Club & Polearm

[Cutty Sark]

I had a player in a similar situation. Because he wouldn't take my word or the PHB's that you can't use a ten-foot pole like you'd use a club, I came up with this to satisfy him:

Choke Up [General]
Choose one type of reach weapon, such as Glaive. You are especially good at balancing the weapon for close-quarters combat and can use its haft as a club.
Prerequisites: Profiecient with weapon, BAB +1 or higher
Benefit: You can attack an adjacent foe with the selected weapon, doing 1d6 damage. Because of the shortened grip, only add your Strength bonus, even if you must still use two hands.

It's not a great feat to take in general, but it's sure as shootin' better than having to drop your pike and draw a backup weapon every time you fight. If you think it's too weak, I had thought about making it apply to all reach weapons, but I was worried about giving this particular player any slack.

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

I've always thought that pole arms get the shaft in roleplaying games because the majority of people in the rpg industry think in terms of military history, instead of martial history (yes, there is a difference). Frex, it's not widely known that the halberd was the second most popular duelling weapon in middle ages Europe - and at times its popularity almost exceeded that of the sword (universally the most popular). The Chinese loved the spear, calling it the "King of Weapons".

There's no way that a duellist is going to like a weapon if it can't be used at close range. My own spear and staff training in kung fu tells me that using the butt end is a natural tactic for one on one fighting. Anyhoo, in order to simulate this, some while back, I developed these two feats.

Pole Fighting [Fighter]
You are trained at using pole weapons (spears, halberds etc) for close-quarters combat,using the butt end.
Prerequisites: Profieciency in weapon, BAB +1 or higher
Benefit: You can attack an adjacent foe with the selected weapon, doing 1d8 damage, using the butt end as a quarterstaff.

Advanced Pole Fighting [Fighter]
You have developed advanced techniques for fighting with polearms.
Prerequisistes: Pole Fighting, BAB +3
Benefit: You may now treat all polearms as double weapons, with al the attendant double attack rules applicable. The butt end of the polearm is considered a light weapon for the purposes of double weapon penalties.
Special: if the weapon is a reach weapon, the weapon head can now be used in close, as per the rules for the Spiked Chain.