[acrosome]

My bad- I get that Hook (Staff) is a valid technique. What I'm asking about is more about justifying buying it, and specifically in the setting of these defined MA styles. But the discussion so far has indeed ruled some things out for me, and I have refined my question. To whit:

Hook (Polearm) is a listed technique for the Glaive Fighting style. There is no Hook (Staff) listed under the Quarterstaff style. So if I mix 'em up with Style Adaptation (Glaive Fighting and Quarterstff) does that "justify" allowing the Hook (Staff) technique? So that I can used my highly buffed Staff skill to do the, er, hooking...

See what I've come to? I'm hooking, now.

I'm one of those purists who likes to invent a neat character story and then build a character to fit it, as opposed to just developing Roland the Optimized Knight, per se. In this case, a character who was low class and grew up learning "peasant weapons" like staff, but was drafted into an army and adapted those skills to his bill. (I adore peasant weapons for some reason.) I know that I can just damned well buy Hook (Staff) if I really want to, but I'm trying to stay true to these styles somehow, if I can. And I'm quite willing to "waste" the points on these various Adaptations and a Polearm skill that I'll never use to do it.

Did that make any sense? I'm not the most eloquent at explaining myself.