[Low-Tech/Basic] Pick: War Club or Pickaxe

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Hand tool versions of the pick, both one and two handed, have existed since prehistory and have probably been intermittently used as weapons for at least as long. If I had to guess why Basic calls the pick TL 3, it's because making a pick that will survive the rigors of combat is kinda hard.

Nah, it's a matter of the armor vs weapons race. TL 3 is the first time there was armor tough enough that picks were needed to reliably pierce it, so that was the first time anybody made picks specifically for military purposes.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Blind Mapmaker

I've been going through the Low-Tech weapon table again and run into the problem of finding stats for using an actual Pickaxe in combat. The Pick in the weapon table in Basic set and the one in Low-Tech share stats and those have been unchanged at least since Low-Tech for 3rd edition. But while I took the pick in Basic to be a pickaxe, the description in Low-Tech (p. 60) makes it clear this is supposed to be the weapon of war. From the weight and one-handedness I assume it's closest to the Horseman's Pick (Wikipedia-Link).

Yes, the authors of GURPS Basic Set were probably thinking of the steel-headed warhammers with back spikes which appear in western Europe after 1400 when they created their entry for a Pick (TL 3). The basic concept is much older, it was common in the Eurasian steppes and Iran in Scythian times. Here is a picture of one from Iran around 500 BCE (the weapon-bearer behind the throne).

I would give the kind of pickaxe that you use to break up earth or clay a penalty to hit (its too big and heavy, weapons for fighting have to me nimble because trees don't dodge or parry), require two hands, and give it stats similar to the Axe in GURPS Low-Tech but imp instead of cut if you strike with the spike. Maybe +1 damage for being two-handed.