Polearm Tactics

[Supplement Four]

Let me see if I understand this correctly....

(It's much different from the good old AD&D 2E I played years ago.)



Polearms and weapon with reach can be used to attack opponents 10 feet away but not 5 feet away. The idea is to keep the enemy at length so that he can't respond with an attack (or to get in an early attack, drop the polearm, then go to normal melee blows).

With your polearm, a good role for you is to be an "Attack of Opportunity" fighter--that is, a support fighter, standing behind your front line comrades, not engaged yourself, but taking attacks of opportunity as they arise around the melee fighter you are "covering".



If you go into combat, one-on-one, with your polearm, having initiative is important. You'll want to think tactically about your placement to the enemy, with the goal being you about 35 feet from the enemy at the end of the round. That way, you can hit the enemy, but he can't hit you (unless he has a ranged weapon), round after round.

Of course, you're constantly retreating if you do this, too. But, as long as you've got room to retreat, this can work.

If you've got initiative, and you're 10 feet from your opponent, you can attack him, then retreat 30 feet for your move action. That puts you 40 feet from your opponent at the beginning of his turn.

Now, he must either move only 30 feet (which is useless, because he can't hit you), or he takes extended movement to get close to you, which ends the round without his attack. On your next turn, you can retreat farther (no attack for you), or you can move back 10 feet and attack.

At some point you'll probably want to take a free action to drop your pole arm and be 35+ feet from your opponent so that you can draw your melee weapon while he's moving towards you.

My point here is twofold: If you use a polearm, you have to think more tactically than you do when using a melee weapon, always keeping in mind your distance between you and your enemy.

And, having initiative is critical so that you can control the fight.



Any other thoughts on how to use a polearm?

 

[Style]

Now, he must either move only 30 feet (which is useless, because he can't hit you), or he takes extended movement to get close to you, which ends the round without his attack.

Why couldn't your opponent charge and attack?

 

[flatscan]

Yeah, Charge is a Full Round Action that allows the Charger to move at twice their speed and gives a negative to the Chargers' Defense. It will certainly give you an advantage in combat as you can stick and move and limit your opponents options. Some of those options include pulling out a dagger, sling, bow or other Ranged weapon and try to keep their distance from you. The advantage there is enough armor will make most ranged weapons do minimal to no damage.

 

[Supplement Four]

Why couldn't your opponent charge and attack?

Because...I haven't gotten to that section in the Combat chapter yet... :shock:

There's got to be a way to set the polearm against a charge, though, isn't there? Seems like in 2E, setting pikes meant double damage or some such.

I'll keep reading and find outl.

 

[flatscan]

There's got to be a way to set the polearm against a charge, though, isn't there? Seems like in 2E, setting pikes meant double damage or some such.

There is, but you couldn't attack, move, and set all in one turn.

 

[Sutek]

Correct.

Also, there's no need really to do that 30' move you mention. Keep in mind that, unless the opponent has a way of avoiding Attacks of Opportunity (AoOs) altogether, the way they are Provoked is when that opponent leaves a square threatened by the wielder of the polearm. All you really need to do is take a 5' step back from an opponent, or possibly a 10' move action, forcing him to need to close in hish next turn thus provoking an AoA.

Pole arms are also 2-handed weapons. This means that that deal x2 STR modifier to damage, and x2 Power Attack modifier sacrificed if that feat is used as well. This means that someone with Power Attack giving up 4 points to hit for +4 damage instead gains +8 with a 2-handed weapon.

So they deal out lots more damage at a greter distance and can get AoAs sooner and with more distance between the wielder and his opponents.

Plus, there is a feat somewhere called Short Hafted that allows you to use the polearm to attack within 5' using the haft to deal...um...club damage I think. I'd have to go look it up, but someone will probably beat me to it.

 

[Supplement Four]

Also, there's no need really to do that 30' move you mention.

Actually, if you don't move 30', then you leave yourself open to the standard move and attack. You don't want to leave that option for your opponent.

 

[kintire]

Yes, you probably don't want to move 30' away. You want to provoke those attacks of opportunity.

Preventing your opponent from attacking at all is asking too much, butting getting an extra attack at full attack bonus every round still rocks.

 

[Trodax]

Actually, if you don't move 30', then you leave yourself open to the standard move and attack. You don't want to leave that option for your opponent.

As kintire said, you're definitely asking too much of polerams if you want them to enable you to hit without getting hit at all. The advantage the polearm-wielder has is that he's likely to get in an extra attack at the start of combat when his opponent moves adjacent to him (an attack of opportunity when the opponent moves out of the 10-feet square and into the 5-feet square, that is). However, as others have noted, an extra attack with a two-handed weapon in Conan is nothing to sneeze at. :wink:

To get this extra attack you're dependent on your opponent moving against you, though, as you won't gain the benefit if you move up to or charge him. In other words, they make good defensive weapons but aren't especially good if you are the aggressor and are moving against your opponent. As you said, initiative is also important because you don't get to make attacks of opportunity when you're flat-footed (unless you have the Combat Reflexes feat, which is probably a good feat to get for a polearm-wielder).

