# Balance: machete vs tanto

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [October 12, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362 "2017-10-12T15:25:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![druidniam](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/druidniam/32/1368_2.png) [@druidniam](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/druidniam)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/21 "2017-11-19T04:13:24Z")

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> [@TooDAMNMuch](#):
>
> good to know, seems almost everything that can have lore uses it’s own slightly modified variant of original (read: brain is the only important thing) zombies to varying degrees, hell even the movies can’t keep the rules straight.

Probably because zombies originated in Haitian folk lore.

Edit: The Modern Zombie apparently was based off the original I am Legend novel. TIL

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/22 "2017-11-19T09:46:51Z")

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> [@druidniam](#):
>
> Probably because zombies originated in Haitian folk lore.
> 
> Edit: The Modern Zombie apparently was based off the original I am Legend novel. TIL

Huh. I knew about Haitian folklore being the origin, but now I have to go read I Am Legend. I learned something today.

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**Author:** ![Solusphere](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/solusphere/32/66_2.png) [@Solusphere](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Solusphere)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 9:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/23 "2017-11-19T09:55:12Z")

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> [@druidniam](#):
>
> Edit: The Modern Zombie apparently was based off the original I am Legend novel. TIL

Could I get a source on that? From what I remember, the I Am Legend creatures had more in common with ghouls or vampires than modern zombies. They weren’t at all mindless, just very aggressive and predatory. That was one of the main points of the book, which the movie completely failed to capture.

The most influential inspiration for the modern zombie is usually stated to be the 1968 Night of The Living Dead movie.

EDIT: I looked it up, and apparently Night of the Living Dead was partially inspired by I Am Legend. The fact remains though that the I Am Legend creatures only loosely resembled zombies, and it was the Night of the Living Dead that really served as the inspiration for the mindless, cannibalistic, shambling undead seen in later works.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/24 "2017-11-20T00:25:46Z")

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Yeah, I Am Legend is about vampires, with a scientific basis. It’s fantastic by the way, none of the movies really do it justice. It’s pretty short, so if you’ve got an afternoon, give it a read.

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**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/25 "2017-12-09T23:02:02Z")

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Knives, particularly the combat knife, is pretty good if you learned Silat or took it at game-start.

And it’s worth carrying a butcher’s knife in an ankle sheath, just to make butchering zombonis more efficient and effective than doing it with your primary blade - assuming you’re not maining like, a spear or something, which makes it mandatory if you want to chop up zomboni.

It’s probably not worth carrying a butcher’s _and_ a combat if you’re a silatist, though. At least, not unless dual-wielding is implemented.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/26 "2017-12-10T02:30:28Z")

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A hunting knife is actually better for carving up “zombonis” than a butcher knife. Only five points better, but that’s still handy when you want to cut up that spitter before the necromancers get over to you.

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**Author:** ![DeWolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@DeWolf](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DeWolf)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 2:33am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/27 "2017-12-10T02:33:49Z")

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Wait butcher quality affects speed? I thought it affected your chances of getting butcherables.

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**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/28 "2017-12-10T02:36:46Z")

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I… thought it did, but now that you mention, that might be a brain fart.  
If it doesn’t, I gotta say I feel like it ought to have some effect on time, since I can’t see it taking the same time to cut up a zombie with a pocket knife as it does with a big honking bowie knife.

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**Author:** ![TheKobold](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thekobold/32/513_2.png) [@TheKobold](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheKobold)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/29 "2017-12-10T03:11:49Z")

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Survival affects amount of butcherables. Butcher quality is speed.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShadowDragon8685](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@ShadowDragon8685](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ShadowDragon8685)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/30 "2017-12-10T13:00:55Z")

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Wait, what? A hunting knife is better than a gigantic honking meat cleaver at carving up a corpse?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mantar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/mantar/32/42_2.png) [@Mantar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mantar)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/balance-machete-vs-tanto/14362/31 "2017-12-10T19:20:21Z")

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If I ventured a guess, I would figure the logic is that it’s more similar to skinning and dressing a deer than just chopping through bone. The cleaver is excellent, but it’s only so for the brute force parts, not the fine detail bits – but most of the job is brute force parts so it’s only a difference of 25 to 30.

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