When I create a character, the imagery is very important to me. I usually look for inspiration in popular media, fantasy books, games, comic books, etc, as I'm sure many of you do, to help me create an immage of the character I'm making, based around the concept (or inversely, find a concept fitting for an image and idea I liked.
I've been toying with the idea of a Polearm specialized fighter, but I can't seem to picture one I like. I don't know why, but in my mind the polearm fighter seems bland and non-heroic when compared to it's TH, TWF, S&B or Archer counterparts.
Could you guys throw me a few ideas (names, pictures, etc) of polearm fighters, so I can get a clear picture of how cool and heroic a polearm fighter can look, and get inspiration for a concept, style and backstory?
Here a some criterias to use as a guide:
-Male
-Somewhat buff & macho looking (I don't like the quick & agile slender type, not for fighters anyways)
-In armor, at least medium. Don't mind more outlandish armor.
-Heroic (mentioned many times, because it's important to me. I don't want examples reminding of your run-of-the-mill soldier).
Basicaly I'm looking for images and exemples of a buff "In your face" fighter specializing in polearms. I guess what I'm trying to do is to get rid of the "polearms are for pussies" subsconcious bias I seem to be stuck with...
When I create a character, the imagery is very important to me. I usually look for inspiration in popular media, fantasy books, games, comic books, etc, as I'm sure many of you do, to help me create an immage of the character I'm making, based around the concept (or inversely, find a concept fitting for an image and idea I liked.
I've been toying with the idea of a Polearm specialized fighter, but I can't seem to picture one I like. I don't know why, but in my mind the polearm fighter seems bland and non-heroic when compared to it's TH, TWF, S&B or Archer counterparts.
Could you guys throw me a few ideas (names, pictures, etc) of polearm fighters, so I can get a clear picture of how cool and heroic a polearm fighter can look, and get inspiration for a concept, style and backstory?
Here a some criterias to use as a guide:
-Male
-Somewhat buff & macho looking (I don't like the quick & agile slender type, not for fighters anyways)
-In armor, at least medium. Don't mind more outlandish armor.
-Heroic (mentioned many times, because it's important to me. I don't want examples reminding of your run-of-the-mill soldier).Basicaly I'm looking for images and exemples of a buff "In your face" fighter specializing in polearms. I guess what I'm trying to do is to get rid of the "polearms are for pussies" subsconcious bias I seem to be stuck with...
If you're going to go with polearms and want some coolness factor I would consider going with combat manuevers and specializing in one of the polearms that gives you a bonus to trip/disarm/etc. That or wear a codpiece, a red cape, a big shield, and heft a spear in one hand running around yelling "This Is SPARTA!" I would give you 10 hero cookies.
Have you played the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors console/pc games? Lots of heroic looking polearm users there.
I don't think I have. Thanks, I'll be sure to check this out.
If you're going to go with polearms and want some coolness factor I would consider going with combat manuevers and specializing in one of the polearms that gives you a bonus to trip/disarm/etc. That or wear a codpiece, a red cape, a big shield, and heft a spear in one hand running around yelling "This Is SPARTA!" I would give you 10 hero cookies.
Yeah, I was planning to specialize the character in some of those maneuvers. And of course, I do dig the spartan look, but I don't think you can wield a reach polearm with a shield...
Have you played the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors console/pc games? Lots of heroic looking polearm users there.I don't think I have. Thanks, I'll be sure to check this out.
If you're going to go with polearms and want some coolness factor I would consider going with combat manuevers and specializing in one of the polearms that gives you a bonus to trip/disarm/etc. That or wear a codpiece, a red cape, a big shield, and heft a spear in one hand running around yelling "This Is SPARTA!" I would give you 10 hero cookies.Yeah, I was planning to specialize the character in some of those maneuvers. And of course, I do dig the spartan look, but I don't think you can wield a reach polearm with a shield...
Halfling sized glaive/guisarme whatever you roll smaller damage dice and take a -2 penalty for inappropriate sized weapon but it still has reach.
Strategists and Tacticians have an excellent Polearm specialist Prestige Class (and illo!), you may want to check it out
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I've been toying with the idea of a Polearm specialized fighter, but I can't seem to picture one I like. I don't know why, but in my mind the polearm fighter seems bland and non-heroic when compared to it's TH, TWF, S&B or Archer counterparts.
