The Awl Pike

[robberbaron]

You say it's an awkward weapon yet still want two different attacks with it.

If it is a seriously long spear then 15' reach for an EWP sounds fine to me.
It you mean to use it by waving it around to hit with both sides then it is a silly weapon and I wouldn't allow it

In either case, I wouldn't allow Cleaves or attacks of opportunity with it (unless the AoO came from the front after it had been set for charge).

I would go with the Jester and say it is a back-rank weapon for spear blocks: make it a Martial Weapon with 15' reach and one attack - just like an extra-long spear.

 

[the Jester]

You say it's an awkward weapon yet still want two different attacks with it.

No, but I just realized that my damage notation makes it look that way- what I really mean is a medium one deals 1d8, a small one deals 1d6. I didn't even realize that it looked that way til this post... oops, lemme fix that...

 

[robberbaron]

No worries, then.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[Beholder Bob]

Pointy bits

Hmm - make it a martial weapon, but allow its use as a simple weapon with a limitation. Only a single square at 15' is threatened, not the full range of 15' reach. So, peasants can use it (hell, its just a long spear) in groups, but only a competent warrior is able to use it reactively in combat. It means a well drilled group of martial proficient foes is deadly with the pikes, but a group of peasants is effective but not all that scary- only a fraction of them pointing at the right spot and getting attacks in time.

The weaker use w/non-martial prof follows the same example set by bastard sword being a martial weapon when used 2 handed.

BB

 

[Terath Ninir]

A single dude with an awl pike is going to be monster food. The key to using them is that they were used in formations. Often, there would be halberdiers in front of them (D&D notwithstanding, halberds are a reach weapon), then one or two ranks of pikemen. There would also often be swordsmen being the pikemen in case anyone got past all the cutlery on poles, because the pikemen were basically defenseless if anyone got past their pikes. The key, though, is that even heavy cavalry usually couldn't survive attacking a pike formation.

Individually, though, the awl pike is pretty much a one-way ticket to deathsville. However, it is a fantasy game, so you can go ahead and make it usable by an individual.

One suggestion I would HIGHLY recommend against, however, is Elephant's idea of allowing a secondary bludgeoning attack. I think that is a cool idea for other pole arms. It is very cinematic. However, that is NOT at all possible for an awl pike. It's way too long. The weapon was awkward to begin with, but it is NOT possible to use both ends of it.

Another problem with using the awl pike in D&D is that D&D lacks facing. You can't just instantly change what direction your pike is pointing. I suppose that one can just ignore it, but it really shows off the failings of the D&D combat system.

Final suggestions: martial weapon. It is not exotic -- at one point, half or more of the soldiers in Europe had pikes in their hands. d8 damage, x3 critical, 15 ft. reach. You could adjust the reach upwards or downwards by the creature's size. Yah, nonstandard, but it's an important part of the weapon. Hmm. I'd say that the user should have a -2 penalty to AC against melee attacks while using the weapon. You could create a Weapon Style feat that removes that, to let people be 1337 pike ninjas.

 

[evolved]

whats this about triple reach?

when you increase a weapon's size you double its reach so a minotaur with one of these bad boys can attack any where from 30-40 ft you see reach also allows you to alter the field of your reach weapons thats why ogres with longspears are the best cannon fodder a general could dream of

 

[Raduin711]

whats this about triple reach?

when you increase a weapon's size you double its reach so a minotaur with one of these bad boys can attack any where from 30-40 ft you see reach also allows you to alter the field of your reach weapons thats why ogres with longspears are the best cannon fodder a general could dream of

Good point. Painful to read, but good point.

 

[hippiejedi2]

As a player, I would like to point out that players do not usually have the numbers to fight in rank, (one exception is leadership follower type deal) hence it would be a bad guy oriented style. Though I am not opposed to the idea of baddies having specialized styles.

The Jester has many house-rule type feats, spells, prcs etc (which is really awesome) but one feat called sliding grip let's a user of a pole arm type weapon take off 5 ft of the reach.

There is a mid level house spell called elasticity which adds 10 ft to reach of one creature. There is also a metamagic feat called mass spell which allows single tageted spells to effect creatures/caster level.

The result of these four; the weapon, sliding grip, and elasticity en massed could give insane reach with little drawback. The concept of having a melee fighter with a greater reach on ranged spells is VERY scary. I could go into detail on numbers but I am lazy.

Also when villagers get together in order to protect themselves its called a mob or at best they might have a militia, while there are likely people in the mob who have experience fighting most would be armed with items of their respective trades ie butcher knife, pitch fork, greatsword, nanchaku, siangham. They are, after all, common household/work related items.

Can anyone think of other fun evil feats, spells, prcs to make the 15ft reach weapon more out of control?

Finally, Jester this is aimed at you, but if you do decide to use the ideas listed above I have already thought of a half dozen counter attacks. Besides I know you are more creative than myself.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Pole Arms and Dragon # 331 {May 05}

FYI, The new dragon has an entire article on Pole-Arms. One of the detailed weapons is the Awl Pike. ...

They also have a number of pole arm feats that I have seen HR'd here on the boards, probably Jesters {the one mentioned above is called 'Shorten Grip' in the magazine}

Short version, for those not near a copy.. and wondering about Jester's grip on game balance...
Exotic Weapon 1D8X3, Can be set against a charge for double damage, reach weapon at 15'


Also, I forget where I read it, but there was a clarification on reach weapons and their interaction with larger/smaller creatures. Basically a Reach weapon shifts the creatures natural threat range outward. The Awl Pike shifts it 10' out. As such, a creature with 10' natural reach with an Awl Pike threatens the squares at 15' and 20'.