I... don't actually know. I think some feats use it with nets, and it might be the sacred weapon for some god.
There are a lot of weapons like that though, just objectively worse in all ways than their peers.
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It has three points, actually.
You can use it one handed, allowing for a shield or a net, or whatever.
This is like asking what the point of weapons are when there's magic in the game.
Tridents are 1 handed, while spears (with the exception of the shortspear) are 2 handed. It is also the only weapon (in the core rules, at least. May be others elsewhere.) that can be braced.
Well it would be more apt yo compare it to a short spear since it is one handed. So reduced throw range, increased damage and the ability to brace vs a charge. The only one handed weapon in core with brace, so that is something.
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In the real world, tridents were also used specifically because they were more effective at stabbing fish than a single- or double-tined spear.
I've never used one, but apparently having multiple heads meant you were more likely to actually hit when thrusting it through the surface of some water, into a fish. (Not that this is implemented mechanically in PF.)
Therefore Tritons (and Neptune/Poseidon, et al) were usually depicted with them, therefore PF needed stats for them.
And gladiators.
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Tridents are 1 handed, while spears (with the exception of the shortspear) are 2 handed. It is also the only weapon (in the core rules, at least. May be others elsewhere.) that can be braced.
Yup.
Reskin it as a Hunting Spear or a War Spear, and now you can have your shield & spear fighting style without having to dip Phalanx Soldier.
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To allow for a popular visual aesthetic.
I... don't actually know. I think some feats use it with nets, and it might be the sacred weapon for some god.
Despite the name, the Net and Trident feat doesn't require a trident. It works with a net and any light or one handed weapon.
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The Net and Trident feat is actually pretty good, even if it does have a lot of prereqs. +2 on damage rolls and crit confirmation rolls vs entangled opponents with light or one handed weapons, and also you can use a net one-handed as a side benefit. It doesn't actually require a trident though, just a feat that is pretty cool. You would use a trident if you are a barbarian who wants a weapon that can be thrown, used one handed with a shield, or two handed, and braced against charging enemies which is useful at low levels. It isn't a great weapon, but it isn't a bad one either.
The Fighter's Fork is kind of a nifty trident. You can brace it, throw it as a trident, throw it as a javelin, shorten it until it is a light weapon, wield it as a one-handed weapon, wield it as a two-handed weapon without reach, or lengthen it into a two-handed reach weapon. That's pretty versatile. Especially since any feats that apply to tridents will work in any of its forms.
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A trident was designed to catch fish, and not really a weapon. Roman gladiators adopted it as exotic weapon fighting with a net to fit classic Poseidon mythos.
In the real world, tridents were also used specifically because they were more effective at stabbing fish than a single- or double-tined spear.
I've never used one, but apparently having multiple heads meant you were more likely to actually hit when thrusting it through the surface of some water, into a fish. (Not that this is implemented mechanically in PF.)
Therefore Tritons (and Neptune/Poseidon, et al) were usually depicted with them, therefore PF needed stats for them.
And gladiators.
Its advantage in fishing also work in combat- a near miss with a regular spear might still be a hit with one of the prongs. In a fight, that might mean someone loses an eye when they would have moved their head out of the way of a spear thrust.
There are also more insidious reasons. Tridents cause multiple wounds when they hit. That is multiple holes to bleed out of. That is multiple chances to hit an artery or vital organ. That is multiple holes that are so near eachother that they would need the exact same flesh when you sew up the wound, making them hard to treat. That is multiple holes that can get infested, that can lead to gangrene that can force an amputation.
Admittedly, you would more likely use a bident/military fork though. That has the same advantages with the wounds, but it meets less resistence since it only has two prongs. That is a problem with tridents- multiple heads means that the force of your blow has to work against several difference points of resistance.
Side note- tridents meant for fishing have barbs, since you are not supposed to let the thing you stab get away (and the thing you hit dies just by dragging it out of the water). Bidents and military forks do not have barbs, since you want to quickly retrieve your weapon so you can stab the next guy, or at least deal a more lethal blow against the same guy.
When using a trident to fish, one aims the upper tine at the fish. Because of light bending in the water, if this were a single tine spear it would almost certainly miss. The other two tines (the middle and lower ones) were the ones that caught the fish. If you were lucky, you got the fish on both tines and thereby manage to really get a good hold on the floppy little meal.
In combat, it was adopted by a number of foot soldiers as a make-shift weapon, reaching the height of popularity as a gladiatorial weapon in Rome. It was, however, mostly a symbolic weapon in the arena.
Basically it was a fishing tool that got used as a cheap ready-made weapon that then got used by the Romans because of Neptune/Poseidon.
A trident was designed to catch fish, and not really a weapon. Roman gladiators adopted it as exotic weapon fighting with a net to fit classic Poseidon mythos.
There were a lot of weapons that started off as a tool of some sort. Picks, hammers, flails, knives (and extending from there, swords), pole arms, a lot of martial arts weapons (tonfa, sai, nunchucks, monk's spade, a lot more)...
Just because something was designed to be a tool doesn't mean it can't become a weapon, or even upgraded into a weapon, like the war rake
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And gladiators.There are also more insidious reasons. Tridents cause multiple wounds when they hit. That is multiple holes to bleed out of. That is multiple chances to hit an artery or vital organ. That is multiple holes that are so near eachother that they would need the exact same flesh when you sew up the wound, making them hard to treat. That is multiple holes that can get infested, that can lead to gangrene that can force an amputation.
Three wounds probably also looked better in the arena. More blood. More cheers. More pain.
A trident was designed to catch fish, and not really a weapon. Roman gladiators adopted it as exotic weapon fighting with a net to fit classic Poseidon mythos.
Neptune...
Romans worshipped Neptune.
A trident was designed to catch fish, and not really a weapon. Roman gladiators adopted it as exotic weapon fighting with a net to fit classic Poseidon mythos.Neptune...
Romans worshipped Neptune.
Yeah, I know, but Poseidon, Neptune, Mannanon Mac Lir, Susano-o - they're all the same, I can't tell them apart (wink).