It seems to me that sparring weapons are too deadly. I don't see a big difference in the damage done by a sparring weapon and a normal weapon of similar size/type (smaller swords, short spears, cudgels etc.) and I think they should be less lethal. These weapons are constructed to be rubbish for dealing damage, they're blunt, padded and light-weight.
My PC is in a clan where he spars regularly. He has a really high strength, and with my sparring clubs he often knocks people unconcious in 3 blows. That was funny the first couple of times, but now it's getting silly because he can't get much sparring done when people are out cold after a few seconds.
Would it be reasonable to either make sparring weapons less deadly, or to allow players the ability to not attack with their full strength? It makes sense to me that if I'm twice as strong as your average Joe, I won't hit my sparring partner over the head as hard as I possibly can, but the code doesn't care much.
While the ability to hit softer wouldn't go unappreciated, lessening the damage is a no-no. The reason sparring swords hurt so much is to discourage the concept of fighting from dawn to dusk. IF and ONCE combat starts to tire out the PC, sparring weapons should be reduced in damage.
Until then, they'll stay the same.
And no, they don't hurt nearly as bad as a weapon does. While I've had characters damage someone for a third of their HP in one deadly blow, I've had characters one-hit kill with a real blade.
Actually the concept of sparring weapons is not exactly giving less damage. They RP-wise are made for not causing real woulds. That's the reason they are called sparring weapons.
There are other ways to reduce the damage you deal with sparring weapons - and like you said, you have really high str, imagine what the damage with a real weapon would be like...
And remember, if they black out, it's the stun damage that happens, not actual damage to the hp. It's the thing with clubs that they do an extremely high amount of stun damage in addition to the damage they do to hp.
Spar with only one weapon. If that still beats your opponent to pulp, use only one weapon in your off-hand - the problems this leads to can be easily dealt with through the code we got.
Why not just switch to a sparring weapon that doesn't do as much stun damage when you spar with it? I mean, you pretty much know what's going to happen with the club type weapons.
Switching sparring weapons isn't a solution, as suggested using one club, or using one in your off-hand doesn't fix the problem.. then perhaps your character is far to advanced for his/her sparring partner and you should resort to working a different tactic or perhaps focus on teaching your sparring partners things until a stronger sparring buddy comes along that can take your beating. Maybe your char thinks that because he beats the shit out of all his partners he should not focus on offense as much and work some defense, ep a shield and work that.. practice unarmed.. practiced various special attacks and whatnot.