Two Handed Reach Weapons - Sell me on your favorites.

[nohbody]

I've never made a reach weapon character, and I'm thinking of giving it a shot. I'm kind of inspired by Nonnus the Pewleman from the David Drake Lord of the Isles series. But here's the thing. Many of the reach weapons seem the same to me, a la the Mortal Kombat palette swap ninjas.

So, sell me on your favorites. Be it damage die, special abilities, or even rule of cool, sell me on it.

I'm thinking of perhaps the simple Longspear.

[Nicos]

If I am not taking improved critical my favorite weapon is the naginata. With improved critical the bardiche and fauchard are good.

[nohbody]

I like the Boarding Pike as well, simple, understated, and Google images has some interesting depictions of the boarding pike.

I have to say that I do like the x4 of the Naginata.

Eh, for some reason, the bardiche & the fauchard, while having a great damage die and special abilities, they don't have that...certain panache. At least for me.

Any more? Or more fans of any of the aforementioned weapons?

[mplindustries]

The Fauchard is the best one, mechanically, by a decent margin.

Aesthetically, I like the Totem Spear and Glaive.

[Talos the Talon!]

Meteor Hammer. Decent damage, Reach if you want, double if you need it for close up, shield bonus to ac, pull people in effect. Loves it.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Now that you can trip with any weapon, the spiked chain was nerfed into the ground and 6 ft under, and reach lockdown as whole kind of sucks... it's hard to pick any standouts. I guess the Fauchard, but barely.

I always loved the Kusari-gama aesthetically. A practical yet awesome/cool chain weapon.

Playing tons of Samurai Warriors has led me to adoring the cross spear (last pic on the right side).

[blackbloodtroll]

I like the Kusarigama too.

Did we ever figure out how that weapon works?

[StreamOfTheSky]

I don't believe so, no. So it's hard to say whether it's one of my favorites (mechanically) or not.

Cool video of the kusarigama from an awesome and (sadly) cancelled History Channel series, "Warriors." From the timestamp till about 5:20.

[Pirate Rob]

Ripsaw Glave.

Chainsaw on a stick! How cool is that?

[blackbloodtroll]

Indeed.

Ripsaw Glaive is pretty thematically awesome.

[jabberwoky]

Dwarven Dorn-Dergar: Ball of chain of awesome with some cool feat support
Dwarven Longhammer: Can't argue with a 2d6 for damage...
Tri-point double edged sword: Martial, and with a bit of luck, your enemies will say "What the hell is th-" before you impale them
Flying blade: Perhaps not the best choice, but points for style

[Pupsocket]

Horsechopper. Martial, reach and trip, and you don't have to roll d4s to use it.

[soupturtle]

The lucerne hammer! Two damage types, and you finally get to roll a D12.

Also, if you are going to swing around something on the end of a long pole, surely you want it to be a massive hammer instead of some wimpy curved blade.

[strayshift]

soupturtle wrote:

The lucerne hammer! Two damage types, and you finally get to roll a D12.

Also, if you are going to swing around something on the end of a long pole, surely you want it to be a massive hammer instead of some wimpy curved blade.

Echo this, but also add that you can safely sunder from reach with a bonus against the heavier armours. Blunt/Piercing is a good damage combo and you have brace if you need that also.

[Horselord]

I do like the Fauchard. It is the only 18-20 threat range weapon with reach. d10 isn't too shabby either. It's my preferred weapon on a Phalanx Fighter.

[Martiln]

No one's mentioned Ranseur yet? the bonus to disarm has saved one of my characters quite a few times from charging barbarians/minotaurs who suddenly find themselves weaponless in the middle of a charge. The Bardiche can also be a lot of fun, especially if you like improved crit/lunge/whirlwind attack. Longspears are nice for people who are only proficient with simple weapons, but the glaive is a better choice for martial characters. I'm also a huge fan of the ripsaw glaive. if you're strong enough, the bonus damage will last you almost a whole combat.

[Eben TheQuiet]

Longspear, baby! No school like old school!

[Lakesidefantasy]

I couldn't decide so I paid 10,000 gold for the transformative quality on a bardiche.

[tonyz]

Lance (Effectively auto-crit on a charge? And I can take another feat to do it again? Woot!), or fauchard (reach, trip, 18-20 crit range: woot woot! It's worth eating a feat to use!)

Or glaive. Reach and trip is a great combination.

But not guisarme. I hate rolling lots of d4s.

[Imbicatus]

tonyz wrote:

But not guisarme. I hate rolling lots of d4s.

Not me. I much prefer 2d4 weapons to 1d10 ones. I like that they are more predictable and less swingy in combat.

[tonyz]

It's not the numbers, it's the sheer physical annoyance of having to pick up multiple d4s at once.

[Finlanderboy]

Hahah my 1st level sorcerer loves d4s.

Burning hands 4d4+8 eat that bad guys

[StreamOfTheSky]

Time Stop and Mirror Image make lots of people love the d4.

My familiar's breath weapon is making me hate the d4, though. I always manage to roll so damn well on it... (for rounds till it can be used again)

[Sitri]

One more vote for fauchard, nice damage and the crit range is awesome.

My wife defeated an entire encounter of 4 or 5 creature with one of these and combat reflexes at low levels before anyone else in the party even acted. It is a beast.

[RedEric]

The fauchard is a winner when you need to min max, but for style I prefer either the glaive or the bardiche. They are both big ass blades on a stick, my favorites.

[utsutsu]

I prefer the Bec de Corbin to the Lucerne Hammer. Same qualities, but you drop down to a d10 but pick up a x3 crit multiplier.