D&D 5E Can a Reach Weapon stop someone attacking you?

[Hriston]

As for the "stand behind a friend and attack" part of it, I have decided to give disadvantage in my game in some situations, and I never allow the butt end bonus attack when they have an ally between them and their target. Think about trying to swing a pole axe. With your ally in the way, the arc would have to be straight down on either side of him. You could not swing from side to side or a miss would certainly mean bludgeoning damage to your friend. Now try to imagine whirling the opposite end of the weapon around without hitting your friend. I don' see it.

Of course there remains the possibility that your friend ducks or moves into a low forward-lunge so you can swing the pole-arm over his head. I would think that would be a natural way to fight in multiple ranks.

 

[lumenbeing]

Of course there remains the possibility that your friend ducks or moves into a low forward-lunge so you can swing the pole-arm over his head. I would think that would be a natural way to fight in multiple ranks.

Sure, if the other guy (In-between guy) told me, "I'll be keeping a low posture so the polearm guy can be more effective", then I probably would not give polearm guy disadvantage. Good on them for working together!
But using both ends of your polearm against a foe that is 10' away from you within the same round is just not going to fly with me, especially not when there is another creature interceding. The fictional reason you would be able to attack with the butt end is that you are holding the polearm in a certain way, similar to how you would hold a quarter staff. Your grip is more or less centered.
If one assumes that one can hit with the business end at a 10' range, draw back the weapon, twirl it around, and then hit with the butt end, why would anyone do that? If they have time to do that, they have time to make two strikes with the business end. I would love to see someone prove me wrong in a live demo though.
I believe that the intent of the butt spike rule is that you can strike a second opponent who may be inside your range, or make a second attack on the same opponent at 5' range. I don't like to grant reach on the bonus, butt end attack. Having a guy in the middle really pushes it over the edge of impossible for me. Polearm master is PLENTY powerful enough a feat as is with its threat of OA to creatures entering your 25' square box

 

[Coredump]

Our junior instructor was a Ranger type (can't remember what he was exactly; elite, but not SEAL elite). Anyway, one day after class he asks me to be his sparring dummy, and use a bokken (wooden katana) against his "yari" (spear), a wooden pole. He was into melee weapons, and I had no idea what I was doing, but MAN, did he ever cream me.

Hmmm..... an instructor with Ranger training that was 'into weapons' creamed someone that had 'no idea what they were doing'.....

Maybe the issue was not 'reach'.......

 

[Coredump]

Look up "Pennsic War Field Battle" on Youtube and you will see hundreds of hobbyists fighing very effectively with polearms from the second rank, including butt spikes to the face. While they are using wooden weapons, they are a close approximation for actual weapons and they hit full force with legal target area being anything above the knee.

Ummm.... no you won't. You will pretty much never see a buttspike used from the second rank... it just doesn't work that way. Besides, the field battle is a horrible place to look. Try the bridge, or maybe Town battles.


Fighting from the second rank with a reach weapon makes perfect sense. If the 3rd person is directly between the attacker and target, he may benefit from 50% cover (+2), but I couldn't see it being disadvantage.

But disallowing the butt strike? Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense. I could see hitting one creature and range, and a butt strike to a different, adjacent creature. but there's just no real way to use a butt strike at 10' range...

 

[Coredump]

4. Step 3 is where the DM ruling comes into play. Not allowing the rogue to use his race feature to even hide I would call a definite houserule as it clearly contradicts RAW. The fact that you do this in Encounters is a tad worrisome as I expect sanctioned play to be RAW whenever possible.

Its not about allowing or not allowing. It is about allowing or not allowing under which specific conditions. Can he do it if no one knows he is back there? Of course.
What if someone knows he is back there?
What if somene watches him go back there?
What if he did this before, 6 seconds ago?
What if he has done this 5 times before....about every 6 seconds?
What if there is a lot of noise and distractions going on?
What if there are only 3 creatures total in the room. (Halfling, his ally, bad guy)?

The rules say he 'can' do this, the rules don't say he 'can always' do this, nor that he 'can do it no matter what', etc. That is where DM adjudication comes in.

As a base, I would probably allow it once normally. A second time with disadvantage. And a third time autofail.
This could be modified depending on how distracting, or not, the environment was. Or perhaps by how intelligent/wise the target was.

 

[jrowland]

"Can a Reach Weapon stop someone attacking you?"

Yes, a Reach weapon can stop someone attacking you. Any weapon can stop someone from attacking you...If you kill/incapacitate them.

 

[PnPgamer]

Hmmm..... an instructor with Ranger training that was 'into weapons' creamed someone that had 'no idea what they were doing'.....

Maybe the issue was not 'reach'.......

In back of the martial arts class, no one can hear you cream...