Polearms and Sizing

[Quixotico]

A new game is starting at work and I'm looking at a character who uses a polearm; specifically a glaive. I'm considering putting the Sizing magical propery onto it from the Magic Item Compendium so if anyone gets adjacent to him, he can lose the reach. (He doesn't have the feats to spare for Short Haft)

I know, by RAW, a two-handed glaive shrunk one size would become a one-handed weapon for a medium-sized character and lose its reach property, but considering the size of polearms wouldn't you think they'd first become a two-handed weapon without reach, then a one-handed weapon? Halving the size you still have a weapon the better part of four feet long.

[sonofzeal]

Nitpick - wikipedia claims Glaives are usually 6-7 feet long, meaning you're looking at much closer to 3 feet for the shrunk version. Note that a good sword or axe could easily be longer.

And eh, seems like a reasonable houserule. What does your DM say?

[Mongoose87]

I thought, RAW, weapon size was irrelevant to reach?

[Kaiyanwang]

I thought, RAW, weapon size was irrelevant to reach?

You are not alone.

[jiriku]

This is definitely in the territory of asking for DM candy.

If you're going to be asking for candy anyhow, you could design an exotic polearm that both has reach and threatens adjacent squares, and then give it mastery or proficiency or whatever that enchantment was that makes you automatically proficience with a weapon.

Fluff for such a weapon should be easy, it can have backwards-pointing projections on the head, spikes/blades along the haft, a razor-covered handguard, or simply be have a long grip and be weighted and balanced so that its trivial to foreshorten your grip. And since an exotic glaive with adjacency is manifestly much less powerful than the spiked chain, you're not introducing any balance issues with the weapon.

Plus, it's cool to have an unique and unusual weapon.

[Person_Man]

Anyone who is proficient with the glaive is also proficient with armor spikes, and proficient with spiked gauntlets, and is capable of carrying a backup weapon, and capable of taking 5 ft steps, and is capable of getting free movement. So I see little reason to invest in Sizing for what you propose.

[Quixotico]

Huh, yeah. I'm not sure it's explicitly stated, but sizing doesn't seem to affect reach. Only the size the character's reach can be altered, and that in its self alters the reach of a weapon appropriately sized for him.

So... by RAW, a Medium creature using a Tiny Glaive (as a light weapon) can hit an opponent 10' away, despite the weapon being only two-feet long.

So shrinking the polearm wouldn't do anything for the character. Yeah, I'll just make sure to have a back-up weapon. That was always an option, but if the glaive was to be his signature weapon and magical, I was hoping it could be made to be useful in a dire situation, say where he can't take a five-foot step.

I'll consider running a custom weapon by the DM, but we already drive him nuts as is and I don't want to be around when he suffers the inevitable mental breakdown.

Thanks for the advice and feedback.

[Glimbur]

Glaives, guisarmes, lances, longspears, ranseurs, spiked chains, and whips are reach weapons. A reach weapon is a melee weapon that allows its wielder to strike at targets that aren’t adjacent to him or her. Most reach weapons double the wielder’s natural reach, meaning that a typical Small or Medium wielder of such a weapon can attack a creature 10 feet away, but not a creature in an adjacent square. A typical Large character wielding a reach weapon of the appropriate size can attack a creature 15 or 20 feet away, but not adjacent creatures or creatures up to 10 feet away.

Is this a more general rule? Does Reach only count if you're wielding an appropriately sized weapon?

[ericgrau]

The simplest solution is to 5 foot step away and then full attack anyway. In rare situations when backed up against a wall, you draw a backup weapon. But usually combats are too short for this to ever happen, or to continue even if it does happen. If it does you ask the party to attack that guy instead of whoever else they were gonna attack, it dies in a round, then you quickly move on to their enemies which causes no such problem.