Where are hte polearms?

[Hypersmurf]

Are there any feats similar to "Large and in Charge" that work for normal characters? That feat is great for Large monsters, but it only works for those with a "natural" reach of 10' or more. So a polearm wouldn't count. But do fighters have anything similar?

Check out 'Stand Still' in the XPH. It's a General feat, so it works for fighters with reach weapons.

-Hyp.

 

[boolean]

Are there any feats similar to "Large and in Charge" that work for normal characters? That feat is great for Large monsters, but it only works for those with a "natural" reach of 10' or more. So a polearm wouldn't count. But do fighters have anything similar?

The XPH has Stand Still (No, it's not psionic in any way. I don't know why it's in that book.)

A similar result can be achieved using an appropriate weapon to trip, disarm, or (depending on interpretation) sunder with the AoO.

 

[Hussar]

I like Stephen Erikson's take on battlefield magic. Both armies have cadres of mages whose job is basically to negate the enemy mages. The soldiers are there to protect the mages. When one side's mages fall to the other side's mages, the soldiers are quickly obliterated by the magical might of the winning side.

Very interesting reads.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You've just described what happens when one Aircraft Carrier Strike group fights another one, and one group loses its Aircraft Carrier...

Another, equally modern look at fantasy warfare is Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series0 a fantasy world retelling of WW2- up to and including a "final solution" and "nukes". And since Mr. Turtledove is a history prof, it really rings true.

 

[Andor]

I don't think wizards have quite as much influence on battles as to make them look modern, unless you are in an incredibly high magic world. Your spells effect small areas and run out quickly. If wand and wand users are common place, then it's a different story, but that's not most worlds. A good 'modern magic' soldier would be something like a Ftr 1/ Sor 1 to allow him to use wands, but most NPCs are not supposed to have multiple levels and PC classes.

Having a few mid level wizards would be handy, but not more important than artillery, and artillery has been around as long as warfare has been. (From Greek and Roman scorpians and catapults to modern MGs and howitzers) Those mass pike and musket formations were fighting in a world of cannons and grapeshot. Massing up was still more valuable than dispersing.

If a mass formation is open IE: X-X-X-X where each X and - is a 5' square, then the formation retains all it's utility, but it considerably less vulnerable to fireballs than the XXXX formation most people think of.

Modern battle is really a response to modern communications and aircraft, where any unit that sees a massed enemy unit can call in an airstrike. This requires more magic than anyone but Shark uses for thier fantasy battles. You can fake a gunship or bomber easily enough with a magic carpet and a few mages with wands, but the C3 to direct that carpet is hard to come by in D&D.

 

[Hussar]

Honestly, I think the carrier strike group analogy holds pretty well. Even adding in critters into the equation (after all, giants would be MUCH better than siege weaponry), if one side has magic and the other doesn't, the with magic side is going to win.

 

[Diplomat123]

I think the big change would be the quality of the troops. In the real world the bulk of most armies before gunpowder was made up of levee troops who might have been farming the previous week and went into battle with some form of polearm and no armour (I know there were professional armies as well, but in most early cultures, most people worked on the land or you starved). In a big group these levees could be fairly effective. Once gunpowder became widely used battles were generally won by the side who could mass the most firepower at the vital point and wear the other side down before closing. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that the effect of artillery made the slow advance in a tight formation unworkable.

In a magic world with just a few 5th level casters available low level troops would have very little value. Never mind fireballs and the big stuff. Try a cavalry charge when a druid casts entangle. Should give the defending archers plenty of time for target practice. Or a cause fear cast at a body of advancing 1st level fighters. Only a small group may run from the spell, but if your buddies just turned tail and fled it is likely that the rest of the unit will panic from non magical fear. There are a lot of low level spells that will wreck bodies of level troops.

Effective forces will be relatively high level, with a lot of hitting power. Individual heroes will dominate a battle in a way that has never happened in the real world. Teleport / Dimension Door a few monks on top of the enemy wizards. Make your high level rogue invisible and send him to kill the enemy general. Use tamed flying creatures or magic to give you airborne cavalry to strike fast and unexpectedly.

 

[Umbran]

Partly, through the use of metal gauntlets.

Historically, I believe the typical gauntlet provided hard metal protection to the back of the hand, but the palm-side was still just heavy leather - you get no grip if your palm is covered in hard, smooth metal. They're designed to keep your hands protected from your enemies, not from your own actions.

And partly due to the fact that most swords weren't really all that sharp, except maybe at the point.

I know LARP isn't the best source of 'real world example'...

Also of limited analogy, but still somewhat relevant - I'm slowly learning SCA heavy-list fighting, and I'm starting with a polearm. We find that if he can move, or is protected, a polearm user has good chance against a sword and shield man. In constricted space, teh polearm is at a distinct disadvantage.

So, in melee the typical form is swords in the first rank, and polearms and/or spears in the second rank, where they can hit over or between the shields.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The spells that would have the most effect on fantasy warfare- the ones that would most shape it to resemble modern combat- would be:

1) Area Effect spells- in the RW, area effect attacks were rare until you got true explosives.

2) Mobility spells- anyone who can teleport or fly is a great scout...or assassin.

3) Scrying spells- as above, they improve the ability of the forces to gain intelligence or kill specific target.

4) Necromancy- face it- undead soldiers change the equation. Wights make dandy SEALS. Recylcling your troops is efficient. Incorporeal undead can go almost anywhere.

5) Weather spells- even in modern warfare, weather matters. If you control the weather, you can control the battlespace.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Historically, I believe the typical gauntlet provided hard metal protection to the back of the hand, but the palm-side was still just heavy leather - you get no grip if your palm is covered in hard, smooth metal. They're designed to keep your hands protected from your enemies, not from your own actions.

This is true, and the problem with the fact that I took a short-cut through my own thoughts.

The leather on the inside was indeed far less protective than the metal on the back, but still thick enough to protect against cuts with less-than-razor-sharp swords.