Rules for pike as a weapon?

[NewJeffCT]

Not slapping somebody with a fish, I am talking about the traditional pike as used by the Macedonians, or by the Swiss in Medieval times. The PHB covers weapons that have a 10' reach. However, the pike traditionally had at least a 15' reach and was devastating against heavy cavalry, as it would allow 3 or 4 ranks of infantry to attack at once. If I am not mistaken, the re-emergence of the pike on the Medieval battlefield started the decline of the heavy knight (in addition to the beginnings of gunpowder use in Europe around the same time...)

I haven't seen the pike in any other d20 books, save Kenzer's "Strength & Honor: The Mighty Hobgoblins of Tellene" book and that seemed a bit underpowered at d6 damage.

 

[drnuncheon]

I'd just use a longspear and increase the reach as necessary.

 

[Darklone]

Conan d20. Quintessential Fighter. Some others. Usually 15-20ft as threatened area. I got some houserules for it.

 

[Deset Gled]

Arms and Equipment Guide has some similar weapons as well.

In general, giving someone a weapon with 15 foot reach (but not 10 or 5 foot) will hurt them just as much as it will help them. It will work nicely if you've got a bunch of people weilding them, but in any one-on-one combat it's a hinderance, since you can no longer 5 foot step to get off a full attack if someone runs up next to you.

 

[drnuncheon]

In general, giving someone a weapon with 15 foot reach (but not 10 or 5 foot) will hurt them just as much as it will help them. It will work nicely if you've got a bunch of people weilding them,

Which is exactly why they were only used in formations. If you've got 15' pikes, though, anyone running up to the first rank suffers at least two AoOs (and possibly many more, depending on the pikemen and how many friends he has - fear a unit of pikemen with Combat Reflexes!), plus a full attack from the third rank.

Ouch.

J

 

[hong]

I think the standard longspear is fine as-is. The reach may be shorter than desired, but D&D tends to underestimate these things. One of the real-life advantages of a 6' greatsword over a shorter blade is the greater reach, but that doesn't make it into D&D either.

 

[Wormwood]

I agree that the longspear is your best choice.

But if you must have a 15' reach weapon, I'd consider dropping the damage to 1d6 (to offset threatening 8 more squares than a 10' reach weapon).

 

[Darklone]

Houserules IMC: You threaten in a cone area (but not 5-10ft). Changing the cone by more than 90 deg needs a ME action.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Which is exactly why they were only used in formations. If you've got 15' pikes, though, anyone running up to the first rank suffers at least two AoOs (and possibly many more, depending on the pikemen and how many friends he has - fear a unit of pikemen with Combat Reflexes!), plus a full attack from the third rank.

Ouch.

J

True, what I was doing was trying to arm a unit of NPC soldier-types so the first rank would threaten an attacker from 15' to 10' and then the second rank would threaten them from 10' to 5' and the 3rd rank would threaten from 5' to 0'... I would imagine if your friendly local army had to deal with things like ogres, trolls or giants on a regular basis, the pike would be a pretty common weapon for them.

 

[robberbaron]

Having used a Pike in the Sealed Knot (English Civil War re-enactment), I have to say that no adventurer would use one. Only with ranks of soldiers is it effective.
You might be able to reach 15', but the damage you could do would be low and there is no way you could use it to threaten ALL squares 15' away from you. They are just too unwieldy.

I would say give it d6 damage, 20/x2 critical, 15' reach (so very easy for an opponent to get inside your reach), but could only be used in one facing per round (you can't just lift it up and turn around between iterative attacks).
Perhaps, a move action to change facing.
[Sorry, Darklone, only read your post as I was writing this.]