I had a naginata fighter, and then a glaive fighter (I just used the glaive in the book for both - naginata are pretty much Japanese glaives).
Here are some images I found of naginata in action:
http://www.miniatures-berlin.de/images/products/SA-11/1.jpg
http://granadoespada.e-games.com.ph/cms/media/naginata.jpg
http://images.elfwood.com/art/m/d/mdenlar/samurai_lord.jpg
http://www.jccc.on.ca/martial_arts/imagesmartial/naginata5.jpg
Traditional:
https://www.ahjmaa-budo-arts.com/images/naginata_storm_of_arrows.jpg
http://www.thedojo.co.uk/naginata.gif
http://www.printsofjapan.com/images/Kuniyoshi_halberd_naginata.jpg
In addition to the excellent Pikeman PrC featured in Strategists and Tacticians, one of the fighting styles available to the Samurai in Paths of Power is 'Sojutsu', which is the art of the spear, which eventually includes polearms such as the naginata and bisento.
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DANG! Stupid page refreshed itself and I lost a whole slew of links to cool images!
Okay Guisarms is my favorite polearm because it has 1d6 (x3 crit) and reach and Trip. GREAT weapon for the Trip Maneuver. It looks cool also. Stab the bad guy or hooks his guts and rip them out.
okay cool pics...
from a video game
another video game I WANT his freaking polearm!
and yet another video game
from D&D 4E
no idea what this is from
lol found a REALLY cool shot but the pic was on an adult site of all places! lol
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I was thinking that there had to be a badass picture of Cu Chulainn with his 'seven pronged spear' Gae Bolg out there, but... not so much.
Plus he either is portrayed with no armor or light armor, which doesn't really fit what you are looking for.
Best picture I could find, and it's totally not what you requested.
Okay, those are elves, but picture them being just a bit more "buff" and "Grrrr".
As far as fluff goes, they should be carrying axes, but there's no reason you need to stick with any references when describing your weapon. ;-)
Add a little steel here and there and it might as well be a halberd.
Polearms eh... spears are polearms right?
How about Fae Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
He uses what I would describe as a "Changeling" Spear. (Changeling as the weapon enhancement in the Magic Item Compendium)
I'm sure he does not quite fit what you are looking for though... but he is fairly buff AND agile. As the fight scenes show... he is also "in your face".
If you compare the size of the character with Ron Pearlman you'll see he is not a "pussy" either. Ron is a fairly big fella.
....................................
Past that... Roman Legionaires often fought with Spear and Shield.
if you can get hold of soul caliber 4 it has an awesome character builder, and you can change out the weapons on this edition, it is interactive enough that you will probably be able to make whatever character you like to fit a fantasy setting.
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When I think of a polearm fighter, two concepts come to mind:
1.) the agile naginata wielder, spinning and slashing. A primarily Dexterity-based build. He moves all over the field of battle in heroic fashion.
2.) the strictly business, man-at-arms. Basic armor, helmet, a secondary weapon (shortsword, etc) and the polearm of choice. He moves to the front and takes the brunt of the enemy assault. He's not pretty, or charismatic; he's a grunt. He knows this and accepts it. His feats are designed to withstand charges, stike with reach, a hold the line for those behind him.
When I think "pole arm fighter", I think of the halberdier. Just the thing for dealing with pesky mounted types who've smashed into your like of pikes or spears.
In one of the old and original D&D novels with Gord the Rogue a half-orc npc is described as holding off several mounted fighters with 'longish spear'. I've been trying to match that vision with a character ever since. But I get sucked away to other, more interesting weapons. I'm a sucker for a high crit factor and the various reach weapons are, to me, uninspiring. Now, if the naginata had a 19-20 crit or was a monk weapon...
Whenever I think polearm fighter I thinkTHESE GUYS. The Landskenechte! Fancy and flamboyant what more do you want! Have the bonus feat Stuff Codpiece.
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I wanted to play an polearm fighter too since I saw pictures of Lawfer from Valkyre Profile.
There are a lot of cool yet somewhat traditional armor designs.
For a mean spear, check out the Greatspear from Complete Warrior. Nice Damage overall. ;-)
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Polearms eh... spears are polearms right?
How about Fae Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
silly elves... he fights about as well as a little dwarven girl in her first year of combat training. bah not impressed. We dwarves don't go showing off for outsiders. We prefer to let them underestimate us then when they attack we kill them all. None of that fancy dancing crud. We just get straight to business!
