[combat] giant issue in weapon reach question

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

In regard of real combat techniques, I must make some remark to Walrus.
Spears aren't awkward at all. They are one of most nimble and swift weapons. For me, requiring a ready maneuver to adjust reach is totally foreign to spear techniques, which is made of very quick movement of hands along the shaft.

To make your spear really swift and nimble, you want Form Mastery (Spear) (See MA 50). This lets you switch freely between using the spear two-handed with Spear skill and using it with Staff skill during your turn. In addition to a defensive bonus when using Staff skill (which you can use at default at Spear-2), staffs have free range adjustment.

Reach Mastery (Spear) (PU2 7) would let you adjust reach as a free action when gripping one-handed as well but is otherwise less useful. If you usually use your spear one-handed it's the good solution, but for a two-handed spear user it is less useful.

Grip Mastery (Spear) (MA 50) may also be useful but isn't much to do with reach adjustment.

[John Smith]

Against a one-handed spear, you can always sheathe your knife and grab the spear with two hands. If you have a strong cutting weapon you can also hack at the spear's shaft.

[mlangsdorf]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Reach Mastery (Spear) (PU2 7) would let you adjust reach as a free action when gripping one-handed as well but is otherwise less useful. If you usually use your spear one-handed it's the good solution, but for a two-handed spear user it is less useful.

Grip Mastery (Spear) (MA 50) may also be useful but isn't much to do with reach adjustment.

You have Reach Mastery backwards. It doesn't do anything for one-handed spear use, since one-handed spears have Reach 1 only. For two-handed spears, it's an extremely useful perk that lets you control the range of combat.

[Ji ji]

What is PU2?

I've got Basics and MA, plus various manuals of 3rd edition (someone in Italian). I don't know which expansion are you referring to.

OT: I hope my English is good enough to understand me... :p

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

What is PU2?

GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks is one of the most popular e23 supplements:
http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG37-0129

Originally Posted by Ji ji

OT: I hope my English is good enough to understand me... :p

You're fine, don't worry about it.

[Kuroshima]

First, welcome to the forums. You'll find that we're a friendly bunch, though we can get involved in endless digressions only tangentially related to the thread at hand.

As for the issue you mention, well, that spear use, as others have mentioned, isn't just the Spear skill. It's Spear, plus some perks to switch freely to Staff, and to freely adjust range. It's also good player tactics. In fact, other than it's boring, having the character that goes first simply wait, and say "When he attacks me, I retreat, and then attack him, and step backwards" leads to either the "attacker is capped at skill 9" situation, the "Attacker must blow all his FP on Heroic Charges" situation, "The attacker must slam me, and get severely punished if the trick fails and he ends giving me free range at his back" situation, or the "Attacker must sacrifice defenses to get a decent offense, via All Out Attack or Telegraphic Attack" situation. GURPS, unlike other systems, doesn't abstract that much in combat. Actual player tactics are VERY important.

[Ji ji]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

"When he attacks me, I retreat, and then attack him, and step backwards"

This leads me to a correlated question.
Is it necessary to specify in advance my intention to retreat between the attack and my declared action?

For instance, I take a wait maneuver declaring that, if my enemy will step forward, I'll take an attack maneuver.

My enemy steps forward. If we have the same reach, he attacks me and then I attack him. If I have greater reach, I attack him (possibly taking a step) and then he completes his action, possibly attacking me.
In the first scenario (equal reach) he attacks me before I attack him. My active defense is independent from wait maneuver, so I can defend (and retreat) even if I didn't declare it in advance. Obviously, if this retreat (or a parry with an unbalanced weapon, or so) take me to be unable to make an attack, my maneuver will be partially wasted.

Is it right or did I misunderstand something?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

You have Reach Mastery backwards. It doesn't do anything for one-handed spear use, since one-handed spears have Reach 1 only. For two-handed spears, it's an extremely useful perk that lets you control the range of combat.

No, for two-handed spears or long spears it's totally worthless, because you could take Form Mastery instead and get better reach flexibility and other benefits besides.

Reach Mastery isn't useful for one-handed use of the regular-length spear, but it is useful with the long spear, which is the only one-handed Spear skill weapon that has variable reach (and the only non-whiplike one-handed weapon that has * reach, I think).

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Ji ji

This leads me to a correlated question.
Is it necessary to specify in advance my intention to retreat between the attack and my declared action?

For instance, I take a wait maneuver declaring that, if my enemy will step forward, I'll take an attack maneuver.

My enemy steps forward. If we have the same reach, he attacks me and then I attack him. If I have greater reach, I attack him (possibly taking a step) and then he completes his action, possibly attacking me.
In the first scenario (equal reach) he attacks me before I attack him. My active defense is independent from wait maneuver, so I can defend (and retreat) even if I didn't declare it in advance. Obviously, if this retreat (or a parry with an unbalanced weapon, or so) take me to be unable to make an attack, my maneuver will be partially wasted.

Is it right or did I misunderstand something?

Yeah, you went off the rails at "he attacks me and then I attack him". Wait gives you priority over the person who triggered the wait. With equal reach, the Waiting person gets the first shot.

In fact, with one yard less reach the waiting person can get the first shot, by taking a step in as part of their Attack maneuver. Actually, with Move/2 + 1 less reach (!!) the waiting person can get the first shot, if they use the Wait for an All Out Attack (Long).

However, on the meat of your question, there's no problem with a character committing to a maneuver that isn't much use. If you've got nothing in reach you want to or can attack, don't.

[Bruno]

Spear skill, on its own with no related skills (like Staff) and no supporting perks (like Form, Reach, and Grip mastery) is the foundation of Spear use throughout history - mostly involved with working in groups. Massed soldiers, or raiders/hunters vs one target.

Simple spear use by yourself is most useful when hunting small animals - fish in a stream, small mammals, lizards, and snakes, and anything that lives in a shallow hole in a tree or the ground but might bite you if you stick your hand in to get it out. You don't have to stoop, you stay a yard or two from your prey so you never get bitten, you can even throw it.

It doesn't cover the sort of spear training covered in spear-focused martial arts taught these days, because no single skill in GURPS covers an entire martial art style. Martial arts are a combination of basic skills (usually more than just one!), tactics, techniques, and perks. If you're just using Spear skill, you're a simple spear user.

A bunch of people above-thread has already provided simple spear user tactics that are perfectly good. But if you're looking to capture your own martial art training (it sounds like you are) you definitely want to look into more than just one skill.