Thought I understood the Staff/Spear issue, but...

[Dinadon]

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

Can anyone see where I'm reading the rules for Combination Weapons wrong (on pg.214 of Martial Arts)... or tell me if it's been errat'd or clarified in another thread/book/etc.

To be honest, you're not. However I do consider it an over-site. Let's take a jo, a quarterstaff, and a long staff and compare them to a short spear, a spear, and a long spear, respectively. I'll ignore adding a pick head, but will be adding a spear head to each of jo, quarterstaff and long staff using MA's combination rules.

Firstly the jo, adding a spear head makes it cost $10 more, weigh 0.5lbs more and requires +1 ST over the short spear. However, the jo now does thr+2 imp one handed (with staff skill, since no mention is made of using it with a different skill), as well as thr+3 imp two handed. A short spear only does thr+1 imp one handed, so the pros outweigh the cons and you should have a jo with a spear head, not a short spear.

Secondly the quarterstaff, adding a spear head brings it to equal cost, weigh 0.5lbs more, but still only require 1 less ST than a spear. Both can do the same impaling damage, so that's a wash. However, the staff can do a one handed thrust at reach 1 or 2, and it doesn't take a ready maneuver for the staff to change reach*. Of the course the staff can't be thrown, but still the second point goes to the staffs.

Finally the long staff, adding a spear head leaves it at $15 less, weighs 0.5lbs more and requires +1 ST over the long staff. Again, both do the same impaling damage, and at the same reach, but the long staff doesn't require ready maneuvers to change reach*. The long spear's one handed strike has a parry of 0U, compared to the long staff's parry of +2*. Look's like the staff's win three out of three.

To me, the issue itself is caused by calling a staff a hafted weapon. To me, having a haft is synonymous with having a hilt. In other words, having a haft implies there is a head. Staffs don't have heads, so they shouldn't count as a hafted weapon.

*These pieces fall under conjecture as there is nothing explicitly stated about them.