Spear stats for Staff

[nik1979]

I can't seem to find what are the stats of "spear" under the"STAFF" skill. Dueling and Light Pole-arms have "staff" stats, so I am assuming there are "staff" stats for spear. Is it somewhere in MA or LT i must have missed?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by nik1979

I can't seem to find what are the stats of "spear" under the"STAFF" skill. Dueling and Light Pole-arms have "staff" stats, so I am assuming there are "staff" stats for spear. Is it somewhere in MA or LT i must have missed?

Nope.

I think it's commonly believed that spears use the quarterstaff statline and long spears the long staff statline, but I'm pretty sure the books never actually specify.

[Polydamas]

This seems to be something which the SJG crew always use in their house rules, so forgot to clearly state. I always assumed that a Spear used Quarterstaff statistics and a Long Spear used Long Staff statistics.

For the Parry bonus, see here.

[nik1979]

thanks, guys. I only read in LT that a pole arm that is broken is a staff, but otherwise really no stats. Of course given the weight of the weapon and dimensions it seems to be true.

Unofficially this GM would rule the same way.

Can you Tip Slash or Impale with a "Spear" as a quarterstaff skill when you use the Pointy End?

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by nik1979

thanks, guys. I only read in LT that a pole arm that is broken is a staff, but otherwise really no stats. Of course given the weight of the weapon and dimensions it seems to be true.

Unofficially this GM would rule the same way.

Can you Tip Slash or Impale with a "Spear" as a quarterstaff skill when you use the Pointy End?

In the rules which Kromm seems to use, Staff skill only lets you do cr damage. That is another thing which is not very clear in the rule books, but the link I gave explains it (MA 104 "Switching Weapon Skills").

[Verjigorm]

I still don't agree with Krom's rules on staff/spear and crushing/impaling. It just doesn't feel right.

I'm almost thinking that spear should be used for one-handed use, and staff for two-handed use. Generous default between the two; I personally favor a -2 default because it allows for a nice discount for characters who are skilled. Either spear or staff can be used with the blunt end or the pointy end, depending on the design of the weapon.

I think it boils down to the fact that Pole-arm, Spear and Staff should all blend rather well with each other, and share generous defaults. Staff and Two Handed Sword are also close skills, and there's a strong case for two-handed axe/mace having a generous default, but neither Two Handed sword nor Two handed axe should default from each other. I would allow Axe/Mace and Sword(I combine short sword and broadsword, and treat different weapons as different familiarities*) to default from their two-handed variants, though at their current rate.

This kinda makes the Staff skill a "master" skill, in that high levels of skill with a staff will translate well to a variety of other skills. I'm not sure that's a bad thing though.

*This gets pretty extreme. A signifigant difference of length or weight(6" or .5lbs) is worth a -2, A difference in hilt(None, Cruciform, Asymetric, complex ring or basket hilts, etc) is worth -2, a difference in blade design(Straight vs curved, diamond cross section vs flat, distal tip vs rounded tip, wide blade vs narrow) is worth -2.

These familiarity penalties would all stack: a Knight used to a Longsword going to a Katana would have -6 to skill for familiarity.