(01-08-2015, 03:32 PM)Gegenji Wrote: Reach was the first to come to mind, which isn't much as you've pointed out, but it does mean he has to exert a lot more energy in crossing distances and getting into that weapon "dead zone." Of course, if I put more thought into it, there's plenty of other things about him that could hinder his combat.
Honestly (and again, this comes from classical fencing, which is a training tool for fighting duels, though the principles do apply to things like military sabre, too), that energy expenditure shouldn't be too much. If you're out of distance with your opponent, then neither of you are in any danger, and you don't have to rush. Once your opponent enters into their distance, then they can (theoretically) hit you while you can't hit them. That's the only point where you'd want to close quickly, and that's a pretty small distance to close.
Classical fencing (and duel fighting, especially in Spain, Italy and France) were based around adherence to the "virtue" of disdain*: It's not enough to defeat your foe, you have to make it look like you didn't even have to try. Consequently, a lot of fencing masters (and these were people who used the techniques to fight duels - it was not yet a sport at that time) spent a lot of time working out the most efficient ways of doing things.
*I love that about the art, by the way. Other martial arts adhere to hard work, or honor, or other crap like that. We have disdain...
