D&D 5E (2014) Just how long is the D&D Pike supposed to be?

[see]

In large massed formations, a 15'-to-25' pike is useful because of all the points making a veritable wall of spearpoints.

In a group where formation has been broken (or is a sufficiently small group small it's de facto a broken formation), a 15'-to-25' pike is hard to use because the point is relatively easy to dodge and you'll hit your allies when you try to swing it, or change your grip, or the like. (Which are things you could do with a pike in single combat in an open area.)

The D&D 5 "pike" seems, based on its stats other than weight, to more likely be a long spear short of a "real" pike in length, along the lines of the ranseur, spetum, or partisan (all basically spears about as long as a halberd or glaive).

 

[TheCosmicKid]

You would be crazy to use a rapier against a pike, for instance, unless you were really good with rapier and buckler and your opponent was pretty crap at the pike.

I don't have any personal experience in this matter, but I can't help but be skeptical here. It seems really easy to outmaneuver an unsupported 20-foot polearm. Do you have a source on this?

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Maybe not 20 ft long, but I imagine a sole pike-wielder being something like these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHnQEfHLr2U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-0wZsLYRI

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I don't have any personal experience in this matter, but I can't help but be skeptical here. It seems really easy to outmaneuver an unsupported 20-foot polearm. Do you have a source on this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_(weapon)

Although primarily a military weapon, the pike could be surprisingly effective in single combat and a number of 16th-century sources explain how it was to be used in a dueling situation; fencers of the time often practiced with and competed against each other with long staves in place of pikes. George Silver considered the 18 ft pike one of the more advantageous weapons for single combat in the open, giving it odds over all weapons shorter than 8 ft or the sword and dagger/shield combination.

This video is primarily on spears but the same basic principles apply to a pike (or most polearms):

[video=youtube;l2YgGY_OBx8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2YgGY_OBx8[/video]

 

[Ilbranteloth]

In large massed formations, a 15'-to-25' pike is useful because of all the points making a veritable wall of spearpoints.

In a group where formation has been broken (or is a sufficiently small group small it's de facto a broken formation), a 15'-to-25' pike is hard to use because the point is relatively easy to dodge and you'll hit your allies when you try to swing it, or change your grip, or the like. (Which are things you could do with a pike in single combat in an open area.)

The D&D 5 "pike" seems, based on its stats other than weight, to more likely be a long spear short of a "real" pike in length, along the lines of the ranseur, spetum, or partisan (all basically spears about as long as a halberd or glaive).

I disagree with the "easy to dodge" part. A spear or pike wielded two-handed is very fast at the tip due to leverage when wielded two-handed. The forward hand is a pivot point and you move the rear hand to move the tip. You don't swing it like a sword.

An example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8RWLxlzTiM

What many don't know is that a sword was not always the primary weapon of a knight. A pole arm or spear was often the primary weapon because they were more effective.

 

[KahlessNestor]

None of these examples fiven are 20 foot long pikes though, but spears of about 10 feet. I think it would be significantly different, especially given they were designed for mass formation use and not duels.

Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app

 

[Ilbranteloth]

None of these examples fiven are 20 foot long pikes though, but spears of about 10 feet. I think it would be significantly different, especially given they were designed for mass formation use and not duels.

Sent from my SM-G900P using EN World mobile app

Agreed, but the general premise is the same - getting past the pointy part is difficult. With leverage, it would be less effort to move the tip around on a longer weapon since it would require less movement of your hands to do so, and with the bulk of the weapon increased, probably harder to bat aside too.

Once you get past the pointy part, then the 20' pike wielder would probably be at a disadvantage. On the other hand, you can choke up on the pike to make it shorter. A 15' pike could easily become a 20' pike. Of course, the Macedonian sarissa was two parts, with a brass connector in the middle. I don't know how easy it was to drop the back half of the weapon.

But in the game, the pike has a reach of 10'. So it's probably a 12-15' pike that we're discussing. Well within the range of those used by the legendary Swiss mercenaries. More importantly, RAW, there really is no other advantage unless you have Pole Arm Master, and I think that it's a reasonable way to address it.

This makes sense, because really the main reason for the really long pikes was to allow more of the rear ranks to present their weapons on the front line. With the 18'+ long pikes allowed the Macedonians to present 5 ranks worth of weapons in front of their shields.

The bigger consideration? How do you turn around an 18' long pike in a 10' x 10' hallway? I think the assumption is that a pole arm, including a pike, is about 10' long or shorter.

 

[Hriston]

A 10' x 10' hallway accommodates spinning a 14 foot pike around on the diagonal. Any longer than that and you're going to end up using the butt spike against attacks from the rear.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The bigger consideration? How do you turn around an 18' long pike in a 10' x 10' hallway? I think the assumption is that a pole arm, including a pike, is about 10' long or shorter.

That, or polearm proficiency includes limited access to a fourth spacial dimension. Make sure to double-check your handedness after turning around, and pack rations with both protein chiralities.

 

[CTurbo]

The reason I'm asking about the Pike is that I intend for the first few magic weapons found in my campaign to be weapons that normally would not get used on purpose haha

I feel it's kind of a fun way to mess with my players and I get bored of the same 7-8 weapons getting used over and over again.

I was thinking the Pike would be perfect considering I have never seen a player purposely decide to use one at any time. I just need to know how to describe it haha. I think I'm gonna make it 12-13ft long

I was also gonna throw in a magic whip, and possibly a magic blowgun. Any other suggestions?