Spears


Advice


Would as Assagai like Shaka invented be counted as a short spear (two foot length handle 1 to 1 1/2 foot blade? What would be the best spear for a spear and shield fighter?


Either that or a sibat from eastern weapons. Either works though, since they are your only options if you aren't going into the Phalanx Soldier archetype.

Grand Lodge

Stat as Shortspear. Flavor as Assegai.

I like the Trident, simply because of the Fighter's Fork.


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Assegai (or Iklwa as the Zulu called it , for the sound it made as it was thrust into somebody) would best be represented as a shortspear, since you can throw one.

But the short spear is a pretty broad area, since it includes all 1 handed spears, even heavier Viking and greek styled ones.

It would have been nice to have a few other spear types, rather than a glut o swords :)


Phalanx soldier allows you to 'choke up' on a polearm?

Grand Lodge

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Karl Hammarhand wrote:
Phalanx soldier allows you to 'choke up' on a polearm?

Yes. See here.


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blackbloodtroll wrote:
Karl Hammarhand wrote:
Phalanx soldier allows you to 'choke up' on a polearm?
Yes. See here.

I was thinking of an Irish Lord of the Spear like Cuchulain. Maybe with some levels in brawler to match the unarmed abilities he learned from Scatha.


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If only pathfinder allowed martials to be so cool.


Yeah he's actually more of a berserker with some unarmed skills. But can you get the phalanx fighter feats as a barb? If not he's 9th level or sometging before he resembles the concept.


Karl Hammarhand wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:
Karl Hammarhand wrote:
Phalanx soldier allows you to 'choke up' on a polearm?
Yes. See here.
I was thinking of an Irish Lord of the Spear like Cuchulain. Maybe with some levels in brawler to match the unarmed abilities he learned from Scatha.

Take a look at 3.5's Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords. You're not going to get the right Cuchulan flavor from anything in Pathfinder, unfortunately, but ToB has some stuff that would definitely be evocative of that character.


blackbloodtroll wrote:

Stat as Shortspear. Flavor as Assegai.

I like the Trident, simply because of the Fighter's Fork.

That's a cool item!


Cool thanks

Grand Lodge

Home game?


blackbloodtroll wrote:
Home game?

Me?

Yes I'd be playing with friends no official PFS or anything.

I like the idea of a spear and shield or just spear build. It's iconic, under used and looks cool. However, many systems limit the spear rather than embrace it. But spear and shield vs spear and shield goes back to Homer and I like the classics.

Grand Lodge

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Ask if you can have a Spear version of the Fighter's Fork.

It would be an easy change, and balanced.


blackbloodtroll wrote:

Ask if you can have a Spear version of the Fighter's Fork.

It would be an easy change, and balanced.

Thanks, I'll do that.

Grand Lodge

Check out this thread for my experience with a spear-chucking badass.


I love spear-wielders. I would love to play a character that can do what Balsa can do.


blackbloodtroll wrote:
Check out this thread for my experience with a spear-chucking badass.

I like the throwing in fact probably important if you're a spear guy. I want a guy who holds onto his spear for the most part. Unless theres a spear that returns like mjolnir.

Scarab Sages

There is also the Dragoon Fighter, that specializes in the spear and lance. The Spear Training feature is the best weapon training possible for a fighter, and Spinning Lance is great for using a two handed spear or lance as reach or close weapon.


That looks a lot like what I am looking for. I am a little disappointed that as a normal course of action a fighter (I'm using the term loosely here) can't simply 'choke up' on a spear to use up close (perhaps with a penalty) without gaining some kind of special deal.


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I've always liked the image of the spear and shield as well. Roman hoplites and the Greek phalanx have always been cool to me.

I used the Talented Fighter from Rogue/Super Genius Games to cherry pick the best from the Phalanx Soldier and Polearm Master archetypes and it worked really well.

By level 2 I could have a fighter wielding a longspear in one hand and shield in the other AND as an immediate action 'choke up' the spear to threaten 5 ft at -4 penatly (which reduces to -3 at 6, -2 at 12 etc).


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It bothers me so that spears are borked in PF. I was just looking into making a well-rounded spear specialist last week, but what you have to give up to use a spear flexibly and realistically is...off-putting, to say the least.


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I think the most annoying aspect is that the spear is the most ancient and long lasting weapon in history (minus the rock), and most games just relegate it to a dagger on a stick or somesuch.

The spear needs more love..but its not as flashy as those other weapons..with shiny bits and stuff. :)

Scarab Sages

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The shortspear isn't actually that bad of a weapon, all things considered. It's one handed so it can be used two handed if needed or use it with a shield/twf. It also has a range of 20 feet which is very good for a thrown weapon. If it were a /x3 weapon like the spear and longspear like it should be it would be the equal of any of the martial weapons.

Grand Lodge

I see a lot of longspears in the PFS games I play and run. They are the only simple weapon with reach. They are probably the single most common weapon I observe, unless one counts the multitude of swords as one weapon. I see fewer shortspears, like the assagai (or Iklwa), but they show up every now and then.

Spears seem to get lots of love in the games I see. Is this unusual?


Dennis Deadsky wrote:

I see a lot of longspears in the PFS games I play and run. They are the only simple weapon with reach. They are probably the single most common weapon I observe, unless one counts the multitude of swords as one weapon. I see fewer shortspears, like the assagai (or Iklwa), but they show up every now and then.

Spears seem to get lots of love in the games I see. Is this unusual?

Not really.

Being simple weapons everyone can use them. More than that they have a number of great qualities to them, reach, a x3 crit rating, the brace feature and it costs 5gp.

It's objectively better than a longsword or battle axe for a number of reasons. The only real disadvantages are those associated with reach weapons and the fact it can't be one handed.


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Even since i played 3.5 ive always ruled that pc's proficient with martial weapons can use spears as one handed martial weapons and longspears as one handed exotic weapons. Both can still be used as simple weapons when used with two hands, but even in RL history the spear was a far more common weapon used in conjuntion with a shield than any other.

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