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https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0226/6487/2010/products/Knightly-poleaxe- _010-large-polearm-for-ground-combat-upper-head-side_900x.jpg?v=1562791210
I was looking at the one linked above that has a spike on top (piercing), an axe blade (slashing) and a hammer (Bludgeoning). However all the weapons only do 2 of 3 either peircing and slashing or bludgeoning and piercing not all 3. So does anyone know of a poleaxe/pike/polearm that allows you the choice of all 3 damage types?
monk's spade has B, P and S. But it isnt a poleaxe and it doesnt have reach.
The only weapon that I can find that can deal all damage types is the monk's spade, a double weapon that sadly is not a reach weapon. Archives of nethys has a comprehensive list of all weapons, and that's the only one that can do all three.
You can deal a different type of damage, as your GM deems fit, by taking a -4 penalty on your attack roll. A longsword could be used to stab or attack with the flat of the blade, a punching dagger could be used to slash, etc. Convincing your GM to let you cut something with a club may be a bit tricky, but you get the idea.
But wait! There's hope for you yet, in the Spear Dancing Style line of feats. The first feat, Spear Dancing Style, allows you to use a polearm weapon as a double weapon at the cost of the reach ability that many polearms have. The monk's spade is considered a polearm weapon- see the fighter's weapon groups, it's listed there-, but it doesn't have reach and is already a double weapon, so this first feat is useless to you. But...
The second feat you'll need is Spear Dancing Spiral, a feat that allows you to use Weapon Finesse (one of its prerequisites) on a polearm/spear. This is a setup for our final feat...
Spear Dancing Reach! This feat allows you to spend a swift action before a full attack to grant the reach weapon ability to one or both of your weapon's ends until the end of your turn.
So, for the low, low price of 17 Dexterity, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (monk's spade), Two-Weapon Fighting, Spear Dancing Style, Spear Dancing Spiral, and Spear Dancing Reach, you can do all three types of damage with a (double!) reach weapon.
I hope this helps. :p
Pretty sure the hammer end on most of those pole arms are thin and spikey enough to construe as piercing.
Pretty sure the hammer end on most of those pole arms are thin and spikey enough to construe as piercing.
Bah, I much prefer my horribly convoluted and worthless solution. Taking a -4 penalty on attacks is for chumps, real men spend 6 feats to get their polearm fix.
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The versatile weapon feat can be used to make your polearm do the B/P/S damage of your choice, or with weapon trick (polearm) you can add a bludgeoning haft bash option to your P or S halberd.
Yes it's kind of a feat tax, but a much cheaper pair of options than TGW's 6-feat horror.
The versatile weapon feat can be used to make your polearm do the B/P/S damage of your choice
Whoops, forgot about that. Silly me.
An axe musket with a bayonet wielded by a gunslinger with pistol whip?
Huh. I thought the halberd had an axe side opposed to a hammer side, but it doesn't look like it.
The halberd is an axe/spear sort of combo. What makes you think it has a hammer side?
I guess one way you could get bludgeoning damage from a piercing and slashing polearm is to use it as an improvised quarterstaff.
The halberd is an axe/spear sort of combo. What makes you think it has a hammer side?
I think I saw artwork showing it as such. Somewhere. Maybe pre-PF?
Like this https://www.bytheswordinc.com/images/product/large/cd-1046_1_.jpg
I see. That's probably a pollaxe, but I can't see enough of the shaft to know for sure. A halberd is specifically a type of polearm with an axe head, spear head, and hook or spike on the back. There are some where each piece is off of a center piece, and others where they're all part of the same metal slab, more like a voulge.
A pollaxe doesn't have any specifics about what's on the head, but has a mostly shod haft to make it more sturdy when parrying. They frequently have a rondel or two along the shaft as well to prevent parried weapons from sliding into your hands. The one you have a picture of is sort of odd. Most polearm heads have a few different weapons on the head, but each would have a different purpose. There isn't much reason to have both a narrow axe head and a hammer as they do the same job. It's not the weirdest weapon of course, but sort of unexpected.
Hammer end is better for heavier armor, I'd expect, than any sort of blade would be? /shrug
Long pointed sticks are the best.
That said, I suspect that it's very much intentional, from a game-balance perspective, that's there's no weapon that does every possible damage type, even if it wouldn't be so hard to imagine a polearm with a pointed tip, a blade, and a hammer. Even if their damage dice were small, the ability to easily bypass most initial DRs would be bothersome I reckon.
Hammer end is better for heavier armor, I'd expect, than any sort of blade would be? /shrug
It's not different enough really. It's still broad enough that it won't get stuck in the armor like a spike might, but it isn't long enough to clear fingers off of a pike, or curved enough to rend material it's cut through. You'd swing either end at the same target in the same situation, so you'd be better off with variety.
Feels to me like whacking your small axe head at full plate armor would dull it quickly. A small hammer head would focus the kinetic energy better. I think. At least a little bit?
I don't think the little axe is very sharp. When you swing a flat headed axe like this, you're hitting with the corner first, focusing the blow at a single point, and then tearing whatever material it is that you've hit. A hammer swing is hitting with an edge first,but pushing more material earlier. It's similar in principle to the hammer side of a bec de corbin. If you look at axes made for chopping, they tend to curve back toward the handle on the bottom so that the blade is increasing whatever wound was made at first contact.
I think the confusion here comes from how much damage you're expecting from the weapon. You're trying to stun, push or drag your opponent till you can ram the spike up under their helmet or get a full handled golf swing with the back spike without exposing yourself. Most of the time you're swinging with your hands spread out in order to intercept and deflect blows, so your ability to penetrate armor is limited.
Fantasy combat games tend to focus on damage more than stance and stamina, so the utility of weapon types tend to be over looked in favor of how much it would hurt to get hit by which object.
Regardless of historical accuracy, in a world with foes that have DR/bludgeoning, it makes perfect sense to have a polearm able to do piercing with the top spike, slashing with an axe blade, and bludgeoning with an opposed hammer head.
I agree completely.
