Post/Author/DateTime	Post
deep_grave 09-03-06, 05:54 PM	Vow of Poverty Monk wants a reach weapon. So... 10 foot-pole! -4 for non-proficiency, obviously. Then I'm thinking reach of 10 ft, 1d4 damage, can make trip attacks, 2-handed weapon or can be used as a double weapon but without reach (switch hand-ing as a swift action). Any criticisms or alternate ideas?
Bulletproof_Condom 09-03-06, 06:09 PM	Just take the quarterstaff and make it a reach weapon instead of a double weapon. They had those.
Vaalingrade Ashland 09-03-06, 08:33 PM	Q-staves are really reach weapons anyway (game mechanics aside). While mechanically, they shouldn't make trip attacks with it, you actually can. I guess dropping from d6 to d4 is worth that.
Artector 09-03-06, 08:39 PM	In one dragoin magizine (can't remeber the #) there's an article about Pole-arms. It had the Longstaff, which was a staff with reach.
dengarbountyhunter 09-03-06, 08:42 PM	And the good part with that reach quarterstaff is that you can still use it as a 10-foot pole!
Atirakis 09-04-06, 03:50 AM	A quarterstaff is not 10' it is more like 4-5' The longstaff is what you want.
runestar 09-04-06, 08:26 AM	Get the party mage to cast enlarge person on you...:P
Caliborn 09-04-06, 10:05 AM	Only things with hooks or that can be wrapped around a limb are capable of tripping. It's dumb, but that is the precedent.
Vaalingrade Ashland 09-04-06, 12:42 PM	Only things with hooks or that can be wrapped around a limb are capable of tripping. It's dumb, but that is the precedent. Easy fix: All non-light weapons can be used to trip. Weapons currently listed as allowing a trip attack grant a +2 to trip Strength or Dexterity checks made to trip opponents. Much like reach weapons you can't choke up on, trip weapons in DnD cry out for Rule 0.
Seerow 09-04-06, 12:49 PM	I'd LOVE to see how you're tripping someone with a Dagger or Morning Star.
Vaalingrade Ashland 09-04-06, 03:38 PM	I'd LOVE to see how you're tripping someone with a Dagger or Morning Star. All non-light weapons can be used to trip. Weapons currently listed as allowing a trip attack grant a +2 to trip Strength or Dexterity checks made to trip opponents. And a morningstar is easy; you smack the back of thier knee and watch them crumple. Frankly, its easier than the implied use of the sickle.
Chrono Nexus 09-04-06, 03:45 PM	It's a quarterstaff with reach, and can't be used against adjacent targets. It can't be used as a double weapon. I have a character with one of these. My dm houseruled that I gained a +4 bonus on jump checks if I combined it with a double move.
Seraphine_Harmonium 09-05-06, 12:20 AM	It's a quarterstaff with reach, and can't be used against adjacent targets. It can't be used as a double weapon. I have a character with one of these. My dm houseruled that I gained a +4 bonus on jump checks if I combined it with a double move. So basically you have a D&D olympic pole-vaulter. Sweet.
The_One_True_Boris 09-05-06, 02:14 AM	Never, ever give your PCs ten-foot poles! They will all want them, and they will all abuse them! Ah, the flashbacks!
celtic_knot_phoenix 09-05-06, 02:35 AM	the craziest thing our group did was take profesion(pole vault) which allowed us to make insane jumps with a 10 or 15 foot pole.
Legdiwena 09-05-06, 02:41 AM	OOH!!! 15 ft reach :drool: :drool: would it need to be collapsible to carry?
Bulletproof_Condom 09-05-06, 03:54 AM	Never, ever give your PCs ten-foot poles! They will all want them, and they will all abuse them! Aside from kobold-on-a-stick, I think the only notable abuse of 10 ft. poles I've ever seen is to buy a bunch of ten foot ladders, cut off the rungs, and sell them back as ten foot poles.
Legdiwena 09-05-06, 04:00 AM	You can make profit selling 2 poles back at half price? would think ladder would cost more than its components
Bulletproof_Condom 09-05-06, 05:30 AM	I thought so, too. But it's right there in the equipment chapter. Ladder, 10-foot : 5 cp. Pole, 10-foot : 2 sp. You get two ten foot poles out of a single ten foot ladder. So you turn 5 copper into 2 silver. You quadruple your investment.
Atirakis 09-05-06, 12:15 PM	Wouldnt work. The rungs are attached by carving holes in the side poles and then nailing them together. You cant sell that as a pole.
Legdiwena 09-05-06, 01:23 PM	Sell to temple as holy whacking stick?
Daiben 09-06-06, 05:22 AM	And a morningstar is easy; you smack the back of thier knee and watch them crumple. Frankly, its easier than the implied use of the sickle. Tripping was a common tactic in medieval/renaissance combat and was utilized in two ways; either by snagging your opponent using some type of hook or by physically grappling/tying up your opponent and using a wrestling style throw or trip. This was why so many polearms developed hooks specifically for snagging and dragging down armoured opponents. Both of these methods are utilized in the rules. Now it is incredibly difficult to bring someone down using a non-hook weapon such as a staff, sword or the before mentioned morning star. Without hooking or physically holding an opponent to control their balance you basically have no way to reliably get them off their feet except maybe via a sweep. Smashing someone’s knee or cutting through their leg will likely knock them over but it will also probably end the fight and is thus represented in the game rules by reducing someone to 0 or less HP I've had quite a number of years experience training/competing in judo, wrestling and submission grappling and have researched both ancient, medieval and renaissance grappling so tripping is an area I'm reasonably familiar with :cool:
stevetom 09-12-06, 12:17 AM	sharpen the end to the pole, make yourself a pike(though, historically, pikes had more like a 10-15ft reach)
Dheran 09-12-06, 10:18 AM	Now it is incredibly difficult to bring someone down using a non-hook weapon such as a staff ... Without hooking or physically holding an opponent to control their balance you basically have no way to reliably get them off their feet except maybe via a sweep. Except the sweep is a maneuver that's tolerant of poor aim; you don't need to actually remove the opponent's feet from under them to succeed. Dropping them to their knees is what'll happen if your aim is off -- and that's really good enough. The favorable result of the attempted sweep is made easier by the standard flexed-knee combat stance. (The knee is a fragile joint and breaks when only about 12 lbs. of force is applied straight onto it. To guard your knees against frontal attacks, to reduce your center of gravity, and to ready you to spring, you fight with some bend to the knees. This means that a frontal blow has to work against gravity and muscles to get the knee joint to lock rather than just dealing damage to the joint itself.) Because knees are generally already bent a bit, any moderate force applied from back to front will easily bend them forward. A blow to the backs of the thighs will have the same effect: they drop to their knees with residual forward motion, often pitching face down. If you actually aim the sweep properly, catching your target on the calves and knocking their feet from under them, you've got the "classic" trip attack. But really, either result is a favorable combat outcome for the quarterstaff wielder. An enemy on their knees has lost maneuverability and reach against you, making you the melee favorite from that point forward.
_Chaz_ 09-12-06, 12:24 PM	In taijutsu, they teach up how to "trip" (if you can call it that, you might want to call it grappling, either way they're face down) with bo (6ft staff), hand bo (3ft staff) and most lengths in between. I can see how this can be applied ot most weapons, it's the same theory, just more or less bloody, as the case may be.