Whither the lances?

[Thasmodious]

A longspear does have reach, a regular spear is not that long.

Javelin and short spear are clearly interchangeable terms now and I'm fine with that, no need for two separate weapon entries. But I do consider the lack of range for a regular spear to be an omission, so I houseruled in a range of 5/10.

 

[Rechan]

A javelin is a shortspear. A fighting spear is pretty much like what, five feet long?

Try chucking a boarspear. It's just not very wieldy.

 

[pukunui]

Mounted combat is very much an afterthought in 4E. It's no surprise that lances are nowhere to be seen. Maybe in the Martial Powers splat.

I think it's more likely it'll be in the Adventurer's Vault along with all the other equipment that got left out of the PHB.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The spear is 'versatile' in 4e, so it can fill in for both the 3e spear and the lance (and the trident, for that matter, while the javelin fills in for the shortspear). The effectiveness of a lance charge in 4e is modeled by the horse, which has a mount power it bestows on it's rider to do +5 damage on a charge. The rider must have Mounted Combat to benefit.

It's not fantastic, and a lance with reach would be a nice thing to see in a future suplement.

 

[frankthedm]

WHile mounted, letting the longspear be used one handed on a Charge Attack, sounds reasonable.

 

[Surgoshan]

A javelin is a shortspear. A fighting spear is pretty much like what, five feet long?

Depends on the fighting. The spears of the Grecian armies were about fifteen feet long. The spears of the Macedonians were 20 feet long and this is considered to have been a factor in the success of Alexander the Great; his army hit first.

The Zulu spear, though, was meant for one-on-one fighting rather than use in formation and thus was much shorter, about four and a half feet with both haft and blade.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Longspear is Long