heads and armor alike with a great spike ball on a chain, a simple chain whip its self or bladed chain whips, as well as chain and sickle weapons. Difficult to use but posessing great range and potential in the right hands. Of course the most obvious of all flails is the preffered weapon of the belmont clan the whip.

• Throwing
  This category is obvious. Anything you can pick up and hurl at the enemy is a throwing weapon. Knives would be the most obvious of throwing weapons.
  
• Bows
  A simple string and piece of flexible wood can produce such power. the horse bow is simple, easy to maintain and fires off light arrows quickly and accurately. The Longbow can fire enormous arrows both straight or lobbed overhead and produces enough power to pierce armor and shields. This weapon is the very reason why knights stopped bothering to wear armor. Finally the crossbow uses complex mechanisms to wind a small bow very tense and shoot with accuracy while being tiny and conveniant to carry.
  Rate of fire is as follows for bows.
  Light Bows and horse bows: 1 arrow every 2 seconds
  Light Crossbows: 1 arrow every 2 seconds
  Longbows: 1 arrow every 4 seconds
• Fire Arms
  The gun is considered the devil and savior alike in the eyes of history, supreme on the battlefield with greater range and power than any bow. However rapid fire weapons aren't available. The brass casing has been invented recently allowing loading to be done quickly without the trouble of ball and powder, however paper cartrige and precussion cap ammunition is also common. Only a marksman may start with a gun.
  More modern guns include the following.
  Shotguns: Reliable weapons that come in single and double barrel verieties and pack a lot of power but not much accuracy. They can fire both weaker scattershot type ammunition and more potent "slugs" which are more traditional solid bullets.
  Rifles: The rifled barrel gives this weapon tremendous accuracy at long range.
  Repeater rifles: Similar to a normal rifle repeater rifles have internal magazines which carry 8 bullets at once. However the bullets are smaller and less potent than those of traditional one shot rifles.
  Elephant gun: An enormous unweildy and innacurate thing. This huge gun has so much power that it's known to throw it's user off his feet with each shot. A double barreled gun that fires an enormous bullet at a speed fast enough to penetrate even the tough hide of elephants and rhinos. It can be fired one or both barrels at a time.
  Revolvers: The traditional six shooter handgun popular in america. A weapon easilly concealed and fired with a single hand, with reasonable accuracy. They come in many sizes and calliburs, though higher callibur bullets, while more powerful, have more kick which means a trade off against accuracy.
  
  There are of course older verieties of guns available if you should choose. If your choice of gun is outside what is listed here contact a game master directly and discuss its historical accuracy.
  

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  Holy Weapons
  Only a few classes can even use holy weapons. These weapons are intended specificly to combat the darkness and won't have much use on anything but monsters. As they are powered by holy magic, only the few classes capable of unlocking the spells placed upon them can actually make use of them.
• Throwing Dagger
  A simple knife, not too effective on its own. However given that it's easy to throw priests comonly bless these in large numbers to aid the agents of the church and their allies. As such these daggers inflict far more damage than the physical blow they deal. Injuries inflicted on vampires by these weapons won't heal in battle.
• Throwing Axe
  Akin to the throwing dagger these larger axes weighted specially to be thrown. These too are blessed by a priest. They inflict far more damage than a dagger, and like daggers vampires won't heal as quickly from the damage inflicted. A few blows from this weapon can take down most foes with the gaping wounds it deals. However it's larger and heavier than a dagger meaning it's more difficult to carry a large number of them.
• Holy Water
  Attacking with devine power its self holy water is considered the most useful of weapons. Carried in a small glass vial holy water when splashed even in tiny droplets on a monster or other evil being will cause them to burst into holy flames.
• Cross
  A blessed holy symbol that repels vampires. No vampire can touch ore come near a cross. It's more a defensive item than anything else.
  
  Other
• Wooden Mallet and Stake
  This is a weapon specificly made to defeat vampires. A wooden spike and a heavy hammer to drive it through a ribcage. Not useful in the heat of combat but it is capable of finishing off a vampire by driving it through their heart. Becauseit is made of wood it is an excellent conductor of spiritual energy, and is the most powerful, but also most unwieldy of holy weapons.
• Garlic laurels
  Like the cross this isn't actually a weapon, as it is a defensive measure. Just several cloves of garlic strung into a loop. A powerful smell that lycanthropes and vampires despise, and won't go near. But other than its smell a garlic laurel has no other powers. Although it's said they go well in your soup.
• The Good Book
  Holy texts may be useless in a fight but stand out as the ultimate weapon against evil if employed correctly.
• Silver Stakes: These are blessed stakes made of steel, silver plated, and dipped in blessed murcury. They are longer and sharper than wooden stakes, allowing them to be thrust with the hand. While less powerful than wooden stakes, Silver stakes are more versetile as they're effective on, not only vampires, but also lycanthropes, and a host of other unholy monsters. Silver stakes are the one exception to the rule of holy weapon exclusivity and can be used by any class, due to a good deal of their potency being the materials they're made of rather than the magic working upon them, however they will have the added holy effect only when used by an occultist or slayer. They can only be held by humans. Non humans will find the stakes quickly burning through their hand if they try to use them.

Of course there are oddballs that a creative player might think up which could defy all of these categories.