D&D 5E (2024) When a 20' pole has a 10' reach...

[Coroc]

I mean 5e spear vs quarterstaff is also utmost broken. How can a weapon deal more damage without the pointy end than with? (I am refering to the shenanigan that you obviously could use a quarterstaff onehanded (How to do this other than a sa walking stick evades me, i bet this is just to recreate a stupid Gandalf staff and sword cameo), but on top of that use polearm mastery in conjunction with a shield.

A spear should do 1d10 twohanded and 1d8 onehanded, or the quarterstaff should do 1d6 1d4 accordingly and not be compliant with polearm master at least not onehanded.

A Quarterstaff is a deadly weapon, in the hand of a specialist like a ninja master or such, but in the hand of an untrained person like a wizard it should never be able to dish out more damage than a spear, the weapon used most commonly for untrained peoples militia, they would have handed out staffs, they are cheaper also.

 

[Coroc]

On pikes: They are formation only weapons, utter rubish to use them for anything else. Do the people coming up with these ideas use any historic sources at all?

 

[Coroc]

use; reach 15ft, cannot attack within 5ft.

make this cannot attack anything within 10 feet rather. Also in tertio formations, if they got stuck they'd drop them and reach for their Katzbalger or swiss dagger.

 

[Coroc]

I’m still missing where in the PHB it says that a Pike in D&D is 20’. This is what Wikipedia says on the subject:

“The pike was a long weapon, varying considerably in size, from 3 to 7 m (9.8 to 23.0 ft) long.”

So a 10’ Pike with a 10’ reach is entirely conceivable.

A pike usually starts at 4,5 m, but even 3m is to long for use in a dungeon.

 

[Coroc]

I think a lot of RPG players just don't think of practical considerations like that. Even if you're not in a dungeon, where are you carrying that 10 foot pole around? Is it with you while you're drinking in a tavern? Do you carry it while creeping through the woods? Do you just walk around with this thing in the town square? Where do you store it when not in use?

On the flip side, this is a game where players routinely wear their plate armor while drinking at the local pub. 'Tis a very silly game.

wearing a tailored plate armor in its later really sophisticated versions, does not only allow you to sit drinking in a pub but also to climb, jumpmount your horse or swim through rivers and do all sorts of acrobatics.

It does hamper your movements far less than e.g. a long chainmail and will not soak that much while swimming like padded armor or the like.

 

[Coroc]

One use for a pole arm in a dungeon is to attack Piercers before the beasties let go and drop in on the party. Or a trap tripper with 2x the reach of a 10' pole. Or to kill the critter at the bottom of a pit trap before the party salvages the treasure from earlier victims.

yep, use your halberd or spear for that. you do not need a specialised formation weapon. If it is slightly out of reach you can use ranged wepons for the initial attack also.

 

[Coroc]

A sixteen inch dagger has a five foot reach. Practically speaking, a pike relies on a formation to be effective, so it's pretty much useless in a skirmish which is what D&D combat is. Maybe 10 feet simply represents the practical range at which you can hit someone with such a slow, clumsy weapon.

* Okay, there are likely some limited situations where an individual might find a pike useful. Fighting in a hallway for example. But for the most part, you're not going to want a pike unless you're in an army fighting in formation.

Agree with anything but the slow thing. If you are in formation, with your pike you attack faster (aka first) than anyone not also armed with a pike or a ranged weapon.

Same with a polearm or two handed sword, they are faster in initiative than any dagger or shorter weapon, and the effective part of the weapon, when swung moves much faster, than you ever could with a dagger, because of the radius of the movement that is much longer than your arm.

 

[AlViking]

On pikes: They are formation only weapons, utter rubish to use them for anything else. Do the people coming up with these ideas use any historic sources at all?

They are the same people that created studded leather. Not sure why you think they actually thought about whether or not they made sense for a D&D type game.

 

[bedir than]

They are the same people that created studded leather. Not sure why you think they actually thought about whether or not they made sense for a D&D type game.

And the same people who used material components to tell fart jokes

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Most of RPGs read as: This sounds fun! Is it realistic? Nah. But fun!