D&D 5E Why so few magic polearms in the DMG?

[5atbu]

I think that the lack of magic items in 5e is quite deliberate. 5e isn't meant to be an item led game. Easy to add them, but it isn't a mistake.

 

[Bohandas]

Lack of polearms is a typical D&Dism even though the real medieval foot soldier carried almost always polearms due to their familiarity with them as field implements and their ability to discount cavalry and penetrate their armor.

In that case the pack of polearms makes sense as D&D typically focuses on close-quarters fighting and not the kind of open battlefields where cavalry charges are a viable strategy.

 

[Charlaquin]

Background situation:

We play with core 3 books.

Players are making magic item wishlists (by rarity) to be included in future treasure troves. So far, so good. 3 item attunement is making this very interesting.

Now one player has a character with Polearm Mastery (PAM) and it's noted there are very few magic polearms in the DMG; Rod of Lordly Might, +1 to +3, Weapon of warning, Trident of fish command and Vicious weapon.

Any idea the reasons there are no Vorpal glaives or Frost Brand spears?

Balances out how good PAM is.

 

[prabe]

Balances out how good PAM is.

Ish. I guess. The problem is that PAM makes polearms so good there should be more of them. At least, I'd expect people who make magic weapons to pick weapons that extraordinarily effective. Why enchant something that's inherently inferior?

 

[Panda-s1]

I also find the lack of polearms kinda sad, and I like using polearms. I do wish I could just slap any enchantment onto just about any weapon like in 3.5 and 4e. or at least get a bunch of polearm-specific magic weapons if they're gonna be weird about it.

Part of the reason might be balance against things such as the PAM feat. I had a Pladin PC with it and Heavy Weapon Mastery who asked me if he'd ever get a magical glaive. I told him he had about a 1% chance of finding a magical polearm over the course of the campaign. Instead, when he was high enough level, he spent downtime to learn how to create a +1 glaive and more downtime to create it.

balance seems to be the only real explanation for this? idk, still kinda lame, and goes against the rule of cool, etc. it feels dumb to make a fighter who uses polearms only to ever come across magic swords, like what's the point?

In that case the pack of polearms makes sense as D&D typically focuses on close-quarters fighting and not the kind of open battlefields where cavalry charges are a viable strategy.

like I said, rule of cool. it's cool if I get my long spear thing and fight monsters with it 'cause polearms are awesome.

also the point of polearms is to avoid close-quarters fighting, like why get in close and risk getting stabbed by a sword when you can just hit someone who can't get close to you?

It is.

You can even recreate the classic ODD racial classes with ease.
Elf = Elf fighter with Eldritch knight subclass
Halfling=Halfling fighter champion with criminal background
Dwarf=obvious dwarven fighter.

Other than that the basic rules feature only the 4 basic races.
Several spells which were totally over the top in previous editions and would have to be reassociated to higher levels because of their power have instead been redesigned and stayed on that level. e.g. sleep, hold person.
The MM leaves out several mobs but all basic D&D mobs except Tiamat are in there.
And also iconic magic items and artifacts which seemed to be existent in basic 1e 2e and 3e (I cannot tell for 4e) have been adequately converted.

I find this argument dubious at best. get back to me when they put Sticks to Snakes in an official 5e supplement.

 

[Fenris-77]

I think that how good the mechanics of the PAM feat are probably have very little to do with the presence or absence of polearms in the fluff. For that lack I would blame the venerable "it's a peasant's weapon" argument.

 

[Panda-s1]

I think that how good the mechanics of the PAM feat are probably have very little to do with the presence or absence of polearms in the fluff. For that lack I would blame the venerable "it's a peasant's weapon" argument.

that's... kind of bad reasoning, though. there's plenty of examples of magical spears throughout history. the Gae Bolg is a good example, Longinius is another (hell that one had a whole Nazi conspiracy surrounding it). if that is true then they really did just drop the ball on magical weapons for 5e.

 

[prabe]

that's... kind of bad reasoning, though. there's plenty of examples of magical spears throughout history. the Gae Bolg is a good example, Longinius is another (hell that one had a whole Nazi conspiracy surrounding it). if that is true then they really did just drop the ball on magical weapons for 5e.

There really haven't been lots of specifically magical polearms in D&D that I can remember, so it's a ball that's probably been dropped since 1E at least and by this time is probably thoroughly deflated.

 

[Doug McCrae]

there's plenty of examples of magical spears throughout history. the Gae Bolg is a good example, Longinius is another (hell that one had a whole Nazi conspiracy surrounding it).

The word "spear" appears 14 times in Wikipedia's list of magical weapons. "Sword" appears 148 times.

 

[prabe]

The word "spear" appears 14 times in Wikipedia's list of magical weapons. "Sword" appears 148 times.

What about magic helmets?