Please note that not all weapons have a full detailed description - some of them are made of a single sentence (Longspear, Longsword, Shortsword, and many others); others are completely absent (Club, Dart, Scythe, Sickle, Throwing Axe, and so on).
When in doubt about the special abilites of a weapon (for example, as your DM asked, if a Scythe has reach or not), remember that the Weapon Table shows all the special features a weapon possesses - weapons which have a more detailed description usually have some other special quality not mentioned in the table, like the +2 a Dagger gives on Sleight of Hand skill checks to conceal the weapon on your body.
In your specific case, the Scythe has the Trip special ability - it can be used to Trip and so you would gain any bonuses for using the weapon (magical bonuses, Weapon Focus, Weapon Training, and so on) when making a CMB check to Trip, plus the weapon can be dropped to avoid a counter-trip from your opponent - but it doesn't have the Reach ability, so (much like an Halberd or a Greataxe) its wooden handle is not long enough to be used to strike opponents far away.
Hope this can be of some help.
Chief Technical Officer
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Please note that not all weapons have a full detailed description - some of them are made of a single sentence (Longspear, Longsword, Shortsword, and many others); others are completely absent (Club, Dart, Scythe, Sickle, Throwing Axe, and so on).
When in doubt about the special abilites of a weapon (for example, as your DM asked, if a Scythe has reach or not), remember that the Weapon Table shows all the special features a weapon possesses - weapons which have a more detailed description usually have some other special quality not mentioned in the table, like the +2 a Dagger gives on Sleight of Hand skill checks to conceal the weapon on your body.
In your specific case, the Scythe has the Trip special ability - it can be used to Trip and so you would gain any bonuses for using the weapon (magical bonuses, Weapon Focus, Weapon Training, and so on) when making a CMB check to Trip, plus the weapon can be dropped to avoid a counter-trip from your opponent - but it doesn't have the Reach ability, so (much like an Halberd or a Greataxe) its wooden handle is not long enough to be used to strike opponents far away.
Hope this can be of some help.
To elaborate on what The Wraith said, the physical description of many simple items isn't present, as it's not really needed—if you don't know what a scythe looks like, you can look it up. All of the required mechanics are there in the table.
It's nasty enough as it is for weapon that's not in an advanced category.
Agreed. The scythe is balanced against the falchion, as the greataxe is balanced above the greatsword. In fact, due to the increased crit range, the scythe is better than the greatsword/axe after you can pump out a certain amount of damage (it's been a little while since I've crunched the numbers, but it's in the low teens, IIRC). The falchion is probably going to see more use because of its longer crit range, but a different build could definitely use a scythe for the trip ability, as well. If you gave it reach, it would arguably be heads and shoulders above any other weapon.
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To elaborate on what The Wraith said, the physical description of many simple items isn't present, as it's not really needed—if you don't know what a scythe looks like, you can look it up. All of the required mechanics are there in the table.
+1
Is it just my imagination or is there a growing trend of GMs today lacking the intuitiveness and resourcefulness of the GMs of yesteryear? It seems most GMs of today NEED a rule to cover every possible situation. Meh. I mean no sarcasm in this post. Just making an observation.
+2
The need for rules stems from a lack of confidence in many DM's. Make a ruling and stick with it. It's easier than you think.
Easy enough to solve really just look it up. Remember the Scythe was used as a farming impliment to help farmers harvest crops in the field.
For a better description check out this description of it and how it is used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythe
The above site does a good job explaining what it looks like, how it was used, and its history.
"ah the internet where would we be without it"
Is it just my imagination or is there a growing trend of GMs today lacking the intuitiveness and resourcefulness of the GMs of yesteryear? It seems most GMs of today NEED a rule to cover every possible situation.
I suppose in this age of organized play gaming some GMs actually need a rule that will stay the same in all other organized play games. Beyond that though, I wholeheartedly agree :)
+2
The need for rules stems from a lack of confidence in many DM's. Make a ruling and stick with it. It's easier than you think.
That may be a little overly harsh. I think many GMs today are also dealing with players who expect RAW to be applied exclusively and don't really want their GMs exercising much discretion. Makes for a different style of game, but they seem to enjoy it. And of course there have always been the rules lawyers for whom everything has to be spelled out explicitly to prevent them from abusing it. Not my cup of tea, but both RAW zealots and rule lawyers are well-represented on these boards and in the hobby as a whole.
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I think its a large oversight on the part of pathfinder to not have a description in the book....... what is the point? Its already a large book, what is another 1 or 3 lines of text for each one, scythe, sickle, and etc.
I spent a good portion of time looking at a pdf to see if it existed.... >.<