Polearms eh... spears are polearms right?
How about Fae Prince Nuada from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.
He uses what I would describe as a "Changeling" Spear. (Changeling as the weapon enhancement in the Magic Item Compendium)
I'm sure he does not quite fit what you are looking for though... but he is fairly buff AND agile. As the fight scenes show... he is also "in your face".
If you compare the size of the character with Ron Pearlman you'll see he is not a "pussy" either. Ron is a fairly big fella.
....................................
Past that... Roman Legionaires often fought with Spear and Shield.
WOW! This is exactly what I think of when I think "polearm fighter." Prince Nuada! (And he's my inspiration for an NPC I'm working on...)
Dean; The_Minstrel_Wyrm
PS: The link you provided Lokie... was awesome and so was the music.
It isn't that dwarves don't show off... it is simply that they can't. Complete lack of skill. That's why they hide in their mountains cowering in fear that someone will look at them meanly. They deserve their lot as slaves you know -- it's the only real way they feel comfort or meaning in their lives, the poor pitiful creatures.
WOW! This is exactly what I think of when I think "polearm fighter." Prince Nuada! (And he's my inspiration for an NPC I'm working on...)
Dean; The_Minstrel_Wyrm
PS: The link you provided Lokie... was awesome and so was the music.
Thanks! Glad you like it. Youtube searches are my friend. :)
Also... as Nether Saxon mentioned, the GreatSpear from Complete Warrior is also a wonderful weapon. If you take a feat like *Short Haft* from PHB2 and you'll get some nice flexibility to choke up on the weapon when you don't need reach.
I really do like the *Changeling* weapon enhancement from the Magic Item Compendium. It lets you change your spear from ShortSpear<>Spear<>LongSpear depending on the situation you find yourself in. Keeping your spear in Shortspear form also allows for ease of carry outside of combat. If you run with Fighter or Ranger (Two-weapon) you can supplement your fighting style by carrying a light secondary weapon and fight with a Shortspear & Dagger, Shortspear & Light Hammer, or Shortspear & Handaxe ...etc. The added benefit is that the Shortspear (or Spear) and all the weapons I just suggested can also be thrown.
@Ainslan
I hope we have been of some help.
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I too vastly prefer the naginata-wielding quick striking harrier of "the East"(my postcolonial studies teach will kill me for that). If anyone has seen Seirei no Moribito, then the "why" of my preference is obvious. Though I admit that they made that fight way too fast.
However, I'd hesitate to place two polearm fighting styles so different side by side, or three if you include phalanx-fighting, since both the associations to popular culture and coolness factor come from so different sources. It's the city guard with a spear and a week of training idea I have a gripe with, not the fancy landsknecht with the arrogance and the rugged grace of a cavalier.
Probably because historically polearm fighters never stand out as individuals, they're essentially deployed as a wall for mounted figures to impale themselves and thier mounts on. (like the French knights who basically got skewered at Agincourt if memory servers) Not a particularly glorious style of combat, but effective when deployed properly, The polearm is essentially a unit fighter, because the weapon is too clumsy for traditional hand to hand fighting. Also the polearm fighter is much more effective in groups of similar fighters than he is on his own.When I create a character, the imagery is very important to me. I usually look for inspiration in popular media, fantasy books, games, comic books, etc, as I'm sure many of you do, to help me create an immage of the character I'm making, based around the concept (or inversely, find a concept fitting for an image and idea I liked.
I've been toying with the idea of a Polearm specialized fighter, but I can't seem to picture one I like. I don't know why, but in my mind the polearm fighter seems bland and non-heroic when compared to it's TH, TWF, S&B or Archer counterparts.
That's not in the least bit true. That's like saying a spear is no good out of a line. The most similar weapon to the halberd I've used is a pollaxe, with the halberd being admittedly a bit slower to swing but more powerful, like a hammer but without the reach reduction from a sword. A sword can't usually block it, that's why they have to go sword and board.
It's just they weren't considered a gentleman's weapon due to being mostly a stick.
Do you call this "too clumsy" to be wielded effectively?
Plus, you need to have an answer to people closing you. I suggest spiked gauntlets at the very least since in D&D it's not kosher to just keep backing up so they can't get to you without seriously unbalancing themselves or do the smart thing and hike up your grip a bit so you can stab them up close.
