So what does Form Mastery (Spear) actually do?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Refplace

The reason for that is normally you cant. That is the point of the perk, weapons can be used in different ways tend to get those entries on a weapon table.
Perks are there to allow a special privilege, like a minor rules exception or skill substitution.

That's a different perk (Weapon Adaptation, more or less). Form Mastery supposedly requires the weapon to be useable with more than one skill to start with. It's yet another specialty of Grip Mastery, letting you change how you are holding the weapon as a free action.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by malloyd

That's a different perk (Weapon Adaptation, more or less). Form Mastery supposedly requires the weapon to be useable with more than one skill to start with. It's yet another specialty of Grip Mastery, letting you change how you are holding the weapon as a free action.

Yeah, I dont do this enough to remember the names of each perk. But Form Mastery is the one that lets you swap stances and "forms" as noted above right? Normally you have to choose between skills at the beginning of your turn so its basically a rules exception perk. At least thats the way I am thinking of it.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Sorenant

Quarterstaff in GURPS assumes metal caps on each end (IIRC PK stated it once),.

It's pretty much a necessity to get the 4 lb weight in the weapon's table.

If you do the volume of a cylinder geometry problem on a staff that's 1 inch wide and 6 feet wide (and yes you convert to metric to make the math easier) you get an even 1 pound if the staff is made out of ash (density 0.5 and pretty much the king of all woods in terms of strength to weight). Oak is about twice as dense so you still need 2 pounds of metal end caps.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Phoenix_Dragon

Close, but not quite. Normally you can choose what skill you're using a weapon with (From those skills that are valid for it) at the beginning of your turn. Form Mastery lets you change which skill you're using at any point in your turn, including multiple times in a turn. So you can start with using Staff skill, change to Spear skill to attack, then back to Staff skill so you're ready to parry.

And its a little hard to understand why you can't thrust AT ALL when holding a Spear in Staff grip, thus the Form Mastery kludge (you can thrust with a blunt Baton and a sharp Large Knife using the same skill, so "one is sharp and penetrates, the other is blunt and smashes" does not wash, that should be a -2 Familiarity penalty). Again, a lot of things in GURPS go back to not-so-physical people in the 1980s asking their SCA buddies, and if they redesigned the rules today in a world where better knowledge about martial arts is widespread things might look different.

[AlexanderHowl]

It is probably more about balance and the potential for self-harm rather than anything else. You can use a spear as a spear with Staff, you are just suffering a -2 because of the default. Using a spear as a staff, with the differences in balance, would be more dangerous because you have a sharp part that can cut you (most staff arts use circular motions that graze or touch the body of its user). Conversely, there is no baton skill, the balance of a baton is equivalent to the balance of a shortsword, and using a baton as you would use a shortsword is probably not dangerous to the user.

[Polydamas]

You're right, other staff weapons default to Staff-2 but each other at -4. In the Basic Set and Low Tech, though, the Spear can't be used with Staff skill for the +2 parry bonus, just by defaulting Spear from Staff.

There are plenty of centre-balanced spears, but some, especially the longer kind, are balanced further back. Batons balance differently than swords or big knives and don't have the hand protection. Another thing that the rules leave ambiguous is how long is a Spear and how long is a Long Spear.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

You're right, other staff weapons default to Staff-2 but each other at -4. In the Basic Set and Low Tech, though, the Spear can't be used with Staff skill for the +2 parry bonus, just by defaulting Spear from Staff.

Citation on that? Of course, it would only amount to +1 after the default penalty.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Citation on that? Of course, it would only amount to +1 after the default penalty.

Weapons table, page B273: the Spear is listed under Spear skill (DX-5, Polearm-2, or Staff -2) but not under Staff skill. Low Tech p. 69 rules the same (but adds Duelling Polearm under Staff skill as long as you only strike with the blunt parts; no +2 Parry bonus is listed) You can check the weapon tables in Martial Arts yourself, my copy is in the old country.

[Racer]

The ability to scratch ones back with the pointy bit & have zero chance of injuring yourself perhaps ? ;-)

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Weapons table, page B273: the Spear is listed under Spear skill (DX-5, Polearm-2, or Staff -2) but not under Staff skill. Low Tech p. 69 rules the same (but adds Duelling Polearm under Staff skill as long as you only strike with the blunt parts; no +2 Parry bonus is listed) You can check the weapon tables in Martial Arts yourself, my copy is in the old country.

Ah. Yeah, that's true but doesn't actually say what you want it to. It is directly established in those books that a spear can be wielded with Staff. Why they have persistently refused to put that into the weapon tables is, indeed, a bit baffling.

I thought you were saying something interesting about defaults rather than just denying the spear-as-staff mechanic altogether.