Spear and staff

[jarulf]

Spears are fairly useless (when it comes to damage) against skeletons so it got me idly thinking.

The rules say skeletons are immune to weapons only doing impaling damage. Arrows and darts certainly fall in that category, perhaps javelins as well.

What about Spears? I've always thought of spears as staves with a sharp and pointy (usually metal) bit at the end, but you still have the whole shaft to bash away with.
So would it make sense to allow someone with a Spear CS to use it as a staff?
Or are spear shafts softer than a quarterstaff making them less efficient at bashing at people?

Please enlighten someone who know nothing about fighting.

 

[waylandson]

Jarulf,

Basically, the spear is just a staff with a dagger blade mounted on one end and as far as practical combat is concerned you use the same techniques for both weapons. Ignore what you see on old Hollywood Robin Hood Films when they have quarterstaff fights, like all films they were cherographed for entertaiment purposes not as martial art demo's.

So as far using Spears against skeletons treat them as quartershafts as you are hitting them with the blunt end instead of the sharp end.

As far as martial arts expertise, I have been studying a style called STAV for the last four or so years. The style is actually Norse in origin and has passed down through one Norweigan family for a very long time. The first weapon we train with is the Staff, then the axe, sword, spear, as well as the dagger, cudgel and unarmed combat. The basic techniques are the same for all the weapons, just modified to suit the weapon itself. So when I tell you the same fighting techniques for both weapons, I talk from practical experience.
For further information on STAV follow this link: http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/martial.html.

 

[jarulf]

Interesting stuff, thanks.

Without any practical experience of combat it's sometimes difficult to judge wether something that seems obvious is 'correct' or not.

Not that being 'correct' is the only thing to strive for, or even the most important.

 

[Mongoose Pete]

Without any practical experience of combat it's sometimes difficult to judge wether something that seems obvious is 'correct' or not.

Very true. Much of what seems obvious about combat can can considerably far from the truth.

Not that being 'correct' is the only thing to strive for, or even the most important.

This is true too. A century of movies and TV have lead to a a quite often fallacious view of combat - which can, in its own right, be the object of what GMs & players wish to emulate in their games.

Trying to get a balance between both in the rules is the difficult part.

 

[PhilHibbs]

This is true too. A century of movies and TV have lead to a a quite often fallacious view of combat - which can, in its own right, be the object of what GMs & players wish to emulate in their games.
Trying to get a balance between both in the rules is the difficult part.

A lot of things that are realistic look wrong on a movie or TV screen*. Also, a lot of things that are realistic sound odd in stories. A lot of things that are realistic don't work in a roleplaying game. Each medium has its own quirks that, to have a satisfying dramatic experience, you have to bend to the medium so that it seems right, whether or not it is realistic. Truthiness is king.

*For example, cows don't look like cows on the screen. They have to paint a horse to look like a cow. If they want a horse, usually they just tape a bunch of cats together.

 

[Simulacrum]

There is of course an almost inexhaustible supply of examples and counter examples from RL to prove things one way or the other - so go with what feels right. If your Adventurer has a "stout" spear, let him also use it as a quarterstaff. But there are plenty of examples of historical spears that are too short, too long, or too thin to successfully do much more than the specific range of manoeuvers intended of it by its maker.

 

[soltakss]

There are also cultural implications "I'm a Yelmalian, I'm not going to club a skeleton like a troll".

 

[jarulf]

Of course, a Yelmalian would just be happy to get beaten to pulp by a troll. And still survive.

Thanks everyone, interesing comments.