An excellent answer to someone closing in real life with sword and board is demonstrated in the techniques video. Feint an attack to the head, then slash to the leg near the kneecap. Pull back and thrust forward to his right chest while retreating to avoid him falling. If they don't block the feint you brain 'em! That, and using it like a spear to strike at the legs, chest and face is always a good plan.
Plus you got that hook... Hook it behind (or more impolitely, INTO) their leg and pull them down. Shred them and stick 'em in the face and legs if they try to get up.
The Halberd is a heavy weapon, sure. But so's the Francisca, and I don't complain when your Barbarian is using a weapon with TWO Francisca heads on it. Since it can't be used as a spear, it's even heavier.
Anyway, why focus on fantasy halberd users? The real deal is pretty awesome as well. Whose weapon is used to guard the kingdom? That crappy shield and sword? In D&D it's good. But the Halberd used to be the highest damage weapon in the game, and the slowest, unjustly. The weight of a Swiss Halberd from the 17th century? 4.5 pounds. There's a bunch of polearm weights listed on the bottom of this page:
Shield and Weapon Weights
Conveniently if you scroll up a little bit there's the weights for two-handed swords, which are certainly not useless outside of formation. Some of the polearms are actually LIGHTER than the two-handed swords. The two weapons are basically in the same boat. Do you want to know the real reason the halberd and the two-handed sword were retired, around the same period? Warfare had changed with the crossbow, and with it spear formations were less important. Cavalry still made an appearance, but now it was necessary to turn every unit into an archer. Soon, the halberdiers were relegated to protecting soldiers as they loaded their firearms, and with the bayonet this became unnecessary.
The gun, like many other technological marvels, was what truly left this weapon in the dust. Not being "unwieldy", not being a warfare only weapon, but simple technological advance.
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I've been toying with the idea of a Polearm specialized fighter, but I can't seem to picture one I like. I don't know why, but in my mind the polearm fighter seems bland and non-heroic when compared to it's TH, TWF, S&B or Archer counterparts.I had a naginata fighter, and then a glaive fighter (I just used the glaive in the book for both - naginata are pretty much Japanese glaives).
Here are some images I found of naginata in action:
http://www.miniatures-berlin.de/images/products/SA-11/1.jpg
http://granadoespada.e-games.com.ph/cms/media/naginata.jpg
http://images.elfwood.com/art/m/d/mdenlar/samurai_lord.jpg
http://www.jccc.on.ca/martial_arts/imagesmartial/naginata5.jpgTraditional:
https://www.ahjmaa-budo-arts.com/images/naginata_storm_of_arrows.jpg
http://www.thedojo.co.uk/naginata.gif
http://www.printsofjapan.com/images/Kuniyoshi_halberd_naginata.jpg
...and you're not going to take this opportunity to show off your artwork for your character?
I will. I loved Wryll.
I like you, you get the blunt end
I almost did a cleric of Shelyn with a glaive for "Council of Thieves" inspired by her.
I do dig the spartan look, but I don't think you can wield a reach polearm with a shield...Not by the Rules, as far as I know, but the Greek phalanx did just fine with large shields and longspears for a century or so.
There should be a way to pull this off, but maybe without gaining the benefit of the extra Two-hand damage. Talk to your DM.
you need to have an answer to people closing you. I suggest spiked gauntlets at the very leastI allow Reach weapons to be used in an adjacent square with a -4 (i.e. "non-proficient") penalty, which can be negated by a feat I call Choke Up. Again, talk to your DM.
FWIW,
Rez
Yeah, but I think it should just be switchable without any penalty. Just my opinion anyway. Reach weapons already get the shaft in a lot of rulesets, so I could be biased but what can you do.
Plus the spiked gauntlets are good in a grapple if the DM likes to do that, and requires no houserules so you could do it in PF Society.
Check out Creative Uncut and look under any of the Fire Emblem games. Almost all of the polearm wielding characters in that franchise are sweet looking.
Additionally, I think there was a halberd wielding dude in Y's: The Ark of Napishtim though his name escapes me at the moment.
