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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 355757" data-attributes="member: 907">In 2e, there were 18 different polearms that no-one ever used anyway because (a) they all sucked and (b) there wasn't anything to really differentiate them other than damage and speed factor. In 3e there are only four different polearms (defined as large weapons with reach), but these are all clearly differentiated from one another and do have relevant abilities:Glaive being the basic polearm, doing 1d10/x3 damage. It doesn't have any special abilities beyond the reach.Guisarme does slightly less damage (2d4/x3), but can be used to trip.Longspear does 1d8/x3, but can be set against a charge.Finally, the ranseur also does 2d4/x3 like the guisarme, but it has the disarm bonus instead of the trip bonus.Note that the PHB weapons are rather large categories that simplify many weapons that are considered different from one another in the real world into one &quot;game&quot; weapon (the cutlass is considered a scimitar, for example). Just because something was called a &quot;guisarme-voulge&quot; in the real world it doesn't mean it's not a &quot;guisarme&quot; in D&amp;D.Any polearm that combines abilities from the four basics (high damage, tripping, set vs. charge, disarm) should be an exotic weapon for balance reasons. As an exotic weapon, it has to compete against the Spiked Chain, which gets both the disarm and trip bonuses and which can also be used up close. On the other hand, it only has a crit multiplier of x2 - two bonuses over the regular polearm, one penalty.Finally, it's pretty hard to dismount a rider (even with a guisarme), since they can use their Ride skill to resist the attempt instead of raw Dex or Strength. It's even harder to do with someone on a military saddle, due to the +2 bonus they get. The main difference between trying to dismount a rider with a guisarme (or other trip weapon) is that if you fail without a weapon you're likely to be tripped yourself (basically, you threw yourself at the rider and slipped off) whereas with a trip weapon you'll just drop your weapon (your grip on the weapon was weaker than the rider's grip on his saddle).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 355757, member: 907"] In 2e, there were 18 different polearms that no-one ever used anyway because (a) they all sucked and (b) there wasn't anything to really differentiate them other than damage and speed factor. In 3e there are only four different polearms (defined as large weapons with reach), but these are all clearly differentiated from one another and do have relevant abilities: Glaive being the basic polearm, doing 1d10/x3 damage. It doesn't have any special abilities beyond the reach. Guisarme does slightly less damage (2d4/x3), but can be used to trip. Longspear does 1d8/x3, but can be set against a charge. Finally, the ranseur also does 2d4/x3 like the guisarme, but it has the disarm bonus instead of the trip bonus. Note that the PHB weapons are rather large categories that simplify many weapons that are considered different from one another in the real world into one "game" weapon (the cutlass is considered a scimitar, for example). Just because something was called a "guisarme-voulge" in the real world it doesn't mean it's not a "guisarme" in D&D. Any polearm that combines abilities from the four basics (high damage, tripping, set vs. charge, disarm) should be an exotic weapon for balance reasons. As an exotic weapon, it has to compete against the Spiked Chain, which gets both the disarm and trip bonuses and which can also be used up close. On the other hand, it only has a crit multiplier of x2 - two bonuses over the regular polearm, one penalty. Finally, it's pretty hard to dismount a rider (even with a guisarme), since they can use their Ride skill to resist the attempt instead of raw Dex or Strength. It's even harder to do with someone on a military saddle, due to the +2 bonus they get. The main difference between trying to dismount a rider with a guisarme (or other trip weapon) is that if you fail without a weapon you're likely to be tripped yourself (basically, you threw yourself at the rider and slipped off) whereas with a trip weapon you'll just drop your weapon (your grip on the weapon was weaker than the rider's grip on his saddle). [/QUOTE]

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