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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Estlor" data-source="post: 5623084" data-attributes="member: 7261">The real reason we haven't seen a lance is because mounted combat was greatly marginalized in the 4e rules set out of the box.  You got one feat in the PHB that promised some sort of nebulous benefit without any details.  A little later you got a basic array of mounts in the Adventurer's Vault that finally pinned down some benefits to having that feat.  And only recently, Cavaliers (but not regular paladins, unfortunately) got a pokémount utility power.The issue with a lance is how weapons work in 4e.  All weapons have five elements - Category, Group, Proficiency Bonus, Damage, and Properties.  Okay, so what's a lance?  Before we worry about proficiency and damage, we can identify a few things.Category - One-handed Military MeleeGroup - SpearCurrently defined weapon properties are brutal (maybe), defensive (nope), heavy thrown (nope), high crit (maybe), light thrown (nope), load (not applicable), off-hand (nope), reach (nope), stout (not applicable), small (nope), and versatile (nope).  Since it's just a military weapon and not a superior weapon, I can't really give it brutal (all brutal weapons are superior) so it's high crit or nothing.  I can see that... but only when charging while mounted.  Which current rules don't support.Now look at the weapons currently available.  There's a one-handed simple melee spear with a +2 proficiency bonus that does 1d8 damage.  Those numbers look pretty good for a lance.  So is it worth inventing a new weapon property to grant high crit to a military weapon that's otherwise mechanically similar to the spear (just minus versatile)?No, it's not.  And that's before we even try to handle how a lance is nearly worthless when not mounted.So clearly the better option is to wield a spear as a lance.  Spear Expertise already has the nice synergy of granting a bonus to damage when you charge.  Create a feat called Lancer or something that grants the High Crit property to spears when mounted and you're done.  It's simple, elegant, models what we're after, and doesn't require us to invent categories that go into the design space and become things you've got to know that aren't in the Rule Compendium.</blockquote>

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