Where the heck did the siangham come from?

[kigmatzomat]

I've googled, I've sifted through ENWorld forums but I cannot find what real-world weapon the siangham is supposed to be based on. Did they make it up? I thought it might be the emei piercers but those are double ended and have a ring so they can be spun on your hand. They can't be rods since they aren't bludgeoning.

From a combat evolution standpoint it doesn't seem to serve a real purpose. It's a spear head on a stubby spear that can't be thrown and apparently too fragile or flexible to bludgeon someone with. Why not use a half spear or just a club? Does it come from a region where the trees only grow straight for 24" sections? Heck, the only possible way I can see it being worthwhile is training for a broken spear. But if a monk is expected to seriously need a broken spear then why isn't an unbroken spear a monk weapon?

This isn't just idle curiousity; I'm defining the nearest region that monks are common IMC. There monk weapons are slightly modified farm implements (kama = sickle, nunchuka = flail), or weapons whose use and function is obvious to anyone with any combat experience (sai=sword breaker, quarterstaff=duh, shuriken=dart) but the siangham has me at a loss.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The siangham is used for the super-secret ninja move "poke-in-eye-with-sharp-stick".

 

[Wolf72]

POINTY STICK!!!!!

 

[Krieg]

Chinese Judge's Pens:

 

[Henry]

I believe there is a weapon called the siankham, the sankiam, or something similar, in the original Oriental Adventures from Jeff Grubb back in 1985; however, I can't find anything of similar make on any sites dealing with martial arts history.

 

[kigmatzomat]

So they appear to be a weapon of opportunity; judges carried these heavy pens for their calligraphy and learned to use them for self defense.

Right. Rather useless for my campaign setting so it's time to come up with some other small, simple piercing weapon for the monk to use. Maybe the halfspear....

 

[Laundreu]

So they appear to be a weapon of opportunity; judges carried these heavy pens for their calligraphy and learned to use them for self defense.

Right. Rather useless for my campaign setting so it's time to come up with some other small, simple piercing weapon for the monk to use. Maybe the halfspear....

Like a dagger?

Remember, many of the shaolin monks' weapons were not super-secret mystic weapons that nobody'd ever seen before.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Like a dagger?

Remember, many of the shaolin monks' weapons were not super-secret mystic weapons that nobody'd ever seen before.

by "small" I meant 3e weapon-size small. Daggers are tiny and, now that I look, halfspears are medium. Dagger might make more sense; not sure yet.

And I agree that the weapons weren't a secret; they were generally a logical choice and mostly had european equivalents, which is why the siangham were so confusing. I'd never have made the association with a calligraphy pen.

There is one equivalent to european weapon/tool & the siangham now that I found the right google-jump point of "hand spikes": belaying pins. 2ft long pointy bits of hardwood used to chock wheels on ships or tie off lines. A monk on a boat would be surrounded by weapons. I might leave it in since IMC the monks will be located adjacent the ocean.

Thanks EN World!

 

[Evilhalfling]

I had this exact same problrm with the singham.
Honestly it just looks like they needed a small peirceing monk weapon.
So I discarded it and allowed in the halfspear and staff as a monk weapons, not as small
but a classic monk weapons none the less. the two weapon nature of the staff is assumed to be folded into the flurry of blows.

Thanks Krieg it is nice to know there is some historical basis for this weapon, even if it is lame.

 

[molonel]

The siangham was introduced so that monks could have a piercing weapon in the mix for all of their identical, flavorless 1d6/20 (x2) exotic weapons. We can't have them using common, readily available weapons. No no no - they must be EXOTIC, and rare, and available only in special stores! I was shocked - SHOCKED - when they gave them the quarterstaff as a monk weapon in 3.5 rules.