The Strength of Lances

[Lord Pendragon]

I apologize for bringing this question up again. I am almost positive it's been answered previously, but I don't have the search function...

A couple relevent quotes:

Light, One-Handed, and Two-Handed Melee Weapons:

Two-Handed: Two hands are required to use a two-handed melee weapon effectively. Apply 1-1/2 times the character’s Strength bonus to damage rolls for melee attacks with such a weapon.

Two-Handed Melee Weapons

Lance4 10 gp 1d6 1d8 x3 — 10 lb. Piercing

Lance: A lance deals double damage when used from the back of a charging mount. It has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 feet away with it, but you can’t use it against an adjacent foe.
While mounted, you can wield a lance with one hand.

So, while wielding a lance with one hand, does it gain 1.5x strength bonus, or only 1x?

It would seem that in the special case of the lance, it would gain 1.5x. It is always a two-handed weapon, which by definition gains 1.5x strength. The lance is special in that it can be wielded using only one hand under a specific circumstance, but that doesn't change the weapon's size category.

Has this been clarified elsewhere? Opinions?

 

[youspoonybard]

Lol.

Hyp's been fighting a small war over on the Wizards boards.

He, and I (if that matters), agree with you.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Lol.

Hyp's been fighting a small war over on the Wizards boards.

He, and I (if that matters), agree with you.

Link?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hyp's been fighting a small war over on the Wizards boards.

Not for some months now. The thread sort of petered out after 22 pages.

The Main FAQ disagrees... but in the same answer, it declares that if you hold a longsword in two hands, it becomes a two-handed weapon...

-Hyp.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Thanks for editing in the link, Hyp. I read up to page five before the ambience of the WotC boards grew too great for me and I had to leave. It was a great reminder to me of why I don't go there.

My favorite quote from the five pages I read:

Oh dear. Customer Service agrees with me?

I admit, that weakens my position considerably...

Your arguments over there only solidified my position on the whole thing, though. So thanks again for the link.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

On a related note since I've already got this thread up, let me verify something.

Given that D&D's general rule is to add multipliers, rather than actually multiply them, a PC that scored a critical hit while making a Spirited Charge would do damage x6...correct?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

On a related note since I've already got this thread up, let me verify something.

Given that D&D's general rule is to add multipliers, rather than actually multiply them, a PC that scored a critical hit while making a Spirited Charge would do damage x6...correct?

Well...

SPIRITED CHARGE [GENERAL]
Prerequisites: Ride 1 rank, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack.
Benefit: When mounted and using the charge action, you deal double damage with a melee weapon (or triple damage with a lance).
Special: A fighter may select Spirited Charge as one of his fighter bonus feats.

And a Lance's critical multiplier is x3, so you'd get x3 from Spirited Charge plus an additional x2 from the lance, so your damage in the end would be x5, not x6.

My understanding is that the x3 from Spirited Charge is already taking into account the normal x2 multiplier recieved for using a lance while mounted.

EDIT, to Add:

The general rule is to apply one modifier at full value, and subtract 1 from all the other multipliers, since a x3 multiplier really means "Roll initial damage, and then roll damage two more times."

So, to avoid double- or triple-counting the initial damage, you subtract one from all other multipliers. Thus, a x3 and a x3 changes from:

"Roll initial damage, and then roll damage two more times" and "Roll initial damage, and then roll damage two more times"

--to--

"Roll initial damage, and then roll damage two more times" and "then roll damage two more times"

--or--

"Roll initial damage, and then roll damage four more times"

--which is--

x5

 

[Lord Pendragon]

The general rule is to apply one modifier at full value, and subtract 1 from all the other multipliers, since a x3 multiplier really means "Roll initial damage, and then roll damage two more times."

Sounds good. Not that I might not have enjoyed x6 more, , but I'll live.

 

[Nail]

wow, is that thread funny.....so many OT posts, so little time......

 

[Bauglir]

Hyp, how on earth do you find the patience to keep answering the same complaints over and over again?

I'm seriously impressed.

And FWIW it's perfectly clear to me that you're 100% right (as usual )