D&D 5E Polearm Master + quarterstaff...+ shield?

[Helldritch]

Pretty much. The quarter staff is such an example. It should have stayed at 1d6, better than a club, worse than a morningstar. But the rule of cool upped its damage.

They removed the bastard sword and replaced it with the long sword, but in so doing forgot that elves had a long (pun intended) history with the long sword which is now the rapier... They should have kept both weapon and the rapier too. But maybe the word "bastard" has some dark connotations beside the one that I am aware of...

A lot of the decisions in 5ed are made on the cover of cool. That is why I don't push to logic too far in many cases. But sometimes, there are cases where my logic yells stop right there!

I see nothing wrong in using a quarter staff in one hand. There was a medieval technique with a sword and a staff in hand where the staff was used as a parrying device. My trouble is using polearm master with a shield. Polearm master is pretty obvious that you are using a two handed weapon. If you absolutely want to use your bonus action to make an attack, use your shield as an improvised weapon and dual wield it. It would be more logical this way... And up to that point, just take a long sword...

 

[Horwath]

Maybe the best way would be to split polearm mastery into 2 half feats:

1.
Polearm mastery:
+1 str,
when you wield any pole weapon two-handed(decide what weapons fall into this) and make Attack Action with it, you can make one attack with other end of the weapon for 1d4 damage. Str bonus to attack and damage.

2.
Hold the line:
+1 str or dex
when someone enters your threat area, you can as a Reaction make one melee attack vs them.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@6ENow!
The problem is that they kept the damage values of prior editions without taking into account the whole package. In 1st edition, weapons had:
Speed factors
Hit modifications depending on armor worn by opponents
Damage vs medium and
Damage vs large.
These disapeared over the editions and we kept either the best damage of a weapon or the average (or something close to the average) depending on the rule of cool. But some of the damage was taking all the above factors into account and these factors do exist anymore. This leaves us with strange damage that do not (and are not) look to be balanced but once were (more or less, but 1ed was simulationist much more so than later editions).

Sometimes, knowing where things come from can explain a lot.

I know all that. I've played 1E (and 2E) longer than most people here because I didn't jump into 3E (less than a year and then gave it up for 1E/2E) and never played 4E. Heck, I just played 1E during this last year again. But I also know most people who played 1E ignored (or improperly used) speed factors and AC adjustments. Speed factors, damage vs. sizes, and AC adjustments (weapon type adjustments in 2E) disappeared in 3E.

Regardless, if you attack with a quarterstaff with one-hand, a d6 is appropriate, two-handed a d8 works, and for the off-end a d4 via PAM is balanced as a bonus action. Wielded one-handed with a shield is also not only possible but easy to imagine IMO, especially when you consider that gaining this benefit requires a feat, a very rare and valuable commodity, which represents additional ability/ training/ experience/ techniques/ etc.

 

[DND_Reborn]

While he isn't wielding a shield, this clip shows what a true master of the quarterstaff (actually, it's a "buck-and-a-quarter" quarterstaff) can do!

I think this pretty much settles the discussion. (j/k)

 

[Oofta]

While he isn't wielding a shield, this clip shows what a true master of the quarterstaff (actually, it's a "buck-and-a-quarter" quarterstaff) can do!

View attachment 129735
I think this pretty much settles the discussion. (j/k)

Daffy really needs to learn to duck.

 

[Helldritch]

If Daffy can do it. Who am I to argue?
(Throws the towel down).

 

[DND_Reborn]

Daffy really needs to learn to duck.

You'd think he would know how to "duck", wouldn't you?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Put me in with the "technically legal by RAW but not realistic" crowd. After considering what it would look like, we just gave the Quarterstaff the two-handed property, leaving anything usable in just one hand in the cane/club category.

A human or human shaped creature with makeup (so, most races in 5e) will absolutely far more damage with a staff used two handed rather than one handed.

Eh. You can probably strike with close to the same force given a whole-body windup and an inanimate target. The issue with trying to use a quarterstaff one-handed is brought into focus when you consider what happens after that strike.

The earlier video posted by 6ENow!! is a good demonstration of why wielding a quarterstaff one-handed is impractical: Even where a strike is completed with only one hand on the weapon, the wielder uses two hands to guard and set up the swing, and then needs to rapidly return both hands to it to regain control.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Daffy really needs to learn to duck.

He should have carried a shield.

 

[Oofta]

He should have carried a shield.

Nah. He likes winging it.