Up close and personal with polearms

[adwyn]

One of my players has aproached me about using polearms to threaten both the square adjacent to the PC as well as those normally affected by reach weapons - my original decision was no solely for game balance reasons, however he has followed up his original request with ample documentation from reliable sources.

I am inclined to grant the rquest, but am interested to know how abusive the change would be and what counters/rules should be added. One though is to treat the close attack as a secondary made with a light weapon, similar to using a quarterstaff.

 

[Magic Slim]

I'd say it requires somewhat of an "exotic" feat, pretty much like for the spiked chain. The feat would probably be for all polearms.

The mechanic, in my mind, would be that the wielder would grasp the polearm nearer to the blade or spike to make close quarters attacks. I would rule that in order to use his polearm that way, he'd have to have free space behind him (or at least opposed, from him, to the space in which the wielder would want to make an attack):

M: Monster
P: Polearm-wielder
S: Space

MPS

If S is occupied by something that doesn't occupy the totality of the place, I could rule that P could use his pole-arm up close still with a -4 penalty. If there's a wall in S, then he can't do it. If there's nothing there, no problem.

Slim

 

[Xeriar]

Well, often times shorter (ie, 8 feet or less) two-handed pole-arms will have a butt thrusting hold / spike.

From my (only so authentic) experience, dealing with opponents in close quarters is rather difficult. Maybe call it a feat (may use reach weapons to threaten ajacent squares).

 

[paulewaug]

I am not entirely opposed to the idea of allowing the short range use of reach pole arms.
Although I do think that they would be kind of awkward so I would probably just apply the "not proficient" weapon penalty of -4 to attack rolls made in this manner.

I thnk this makes it useable but keeps it simple, and then of course you Could allow a special Feat to be taken to offset this.

And possibly limit the damage to d6 bludgeoning as a staff, but this need not be necessary. Keeping it simple is usually the best option.

 

[Aaron2]

One of my players has aproached me about using polearms to threaten both the square adjacent to the PC as well as those normally affected by reach weapons - my original decision was no solely for game balance reasons, however he has followed up his original request with ample documentation from reliable sources.

I'd love to see this documentation. Can you post some?


Aaron

 

[FrankTrollman]

From a game balance standpoint - the Spiked Chain is able to attack at reach and normal distances. It is very comparable to the Guisarme except for that. So if you allow the Spiked Chain, there's no reason why you couldn't spend a feat to choke up on any other polearm weapon.

And so I made the feat:

Choke Up
Prerequisites: BAB +1
Benefit: You may choose to attack opponents with reach weapons as if they were not reach weapons. You threaten opponents both with your normal and enhanced reach.

If you hold that an Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat for the Spiked Chain is balanced, this feat is also balanced.

-Frank

 

[Crothian]

I'd add the prerequite of being profecient in the weapon personally

 

[Norfleet]

I'd allow it without the use of a feat, but changing the grip on the weapon would require at least a free action, which means it can't be done in a reactive manner: You have to wait until your turn.

Of course, it's also kind of funny that a person can advance into the reach of a pikeman, take an AoO which hits and impales him, and keep moving on down the pike without having to stop and pull it out or anything. You'd think that movement would be stopped by getting impaled on a pike.

 

[Crothian]

Well, being hit is not being impaled. Even a critacl doesn't assume an imbaling. So, no need to worry about that.

 

[adwyn]

I'd love to see this documentation. Can you post some?


Aaron

I'll see if I can this weekend. He obtained portions of two texts. The first is labeled as being 17th century Spanish and contains five or six poor woodcuts showing various poses including two involving striking at close targets with the butt of the weapon. The second is from a 1920's reproduction of a German text that has several more illustrations clearly showing the weapon - some type of pole axe or halberd being used up close, both by grasping the weapon at mid length and by using the butt end for what appears to be a sweeping attack at the legs.