I'm curious, one of the players in my group (a Tiefling Fighter) uses an Exotic weapon called a 'Ripper' (an abyssal favorite of many demons from the 'Manual Of The Planes'), which functions as a Glaive for all technical aspects and the question arose - the same player argued since its a 'pole' weapon like a spear it can be set for a charge much like a Lance or a Spear, I wonder, is this technically correct?
Glaives are 'Slashing' weapons, Spears and Lances are 'Piercing' weapons and thereby make more sense to be used to 'Set Against A Charge', to help me put this little query to bed, in my original ruling Non-Piercing type weapons cant set against a charge since the concept of setting against a charge dictates that the enemy 'impales' themselves on the weapon when they attack which is not feasible (but not quite impossible) with a slashing type weapon.
I'd appreciate if anyone has any insight into this.
Ciao.
Does this exotic weapon include brace in it's stats?
Glaive doesn't, so it cannot be set against a charge. The same ruling should apply.
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Glaives are 'Slashing' weapons, Spears and Lances are 'Piercing' weapons and thereby make more sense to be used to 'Set Against A Charge', to help me put this little query to bed, in my original ruling Non-Piercing type weapons cant set against a charge since the concept of setting against a charge dictates that the enemy 'impales' themselves on the weapon when they attack which is not feasible (but not quite impossible) with a slashing type weapon.
You're mostly correct on the fundamentals, but the question is really not "slashing vs. piercing", it's "swing vs. thrust". If the weapon is designed to be thrust at the target, then it can be used to stop thrust an advancing or charging opponent. If the weapon is designed to be swung, then the business end is oriented 90 degrees to the haft, and it can't stop-thrust.
Unfortunately, PFRPG (for reasons of simplicity) doesn't distinguish between thrust or swung weapons or attacks. Looking at the descriptions of standard weapons in the Core Rulebook, you can see that several of these polearms are designed to either be swung or thrusted, such as the ranseur, which has a vertical (thrusting) spike flanked by two side-mounted (swung) cutting blades.
The glaive described in the Core Rulebook appears to be a polearm with a blade equivalent to a large chefs knife such as a santuko. The point on this blade would allow the glaive to be used as a thrusting weapon.
The question then remains how similar this "ripper" is to a standard glaive. Unfortunately I was unable to locate the reference to the ripper in my MotP. So if you just say "it's a glaive" then the answer is yes, it can be set against a charge.
Edit: I was not previously aware of the "brace" mechanic introduced in PFRPG. So, Jason has ruled that glaives cannot be braced.
The brace mechanic is new, 3.5 ruled on a case by case basis, but glaives couldn't be set against charges in 3.5 either.
Glaives are 'Slashing' weapons, Spears and Lances are 'Piercing' weapons and thereby make more sense to be used to 'Set Against A Charge', to help me put this little query to bed, in my original ruling Non-Piercing type weapons cant set against a charge since the concept of setting against a charge dictates that the enemy 'impales' themselves on the weapon when they attack which is not feasible (but not quite impossible) with a slashing type weapon.You're mostly correct on the fundamentals, but the question is really not "slashing vs. piercing", it's "swing vs. thrust". If the weapon is designed to be thrust at the target, then it can be used to stop thrust an advancing or charging opponent. If the weapon is designed to be swung, then the business end is oriented 90 degrees to the haft, and it can't stop-thrust.
Unfortunately, PFRPG (for reasons of simplicity) doesn't distinguish between thrust or swung weapons or attacks. Looking at the descriptions of standard weapons in the Core Rulebook, you can see that several of these polearms are designed to either be swung or thrusted, such as the ranseur, which has a vertical (thrusting) spike flanked by two side-mounted (swung) cutting blades.
The glaive described in the Core Rulebook appears to be a polearm with a blade equivalent to a large chefs knife such as a santuko. The point on this blade would allow the glaive to be used as a thrusting weapon.
The question then remains how similar this "ripper" is to a standard glaive. Unfortunately I was unable to locate the reference to the ripper in my MotP. So if you just say "it's a glaive" then the answer is yes, it can be set against a charge.
Edit: I was not previously aware of the "brace" mechanic introduced in PFRPG. So, Jason has ruled that glaives cannot be braced.
I think the "Ripper" was in the Planar Handbook sorry, not the Manual Of The Planes, thats my bad, thanks for pointing that out.