Dueling Halberds: one skill 2 hd but two 1 hd?

[Tomsdad]

Given it's an unusual situation by dint of it being a 9' Giant who can use this thing like a one handed axe, I'd just allow the giant to use it with one handed axe/mace if he wanted (an yeah I'd probably allow him to thrust with an imp spear head with that skill as well*).

What I wouldn't allow them to do is access specific bonuses like two handed defence benefits that a 6' wielder of duelling pole arm would get if they were wielding it with pole arm skill.




*at most I might make it a perk to so at full skill

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

When trying to decide on a good war weapon for my 9 foot giant, I looked at the dueling halberd.
My guy's strong enough to wield it one handed without problem, but that seems like it would switch it from one Polearm skill to Spear and Axe/Mace.
Anyone else think that that is a sing of Polearms being an atypically broad skill.

Not atypically broad, no. Going from Basic Set and Basic Set only the following points seem the most germane to your situation.

From Melee Weapon (p. B208) "When a rule refers to one of these categories, it applies to all weapons in that category and all Melee Weapon skills used to wield them." Thus glaives, naginatas, halberds and poleaxes (Weapons Table p. B272), always use the Polearm skill.

This is reinforced by the notes for ST (p. B270) which state '"†" If you have at least 1.5 times the listed ST'',you can use a weapon like this in one hand.' 'If you have at least twice the listed ST, you can wield it one handed with no readiness penalty.' and '"‡"' 'To use it in one hand without it becoming unready, you need at least three times the listed ST.'

In a sense, you're overthinking it. One argument for leaving the one-handed skill as Polearm rather than breaking it into Spear and Axe/Mace when used one-handed is the Spear skill itself. Spear is a pole weapons skill according to Melee Weapons (p. B208). There is no separate melee weapon skill for using a spear one-handed, unlike Axe/Mace and Two-Handed Axe/Mace. Instead, to use a Spear one-handed, we use the ST notes from p. B270 to let us wield it one handed and stick with the Spear skill. I see no reason to think that it's any different regarding one-handed use of a Polearm.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If you take a regular axe and put a spear point on it, do you need to use Spear skill to stab with it?

I'd think so. There are no defaults between Axe/Mace and Spear and since you didn't claim to lengthen the haft from the short- or medium-length given under Axe/Mace to very long, it doesn't qualify as a Polearm. Consequently the axe head is wielded using Axe/Mace skill and the spear point using Spear skill (after deciding how ST is affected, since you're using it one handed but you've got a shorter haft with less weight [and an axe head with more weight]). OTOH, if this is a new thing for your character, he can always stab with the spear point from the default for Spear.