Combination Reach & Melee Weapon

[CGDG]

Having played a few warrioresque characters, I almost always gravitate towards melee. I find there's just more for you to use and do. Whenever I try to play a character that relies on reach weapons, I find myself constantly retreating to gain enough room to attack again.

The easiest solution I see to this is a weapon that is both a reach and regualr melee weapon. Does such a weapon exist in official 3.5 material? Is one mentioned in a 3.5 focused Dragon Magazine?

[Darrin]

The easiest solution I see to this is a weapon that is both a reach and regualr melee weapon. Does such a weapon exist in official 3.5 material? Is one mentioned in a 3.5 focused Dragon Magazine?

Spiked Chain is popular, but requires EWP. The preferred non-EWP solution is usually Guisarme + Spiked Gauntlet or Guisarme + Armor Spikes.

There is, however, a martial reach weapon that can attack 10' away and also attack adjacent: the Duom. It was originally published in the Arms & Equipment Guide as exotic, but then printed later in Dragon #331 as martial. It was then reprinted in Dragon Compendium Volume #1 as martial, which is considered the most current 3.5 source. The rules for it are just a tad bit quirky:

"The weapon has reach, allowing you to strike opponents 10 feet away with it. Those proficient with the duom can also attack adjacent foes with the reversed heads using a practiced "reversed strike." Apply a -2 penalty on the attack roll if you use the duom to attack a second adjacent opponent in the same round you attacked the first opponent." (emphasis added)

Note the bolded portion. The -2 penalty only applies if you attack a second adjacent opponent after attacking your first opponent. If all your attacks are against the same opponent (fairly likely), then there's no penalty.

[Necroticplague]

Having played a few warrioresque characters, I almost always gravitate towards melee. I find there's just more for you to use and do. Whenever I try to play a character that relies on reach weapons, I find myself constantly retreating to gain enough room to attack again.

The easiest solution I see to this is a weapon that is both a reach and regualr melee weapon. Does such a weapon exist in official 3.5 material? Is one mentioned in a 3.5 focused Dragon Magazine?

Spiked chain. [/thread]

[CGDG]

Spiked chain. [/thread]

I always thought Spiked Chain was reach only.

[bjoern]

I always thought Spiked Chain was reach only.

Nope, its one of the very few that can attack adjacent and at 10' away. Plus it can be used to trip, gives a bonus to disarm, and qualifies for weapon finesse. Totally worth taking EWP if your guy is build around using it. Unusually have my DM OK a razorchain variant so my damage type can be slashing.

If youre going for RP flavor, pole arms are fun to imagine during combat . But mechanically I'd say the chain is better.

[Waddacku]

From Dragon Magazine there's also the rope dart/meteor hammer, with 15' reach. Secrets of Sarlona has the spinning sword, which is one handed. I believe the DMG also has kusari-gama as a one-handed (or light?) weapon, that works like that as well.

There's also the Short Haft feat, that lets you switch between reach and non-reach with a swift action, and Shorten Grip which lets you use polearms against adjacent enemies at -2 to hit.

[HammeredWharf]

If youre going for RP flavor, pole arms are fun to imagine during combat . But mechanically I'd say the chain is better.

It really depends. Most of the time, you can take a 5 ft step back and the feat cost of a spiked chain is rather annoying. Usually, damage isn't that important for a reach-based crowd control character, so armor spikes and spiked gauntlets do the trick just fine. Besides, if you've got Standstill and Improved Trip, you should be the one who decides where the enemies are.

[Milodiah]

As A DM, I 've let my players wielding reach weapons attempt to use the leverage of said weapon to push the enemy back, so they wouldn't have to reach for a sidearm at the 5' mark. Also, while it may not be very plausible to do in a battle (a full round action at best), I made a point to equip my pikebard with a custom (self-made, he's an armorer) longspear that unscrews at the halfway point to become a regular spear and a quarterstaff. It's mostly because I have this annoying voice in the back of my head that mutters things to me like 'You do realize how awkward it would be to walk around with a 10-foot pole all the time' and 'you're certainly not going to get through doorways very fast', but it of course also works as a versatility thing.

As has been mentioned beforehand, the Short Haft feat is pretty important if you're a specialist polearm user. If your DM is open to (high quality) homebrews I'm fond of this class (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Dragoon_%283.5e_Class%29), and of course I will plug this class (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Vanguard_%283.5e_Class%29) since it was made by a friend. But there's certainly nothing wrong with the good old fashioned Fighter.

[Sith_Happens]

Once you can afford it, the Changeling property costs 2000 gp and let's you switch between shortspear, spear, and longspear as a swift action.

[Milodiah]

Hmm...this is just houseruling here, what about other sets of comparable weapons? Like sai-trident-ranseur or handaxe-poleaxe-halberd?