Bayonet as a stand alone weapon

[Dragonhost]

I have looked around at the various bayonet threads but none of them mention whether I can use a bayonet on it own, or what it would be equivalent to.

Have I just missed some text somewhere or would it just be improvised melee at best?

[Speaker for the Dead]

You mean if you use a bayonet without attaching it to a gun? In that case it's just a dagger.

[Archaeik]

Bayonet wrote:

Bayonets are close combat weapons designed to fit into the grooves or muzzles of crossbows and firearms. They allow you to make melee attacks with these weapons but render them temporarily useless as ranged weapons. Attaching or removing a bayonet is a move action.

The description does not allow you to use them while unattached to a listed weapon.

They don't have a handle, they are just a blade.
This would qualify as an improvised weapon. Its damage and use should be adjudicated by your GM. (I would likely give you it's listed damage, 1d6, as a simple 1 handed weapon - the entry is under 2H because it's meant to be attached to 2H weapons - but have it function similarly to the chakram for damaging yourself. I can see an argument to called it a light weapon based on it's weight, but it's also a little longer than a dagger, so...)

[Faelyn]

I think the big question here is whether the rules for bayonet refer to the originally designed bayonets for muzzle-loaded firearms (which I believe is that case and more historically accurate) or rather a more modern view of the bayonet (which is essentially a long bladed knife with minor modifications that allow it to attach to a long-gun).

If its the former, then I would agree with the improvised weapon suggestion by Archaeik. If the latter, then it would definitely be categorized as a dagger.

[Rocky Williams 530]

I'd allow it in my game. But you'll either have to wield the bayonet 2 handed, since it's in that category of weapon, or accept it as dagger damage, without the improved crit range.

[SlimGauge]

To expand on what Faelyn said: There are plug bayonets and socket bayonets and sword bayonets and spike bayonets and ... you get the idea.

Plug bayonets block the bore of the firearm they are applied to.
Socket and Ring bayonets do not block the bore so the firearm they are applied to can still be fired (sometimes at some penalty).

Sword bayonets are bigger blades than others, approximately equivalent to a short sword.

[Dragonhost]

considering the stats as piercing only and the text of muxxel load, I get the idea of a pencil shaped iron rod

[lemeres]

But even a short sword only does piercing.

But I must ask: how much of a problem is this? The description allows you to use crossbows instead, and even that hardly needs to be functional. So just think of this as a weird spear that is in the close weapon group that costs 40 gp (5 for bayonet, 35 for light crossbow).