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View Full Version : That polearm, what's it called?



A Pointy Object
2007-01-01, 11:47 PM
I've been wanting to remember a certain weapon, for a fighter build I was going to do. It's a double-bladed polearm, deals 1d10/1d10 damage, and (I think) has reach. It's in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, as an exotic weapon mainly used by the Thri-Keen.

Does anybody know it's name? It's Stat's?

thatguy
2007-01-01, 11:50 PM
I believe the word you're looking for is "gythka."

You're welcome.

Stormcrow
2007-01-01, 11:54 PM
I call them crescent moon staves. I prefer it over the Thri-Keen name.

Thomas
2007-01-02, 05:36 AM
Gythka and chatkcha are in MM2, in the thri-kreen entry; didn't check my Expanded Psionics.

Gythka is an Exotic Two-Handed Melee Weapon; a double weapon dealing 2d6 slashing damage, criticals 20/x2. Cost 60 gp, weight 25 lbs.

Chatkcha is a One-Handed Exotic Ranged Weapon, dealing 1d6 piercing damage, criticals 20/x2, range increment 20 feet. Cost 1 gp, weight 3 lbs.

... yes, the chatkcha sucks. A javelin is better. The chatkcha should return to the thrower or something. (I believe that's what they did in AD&D, though I could just be remembering Wake of the Ravager or Shattered Lands.)

Closet_Skeleton
2007-01-02, 07:08 AM
They're also in Savage Species. It seems someone at Wizards likes reprinting Dark Sun stuff.

Thomas
2007-01-02, 08:13 AM
They're also in Savage Species. It seems someone at Wizards likes reprinting Dark Sun stuff.

The bastards ought to just come out and restart the world and product line.

'course it'd probably be FUBAR. I'm not convinced they know how to create anything except your standard dungeon-crawling fare anymore...


And checking Savage Species... gythka damage is 1d8 (more reasonable for a Medium weapon, though it's now worse than other Exotic double weapons; are thri-kreen Large? I forget...). The chatkcha... still sucks. Nobody should ever use it - it requires the EWP feat and is worse than a javelin (which is a Simple weapon).

Why would they create such sub-standard weapons?

Neo
2007-01-02, 10:33 AM
Well they are essentially thri-kreen spit that you harden and throw at people.

Were-Sandwich
2007-01-02, 10:35 AM
The Catchka has a 18-20 crit range. hows that worse than the javelin

Closet_Skeleton
2007-01-02, 10:39 AM
The chatkcha... still sucks. Nobody should ever use it - it requires the EWP feat and is worse than a javelin (which is a Simple weapon).

Why would they create such sub-standard weapons?

Thri-keen get proficiency with it for free so it isn't that bad. No one else would bother using it and it requires an exotic proficiency feat since it isn't designed for humanoid hands.

Thomas
2007-01-02, 10:49 AM
But why would the thri-kreen use it when even a javelin is plain better?


The Catchka has a 18-20 crit range. hows that worse than the javelin

No... no it doesn't. Savage Species gives it the same stats I listed above, from MM2. It's 1d6/x2, 20 ft. No 18-20.

Were-Sandwich
2007-01-02, 10:59 AM
My XPH has it listed as 18-20, if memory serves (which I'm pretty sure it does, as I built a Master Thrower NPC around them).

Closet_Skeleton
2007-01-02, 11:39 AM
But why would the thri-kreen use it when even a javelin is plain better?

Because thri-keen can't read dnd rulebooks? Chatchka is part of the thri-keen racial heritage. Crystaline wedges are easier to store than poles? They use all their decent staves making Gythka and therefore don't have any left over to make Chatchka.

A rapier is statistically better than a scimitar but scimitar wielding cultures wouldn't neccesaraly adopt the rapier just because they came into contact with a rapier making culture. A rapier is harder to make then a scimitar, especially if you're not used to making cruciform swords. Also they'd want to preserve their identy by keeping their cultural weapons.

Thomas
2007-01-02, 12:17 PM
How's the rapier better than the scimitar? Both are 1d6 and 18-20/x2.

The chatkcha doesn't follow the rules for weapons (they're based on points; increase size or move up in simple/martial/exotic, and damage, range, or critical must increase). It's plain bad.

None of that real-world mumbo-jumbo has anything to do with this - these weapons don't model reality any more than hit points model reality. For an Exotic Ranged Weapon, the chatkcha is pathetic.

Frosty Flake
2007-01-02, 03:23 PM
Didn't Thri-kreen used to have a javalin-like weapon? It was a serrated thrown spear thing that could have a thin cord attached to the back to be yankled back out of a target after an attack right? Zirka or Zyrka or something like that?

Thomas
2007-01-02, 03:47 PM
My XPH has it listed as 18-20, if memory serves (which I'm pretty sure it does, as I built a Master Thrower NPC around them).

It's been updated for the XPH, then; 18-20 makes sense, since it's two increases over the javelin (although the range increment is still inferior).

MrNexx
2007-01-02, 06:07 PM
Didn't Thri-kreen used to have a javalin-like weapon? It was a serrated thrown spear thing that could have a thin cord attached to the back to be yankled back out of a target after an attack right? Zirka or Zyrka or something like that?

Oh, bugger, I can't remember it's name. Thri-kreen of Athas had a good number of kreen-specific weapons... the Zirka (meant "meat-seeker"), the ko* (two pointed rocks; designed to puncture chitin... the * meant you popped your tongue after the ko), something designed to crack chitin.

However, the chatkcha would return if it missed its target; a skilled thrower could even arrage for it to go to where he was going to be. Any thri-kreen capable of making venom (5HD or more) could make one out of sand by chewing some special herbs... the material was called dasl, IIRC. The Gythka did 1d6/1d10 damage... that's vs. Small and Medium creature, and vs. Large creatures. Gythka blades could likewise be made from Dasl.

The double crescent blade polearm is actually chinese and is called the lajatang

Thomas
2007-01-02, 07:39 PM
Athas had it's own take on that, too; the lotulis. The crescent blades were attached from one of the tips, I think, the shaft's long, and there's spikes etc. all over it. One of the best Dark Sun weapons in AD&D, wasn't it?

I still prefer the alhulak and the kahulaks over all other weapons. Mul gladiator with either of those... aw yeah.

MrNexx
2007-01-03, 08:53 AM
Oh, the cahulaks were fantastic... and how cool was it to say "my weapon is made out of steel and giant's hair"? Personally, though, I was a fan of the widow's knife. They just LOOKED cool, though the fact that they couldn't effectively be made of bone, stone, or wood was a major downside. Tortise blades had that going for them, too (and a thri-kreen with four of them just got broken).

The crushers was a neat idea, if impractical for adventuring.

Closet_Skeleton
2007-01-03, 12:16 PM
The double crescent blade polearm is actually chinese and is called the lajatang

I have a book that claims the Lajatang is Indonesian and used in a martial art called kuntao. I don't know how accurate it is but Lajatang doesn't sound very Chinese to me.

Lajatang does get a bonus for being a double-weapon that isn't COMPLETLY MADE UP (Dire Flails grrr...) though.

MrNexx
2007-01-03, 02:09 PM
Entirely possible, Closet Skeleton. I will, in fact, cop to having pulled the Chinese origin of the weapon completely out of my nether regions.

Fax Celestis
2007-01-03, 02:22 PM
Entirely possible, Closet Skeleton. I will, in fact, cop to having pulled the Chinese origin of the weapon completely out of my nether regions.

That sounds quite painful, actually.

MrNexx
2007-01-03, 04:09 PM
You have no idea how painful it is to give birth to a polearm

Miles Invictus
2007-01-03, 08:15 PM
How's the rapier better than the scimitar? Both are 1d6 and 18-20/x2.


The rapier is finessable.

Thomas
2007-01-03, 09:19 PM
The rapier is finessable.

So it's better for certain builds, and that's it. If you're not finessing it, it's the exact same. (Kind of like how a light crossbow is better than a heavy crossbow or the repeating crossbows - if you take Rapid Reload.)

Matthew
2007-01-04, 04:47 AM
Also, you can't benefit from Strength Bonus by using the Rapier Two Handed.