The only downside is that it’s not good for slashing (unless you count some variants, like halberds, as spears), but the extra range makes it usually better for 1-on-1
You can bonk them on the head with the haft too. Every part of the spear is dangerous. If you are trying to get in under a good spear user it is so scary. They are so dangerous you can’t really practice with them at full speed.
Most of the pull arm weapons eventually devolved into halberd type pulling and slicing weapons. They were used primarily to remove mounted troops from the tops of horses, while slicing off their limbs.
There were lots of variations of halberds, pole axes and the English Bill.
There is a great book on the matter. Weapons in international encyclopedia from 5000 BC to 2000 AD.
Poleaxes were certainly used for more than yanking people off horses—they were the knightly weapon of choice for a couple centuries at least. I’d hardly call it a “devolution” of the spear.
Swords look cooler. Almost no one used a sword on the battle field throughout history. Everyone used pole arms of some sort. But swords seem cool, so get much more attention.
U r joking, the people’s weapon is the > scythe. I remember hearing in history class about how it was used in a war/revolution no, it wasnt the marxist one after putting the blade in vertical position, and that it was so effective that for a time it became the national flag.
And yeah, also the communist have it now im talking about the marxist one.
Polearms in general were ubiquitous throughout history. Pretty much anyone can pick one up and get the general idea of poke the enemy with the sharp end and use the length to keep them away.
An agricultural scythe would likely be a terrible weapon. It is designed for slicing though grass and brush, close to the ground, often with the snath shaped ergonomically to better facilitate this. Also, Austrian scythes in particular after curved three-dimensionally in an asymmetrical manner. Using it as a polearm would be incredibly awkward (D&D really does the scythe dirty) and there is not a good way to mount the blades vertcally in either main branch of European scythe, without modifying the part of the blade that attaches to the snath. But then, you have what amounts to a primitive halberd with a more fragile blade.
Now, if you mean sickle, I can definitely see more agreement there, though a pike or spear would be easier for most to use as a weapon as the motions used to harvest grain with a sickle are quite different from those that would be needed in combat.
Look man, why don’t we talk about spears across cultures?
It’s a weapon of the people and FAR more useful.
I keep a pitchfork handy as a wall decoration but I live in an apartment. It is my reminder of the need to fight back in the class war.
I live in a house in San Diego. I have a pitchfork, easiest way to spread mulch.
The crossbow is for defense.
Swordsman: Noooooo!! You can’t just poke me from all the way over there! No fair!!
Pikeman: Haha 20 foot pole go brrrr
The only downside is that it’s not good for slashing (unless you count some variants, like halberds, as spears), but the extra range makes it usually better for 1-on-1
You can definitely slash with most spears, there’s just less surface area to cut with compared to a sword.
You can bonk them on the head with the haft too. Every part of the spear is dangerous. If you are trying to get in under a good spear user it is so scary. They are so dangerous you can’t really practice with them at full speed.
Most of the pull arm weapons eventually devolved into halberd type pulling and slicing weapons. They were used primarily to remove mounted troops from the tops of horses, while slicing off their limbs.
There were lots of variations of halberds, pole axes and the English Bill.
There is a great book on the matter. Weapons in international encyclopedia from 5000 BC to 2000 AD.
Poleaxes were certainly used for more than yanking people off horses—they were the knightly weapon of choice for a couple centuries at least. I’d hardly call it a “devolution” of the spear.
Swords look cooler. Almost no one used a sword on the battle field throughout history. Everyone used pole arms of some sort. But swords seem cool, so get much more attention.
The Japanese used katanas as their daily carry weapon of choice. In fact, samurai would carry two swords with them!
However they had a very low crime rate. Ironic.
But not on the battlefield, they’d use naginata or something like it for that.
Another naginata
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Crossbows. We need more crossbows.
Chinese automatic crossbow go brrrr
U r joking, the people’s weapon is the > scythe. I remember hearing in history class about how it was used in a war/revolution
no, it wasnt the marxist oneafter putting the blade in vertical position, and that it was so effective that for a time it became the national flag.And yeah, also the communist have it
now im talking about the marxist one.Polearms in general were ubiquitous throughout history. Pretty much anyone can pick one up and get the general idea of poke the enemy with the sharp end and use the length to keep them away.
An agricultural scythe would likely be a terrible weapon. It is designed for slicing though grass and brush, close to the ground, often with the snath shaped ergonomically to better facilitate this. Also, Austrian scythes in particular after curved three-dimensionally in an asymmetrical manner. Using it as a polearm would be incredibly awkward (D&D really does the scythe dirty) and there is not a good way to mount the blades vertcally in either main branch of European scythe, without modifying the part of the blade that attaches to the snath. But then, you have what amounts to a primitive halberd with a more fragile blade.
Now, if you mean sickle, I can definitely see more agreement there, though a pike or spear would be easier for most to use as a weapon as the motions used to harvest grain with a sickle are quite different from those that would be needed in combat.