D&D 5E Glaive vs. Halberd - what's the difference?

Yes, I know there really IS a difference - but in my 5e PH, both are listed with identical stats... cost 20 GP, 1d10 Slashing, weight 6 ibs, Heavy, Reach, Two-handed. Why? Is this a mistake?

Probably, some dudes like glaives, some dudes like halberds. I say let whatever polearm orientation you go for is fine as since at the end of the day orcs are still dead.

Elderbrain said:

Yes, I know there really IS a difference - but in my 5e PH, both are listed with identical stats... cost 20 GP, 1d10 Slashing, weight 6 ibs, Heavy, Reach, Two-handed. Why? Is this a mistake?

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Nope no difference at all.

The weapon list is kinda wonky, just look at spear and trident
Spear, simple weapon so easier to use, costs 4 gp cheaper, and weights 1lb less.
But they do the same damage, same type of damage, work underwater the same, have the same range, and other properties.

So the only person who uses a trident is someone with martial weapon training but has extra money to throw away on having two more pointy bits attached to their spear.

I like the notion/precedent. Not every synonym for "weapon" needs its own stat block. No need for "falchion", "falcata", "lucerne hammer", and so on and so on.

The implication being that if you're enough of a weapons nerd to know about the more obscure weapons, the game trusts you enough to find something comparable in the existing list and match stats.

Just part of the overall, and grand, trend in 5E of telling players to use their own judgement.

I'm guessing it's to (1) allow backward compatibility, and because (2) balance is over-rated. Also, (3) katanas.

(1) Earlier editions featured tridents. Lizard Kings used 'em (Hail Sakatha!), and there were magical tridents of submission and tridents of warning. Same with pole-arms. There were more types of pole-arms in 1e than playable character races. Heck, Gary Gygax wrote an essay on them (see appendices, 1e Unearthed Arcana). So, people converting earlier modules, or retro-jigging 5e to make it more like 1e, need some kind of a guide.

(2) Not every weapon needs to be mechanically balanced. They certainly weren't in earlier editions. Longsword was king in 1e. You'd have to be playing it purely for flava reasons to be picking a... say... pick [military pick]. Or horseman's mace. Or bec-de-corbin. I mean... there are reasons why medieval armies in our own world weren't marching to war with tridents. But tridents are flavorsome for your aquatic races. I don't care if a merfolk needs to spend +4gp for his trident! He's going to be using a trident because he'll just look kind of naff with a spear.

(3) Finally, and specifically referencing halberd vs glaive, I think it's the designers way of saying: "It's a long stick with a metal slicey bit on the end. Get over it." And I support that 100%. Personally, I really wished they had included a katana on the weapons list as well. 1d8 slashing damage, versatile (1d10), 3 lbs, 25gp. In other words, identical to a longsword, but +10 gp pricier. Because it's just a sword.

Mechanically? Zilch. They're identical.

In terms of what they actually are, a halberd is a battleaxe on a stick; a glaive is a shortsword on a stick.

Paraxis said:

So the only person who uses a trident is someone with martial weapon training but has extra money to throw away on having two more pointy bits attached to their spear.

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Or someone who cares a lot less about a couple gp difference for a visual theme that he or she really likes.

Shocking that people would game like that, I know...

Ah, this takes me back to 1E weapon lists. Gliave guisarme halberd bec de corbin ranseur fauchards lucerne voulge bardiches. Or something!

EDIT - found this online:

Dausuul said:

In terms of what they actually are, a halberd is a battleaxe on a stick; a glaive is a shortsword on a stick.

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Sir, you have a clarity with descriptions.

Sacrosanct said:

Or someone who cares a lot less about a couple gp difference for a visual theme that he or she really likes.

Shocking that people would game like that, I know...

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But if you care about visual themes, just let your players refluff what things look like, so a spear can have extra pointy bits, a crossbar like a boars spear, or made of crystal, all kinds of things.