Reach weapons

[gav]

so that clears that up then :lol:
seriously what is the advantage of a reach weapon, if making a 5ft step in toward the enemy who holds a reach weapon doesnt provoke AoO and making an attack which also doesnt provoke then the character with the reach weapon on his go has to step back out of his opponents threatened square, thus provoking an AoO from his opponent, unless he takes just a 5ft step. could he combine this with an attack, if so then it would provoke AoO, would it not???? :roll:
I think im just going to make it up as I go along and hope it doesnt unbalance the game too much. Was there something official in the AE or could mongoose provide some official examples.

 

[SableWyvern]

Reach weapons still maintain their advantage.

In the scenario you just mentioned, consider the guy with the reach weapon X and the his opponent Y.

Y moves in and stops 10' away. If X didn't have a reach weapon, Y could simply have finished closing and attacked. Instead, he waits, and then X gets a full attack on his own initiative. Potentially, this is worse for Y, who would have suffered only one AoO if he had continued.

In either case, X uses his reach to ensure he gets the first swing in -- and that's not something to be taken lightly, especially in Conan.

Once the melee has ensured, yes they both can keep 5'-stepping and attacking. I don't see a problem with that. The alternative is a system whereby you need to determine whether or not Y is inside X's reach from turn to turn, and thereby allow only one of them to attack. More realistic, but not at all suitable for d20 (or most systems, for that matter).

Additionally, reach weapons can be used to fight from the second rank, over obstacles, etc... The 5' Step does not in any way cripple them.

 

[Anonymous]

Reach weapons still maintain their advantage.

In the scenario you just mentioned, consider the guy with the reach weapon X and the his opponent Y.

Y moves in and stops 10' away. If X didn't have a reach weapon, Y could simply have finished closing and attacked. Instead, he waits, and then X gets a full attack on his own initiative. Potentially, this is worse for Y, who would have suffered only one AoO if he had continued.

In either case, X uses his reach to ensure he gets the first swing in -- and that's not something to be taken lightly, especially in Conan.

Once the melee has ensured, yes they both can keep 5'-stepping and attacking. I don't see a problem with that. The alternative is a system whereby you need to determine whether or not Y is inside X's reach from turn to turn, and thereby allow only one of them to attack. More realistic, but not at all suitable for d20 (or most systems, for that matter).

Additionally, reach weapons can be used to fight from the second rank, over obstacles, etc... The 5' Step does not in any way cripple them.

That's a good point. As SableWyvern says in the last paragraph, they can be used over obstacles, etc. This is very important (for polearms) vs. mounted opponents for example - they can effectively negate the height advantage horses give, which is a big deal in Conan. Another situation where they come in is when allies with reach weapons work together against their enemies. That's the whole idea behind medieval or roman group tactics, think how the hedgehog effectively halted horse marches in the middle ages.

Sorry, I'm at work now and don't have access to the books, but reach weapons are pretty much used best in these scenarios, gav. If you're a lone guy in a city street, you might want to have an arming sword in it's sheath in addition to a reach weapon, if you have an opponent who can overcome the reach problem you were concerned about, but if a character lives long enough to get familiar with his weapon, he should be able to adapt.

 

[Sutek]

so that clears that up then :lol:
seriously what is the advantage of a reach weapon, if making a 5ft step in toward the enemy who holds a reach weapon doesnt provoke AoO...

Ah...hold on now, son....it does provoke, but it provokes 5' sooner. If I have a sword and you have a long spear, I need to be adjeacent to you and have to pass through your threatened square where I provoke an AoO from in order to do so. Pretend these "[_]" are 5' squares, and pretend "*" is a threatened square where moving out of that square is the point at which AoOs are provoked:


1) Normal Adjacent melee threatened squares:

[*][*][*]
[*][_][*]
[*][*][*]


2) Reach Weapon melee threatened squares:

[*][*][*][*][*]
[*][_][_][_][*]
[*][_][_][_][*]
[*][_][_][_][*]
[*][*][*][*][*]

If I try to move through any of these "*" squares, if the action I'm engaging in provokes an AoO, then it doesn't matter if I've made a 5' step trying to avoid accruing the AoO. Understand? What reach wapons do, in that respect, is really slow down enemy progress into adjacent squares.

However, as pointed out, an arming sword or some other close range weapon is a good idea, so taht you can attack at both reach distance and adjacent distance foes. Try it with Two-weapon fighting...spear and short sword...nice combo.

 

[gav]

Thanks guys,I think ive got it. Now to have my pcs come up against some gaurds with polearms and arming swords :twisted: