D&D 5E Polearm Master Feat

[i_dont_meta]

I know this has been addressed before but I can't find the thread--Is the Pike pursposefully omitted from the second bullet?


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[KahlessNestor]

I don't know if it's purposeful or not, but I was surprised and annoyed at that, as well, since I have a fighter that was going to take that feat and now can't use his longspear (renamed pike) for it.

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[CapnZapp]

Of course it was purposeful.

Otherwise they'd errataed it by now.

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[Barolo]

I know this has been addressed before but I can't find the thread--Is the Pike pursposefully omitted from the second bullet?


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By the description of the feat, you use the butt of the polearm for the extra attack. As a halberd can be swung but a pike is just thrusted forward, I guess it was on purpose that it was left out, as otherwise the whole movement might have ended up a little weird.

Nonetheless, in my table we have ruled that someone using a pike can do the extra attack, represented in fiction as a sort of quick jab, dealing piercing damage the same way as the main attack, but with the reduced die, if both attacks are directed at the same enemy or enemies positioned in front of the attacker. If the attacker is surrounded and wants to use the extra attack against an adversary positioned behind, then it is as per rules, with the damage being bludgeoning. We did this mostly because the group finds longspear fighters to be cool and it didn't seem to fulfill any balance purpose to let them out of the bonus attack benefit.

 

[KahlessNestor]

You actually don't swing a halberd in reality.

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[jasper]

You actually don't swing a halberd in reality.

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And you don't have a job description of the person who have clean dragon poop off the city statutes either.

 

[jaelis]

Answer from the developers:

Q: Why is a pike (a polearm) excluded from the Polearm Master feat, but a Quarterstaff (not a polearm) included in it?
A: Pike: Too unwieldy, in our eyes, for the feat's benefits. Quarterstaff: Fits the benefits of the feat well.

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/10/05/why-pike-is-not-in-polearm-master-feat/

 

[thethain]

I think the more fun question is why a staff (a roughly 5-6 feet stick) is on the list while a spear (a 5-6 feet stick with point) is ommitted from the list.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

This is a weird instance where some things are subject to realism while others are not. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I believe the halberd was primarily used in tight formations as a thrusting weapon with the axe part being used to rake enemies when pulling the weapon back. But in the PHB the halberd does slashing damage and can be swung around with polearm master.

I would just allow the pike to be used for the bonus action attack. Since it's statistics are the same as the halberd it shouldn't really break anything.

 

[KahlessNestor]

That's exactly how you use a halberd. And a pike is normally about 15 feet in length.

My problem is I wanted a longspear fighter like Oberyn Martell. I had to refluff a pike for that. And it's AL, so I can't refluff the feat to allow me to use the longspear because it's mechanically a pike.

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