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Old 05-16-2019, 09:38 AM   #1
Varyon
 
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Default Sword on a Stick

A long time ago, I was under the impression that a naginata was made by literally affixing a katana blade to a wooden pole. While this doesn't appear to have been the actual case, it makes me wonder if there have been polearms in the past that truly did consist of a sword mounted on a staff. If so, what name(s) did such weapons have - and if not, what might be an appropriate name for such? I assume the stats would be similar to a naginata/dueling glaive, albeit with a much higher pricetag (about $10 more than the sword it uses the blade of), but what sort of nuances might be in play with such a weapon that wouldn't be in play for their less-expensive polearm counterparts?

The reason I'm asking this is largely Because Magic. In a setting where swords are particularly useful for enchanting, a knight may want to use such an enchanted blade in battle, but polearms are typically more useful than swords. You may also have weapons with magically telescoping poles (letting your sword turn into a polearm), or staves enchanted to be able to sprout a sword-blade from one end. Even without magic, an adventurer who finds himself in a war might want to use his Very Fine Thrusting Broadsword in the upcoming battle, but would rather use a polearm, so he has the armorer affix his beloved blade to a pole.

EDIT: After making the post, I thought to look at a list of polearms on Wikipedia, and lo and behold, I found the Svärdstav, a Scandinavian weapon some sources claim was literally a sword mounted on a staff. It looks like it's pronounced a bit too closely to "swordstaff" (the literal translation) for my tastes - is anyone aware of if such a weapon was ever found outside of Scandanavia? I was hoping for something a bit less on-the-nose (like voulge or fauchard).
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Old 05-16-2019, 11:13 AM   #2
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
EDIT: After making the post, I thought to look at a list of polearms on Wikipedia, and lo and behold, I found the Svärdstav, a Scandinavian weapon some sources claim was literally a sword mounted on a staff. It looks like it's pronounced a bit too closely to "swordstaff" (the literal translation) for my tastes - is anyone aware of if such a weapon was ever found outside of Scandanavia? I was hoping for something a bit less on-the-nose (like voulge or fauchard).
It's not just pronounced closely to "swordstaff" it literally means "swordstaff".
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Old 05-16-2019, 11:49 AM   #3
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

What defines something as 'sword on a staff'? There are multiple 'blade on a shaft' pole weapons, and if you took the exact same blade and attached it to a short grip we'd call the resulting weapon a short sword or long knife.
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Old 05-16-2019, 11:57 AM   #4
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

If you accept a generous definition of "stick" (This is my BOOMSTICK!), the sword bayonet was very common in the 19th and early 20th century. Most would probably be the long knife, in GURPS terms, but some would be shortswords.
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Old 05-16-2019, 02:11 PM   #5
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

Depending on your criteria, the glaive and falx may qualify...
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Old 05-16-2019, 03:13 PM   #6
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

There's also an Ahlspeiss, which is half thrusting blade, though it's more spear than polearm.

Depends on how you define "sword", I guess.



Also, have you looked at the Japanese bisento?
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Old 05-16-2019, 04:08 PM   #7
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

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Depending on your criteria, the glaive and falx may qualify...
Yeah, a glaive is basically a long knife or a shortsword on a stick.
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Old 05-16-2019, 08:24 PM   #8
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

Besides being more likely to be Fine, I don't see any reason to treat them differently from a naginata or dueling glaive.
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Old 05-16-2019, 08:31 PM   #9
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

Nobody built a real sword-on-a-stick simply because it wasn't very practical, especially before you could build the equivalent of a locking socket bayonet to keep your sword blade on the stick, and it would take time in battle to switch, especially if you're trying to thread a bolt through a hole or bend a cotter pin. The OP specifies magical transformation to solve that problem. So there's no reason the smiths couldn't try a little harder to make the polearm blade be handy enough to use as a sword without the pole. The differences in blade styles are beneath resolution anyway. So just use glaive stats or sword stats depend on the state of the magic item.
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Old 05-19-2019, 07:04 AM   #10
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Default Re: Sword on a Stick

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
What defines something as 'sword on a staff'? There are multiple 'blade on a shaft' pole weapons, and if you took the exact same blade and attached it to a short grip we'd call the resulting weapon a short sword or long knife.
Of cheap construction (there’s no tang) at the very least. I’m talking about taking an old sword and replacing the handle and pommel with a pole. I might accept a weapon with a blade made the same way contemporary swords were (at the very least with a full tang), like a naginata. I’m primarily looking for a name for the weapon that wouldn’t sound out of place in a pseudo-medieval, pseudo-European setting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
There's also an Ahlspeiss, which is half thrusting blade, though it's more spear than polearm.
Looking that up, it seems to be a spear/pike with a really long spike, so not something that would work here.

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Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
Also, have you looked at the Japanese bisento?
I had not. Doing so now, it looks like a possible naginata precursor (or maybe a cheap version of the naginata, as it’s thought to have been used by peasants).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dustin View Post
Besides being more likely to be Fine, I don't see any reason to treat them differently from a naginata or dueling glaive.
That was my thought, but I wasn’t certain if there might be a nuance I was missing. Would the falchion modifier have any influence, or since the weapon is already unbalanced this just have an aesthetic effect at GURPS resolution?

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Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
Nobody built a real sword-on-a-stick simply because it wasn't very practical, especially before you could build the equivalent of a locking socket bayonet to keep your sword blade on the stick, and it would take time in battle to switch, especially if you're trying to thread a bolt through a hole or bend a cotter pin.
The mundane version would consist of replacing the handle and pommel with a long pole, with the tang mounted inside, rather than something that lets you stick your sword on a pole during battle. Magic allows for something like that, although I’m actually leaning more toward a staff that magically sprouts a sword blade rather than a magically-extending pole.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
The differences in blade styles are beneath resolution anyway. So just use glaive stats or sword stats depend on the state of the magic item.
Looks like a fairly strong consensus of “just treat it as a glaive,” then.
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