Once they are engaged, the fight will basically play out like this:

Polearm guy: 5-foot step back, and attack
Opponent: 5-foot step after, and attack
Polearm guy: 5-foot step back, and attack
Opponent: 5-foot step after, and attack
etc. etc.

This can go on for as long as the poleram guy has space to back into; if he comes up against a wall he's in trouble and better drop his long, unwieldy weapon and grab something more appropriate.

All-in-all, I think the rules are quite well thought-out and balanced; the polearm guy has an advantage at the beginning of combat, but is actually at a disadvantage in cramped quarters. Exactly as it should be, IMO.

 

[Valgrim Bragisson]

I have a question. Is the Bardiche considered a Polearm? On the one hand, it's a blade on a pole. On the other hand, it has enough advantages already. What do you think?

 

[DigitalMage]

Polearm guy: 5-foot step back, and attack
Opponent: 5-foot step after, and attack
Polearm guy: 5-foot step back, and attack
Opponent: 5-foot step after, and attack
etc. etc.

Unless Conan is different to D&D in this respect the above wouldn't provide any AoOs for the polearm guy as the opponent is only having to 5 foot step to close and 5 foot steps never provoke AoOs (at least not in D&D3.5). So the Polearm Guy needs to move 10 feet back to ensure his oppoent provokes that AoO, unfortunately that means unless he has Move by Attack, he cannot attack.

 

[Trodax]

Unless Conan is different to D&D in this respect the above wouldn't provide any AoOs for the polearm guy as the opponent is only having to 5 foot step to close and 5 foot steps never provoke AoOs (at least not in D&D3.5). So the Polearm Guy needs to move 10 feet back to ensure his oppoent provokes that AoO, unfortunately that means unless he has Move by Attack, he cannot attack.

Right, that's exactly what I'm saying; once the two combatants have closed (ie. become adjacent), they are on even footing and they can both easily avoid attacks of opportunity by taking 5-foot steps. The polearm guy can of course always choose to move away 10 feet or more which means he will get an attack of opportunity when his opponent comes after him. However, moving away 10 feet or more usually means that he will loose his regular attack for the round (if he uses the Withdraw action to move away), or that he himself will be subject to an AoO (if he uses a Move action to move away). In the end, it all evens out! As I said, the only advantage for the guy with the longer reach is that he can get in one AoO when his opponent charges or moves into him.

The above is based on the very simple situation when two guys are fighting each other on an open field, but it can be noted that there are actually some more specific situations when you can do some tricky stuff with a reach weapon. For example, if you're fighting more than one opponent and you have the Combat Reflexes feat (enabling you to make more than one AoO per round), it could be a good idea to use the Withdraw action (forsaking your ability to attack normally for the round) because then you can set things up so you get an AoO against each of your opponents when they come after you. This will be hard to pull off if they're surrounding you (because then it is difficult to use Withdraw without getting hurt), and it's obviously a bad strategy if your opponents will simply ignore you and instead go after one of your more scholarly friends.

 

[Sutek]

I have a question. Is the Bardiche considered a Polearm? On the one hand, it's a blade on a pole. On the other hand, it has enough advantages already. What do you think?

Well, yes, but it doesn't have Reach.

 

[DigitalMage]

Right, that's exactly what I'm saying; once the two combatants have closed (ie. become adjacent), they are on even footing and they can both easily avoid attacks of opportunity by taking 5-foot steps.

Cool, sorry, misunderstood

 

[kintire]

So the Polearm Guy needs to move 10 feet back to ensure his oppoent provokes that AoO, unfortunately that means unless he has Move by Attack, he cannot attack.

That's true, but what polearm guy doesn't have move by attack? its is The Feat for reach weapon wielders!

 

[LucaCherstich]

Unless Conan is different to D&D in this respect the above wouldn't provide any AoOs for the polearm guy as the opponent is only having to 5 foot step to close and 5 foot steps never provoke AoOs (at least not in D&D3.5). So the Polearm Guy needs to move 10 feet back to ensure his oppoent provokes that AoO, unfortunately that means unless he has Move by Attack, he cannot attack.

Yeah, the rulebook says that AoO cannot be caused by 5-feet moves.
If you are looking for feats for reach-weapons I find the "Pressing Attack" feat from "Aquilonia, Flower of the West" quite useful.

I'm quite interested in these problems since I'm planning a campaign in the Black Kingdoms and, since the war spear should be the main weapon for black soldiers down there, I want to understand whether it is really a useful weapon or not.
I have 2 questions:

1)Somebody above mentioned the following feats: "Move by Attack" and "Short Hafted". Does anybody knows where I can find them?

2) Do you have any suggestion regarding how to use a War Spear?
If one looks just at the statistics from the main book it looks to be just a slightly stronger hunting spear which cannot be used in close combat and cannot be thrown. It is therefore useless...any suggestion?