EDIT: link fixed
I would like to point out that the "low AC of shields" is a bit of... yeah doesn't really hold up:
Sure the "base bonus" is "only 1,2,4" for the shield, however once you add in +1~+5 from the magical bonuses, that is a +6,+7 or +9 from the shield. That equals up to any of the light armors in the game, and if you want to spend the feats you can raise that up another 1 or 2 points too, netting a total bonus of +8, +9, or +11 from the shield in question.
Those are not "low AC bonuses" and they are from shields.
So to sum up, when you use shields of actual value for the level of the character they bonus they provide is not insignificant.
As I mentioned up thread...
There is already a feat that lets you "choke up" on your reach weapon. Its called Short Haft and it can be found in the PHB2. As Pathfinder was designed to work with 3.5 in mind, it should work with no modification needed.
A Shortspear/Heavy Shield combo works well by the rules. You could get a neat "Zulu" vibe going if you wanted.
Though... if you wanted the extra reach you could go with a Buckler/Longspear combo as well.
Rezdave, a +1, +2 or +4 to AC at low level isn't an insignificant bonus to AC. After all I point out leather armor, studded leather armor (often taken over leather for the extra +1) chain shirt (often taken over the studded leather armor for the extra +1) and the use of feats such as dodge.
To say such a bonus isn't worth it or is insignificant would be like saying, "Well I'll just forget about my Dex bonus to AC since it doesn't really matter anyways." At lower levels, especially when those bonuses could again be 1 higher from the shield focus feat if the player chose to take it.
Indeed at lower level the shield is even better because low level enhancements on it are cheaper than increasing the enhancement bonus on armor. Consider:
+2 Chain Shirt = 4,250 gp
+1 Chain shirt with + 1 buckler = 2,410 gp and gives an extra +1 on AC in comparison.
Well what Storm King suggests isn't the standard or in the core (currently). I would point out that that power attack at first level only nets you one point of damage over a one handed weapon with a two handed weapon too. One point of damage or +2 to AC? On the Reach Front I don't disagree that is very useful, however for no feat investment on the shield you could have the reach and the shield simply by using a small sized reach weapon instead of the regular one -- this does entail a -2 penalty to hit though.
An interesting Polearm-wielding Fighter could be made using a Plackart (or 'Gut-Plate', if you prefer) using a Chain Shirt's statistics, the Armored Kilt from the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, a Ogre Hook or a Guisarme and the Shorten Grip feat, as well as the Braced for Charge, Spinning Defense and Vault.
These feats enables the Fighter to set a pole-arm not designed for it against a charge attack, Spinning Defense allows, if you have Combat Expertise, Improved Unarmed Strike and Deflect arrows, to gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC when fighting defensively and to deflect any number of missile attacks until your next term (excluding siege-weapon missiles, magical missiles and boulders hurled by giants!) and to decrease the DCs for your long-jumps by 5. Combine Vault with Leap Attack to bring some real pain to the enemy.
Also, don't forget the Whirlwind Tree if you're going for the Polearm weaponry. If the DM will allow all these 3.5 feats into the mix, beg, plead, offer sexual favours, whatever, to get Explosive as an enchantment on your weapon. Whirlwind with Shorten Grip, then do it again at normal reach, then do it again with Long Strike (the opposite of Shorten Grip) and create a 'circle of death' for the enemy to have to dance around of. A less feat-intensive (and less easily buggered by mobs charging in over their prone allies) is to use Cleave and Great Cleave with the Explosive Enchantment to use your Polearm to clear enemies away from your more vulnerable companions. In this, in controlling the battlefield via keeping the enemies at a reasonable distance, you can prove more effective than the Fighter in Heavy Plate with a Flail and a Tower Shield at controlling the flow of battle.
I'd also recommend taking a look at the Monk class, taking the Pole Fighter, Spinning Defense and Long Strike feats and possibly either the Greatspear or Dwarven Warpike as your weapon of choice. While unarmored, the Monk is fast, agile and can annoy the s@!& out of the enemy using Spring attack and a Reach Weapon to use hit-and-run tactics to wear the enemy down. And with their brilliant Reflex Saves, nothing is stopping the Polearm Monk from using certain poisons on their weapon to further cripple the enemy. I made a great 'Assassin' Monk like this in one campaign, he was pure evil to the party as no matter how badly the Paladin and Cleric tried to pin him down to take to trial, the damn Monk could just slip away under cover of a Flurry from his Poison-coated Greatspear and vanish via the Hide skill or his Ring of Invisibility.