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Thread: Reach Weapon Questions
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2007-09-08, 02:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
Reach Weapon Questions
I'm a bit confused as to how reach weapons work under a few conditions. Since a medium creature wielding a reach weapon can hit things 10' away, but not 5', does this mean that a large creature wielding a reach weapon can hit things 15-20' away but not 5-10'?
Presuming that to be correct, what effects do Short Haft and Shorten Grip have for large creatures with reach weapons?
Finally, how would these feats work in conjunction with Whirlwind Attack?
As it stands, I have a binder PC who likes to use reach weapons while bound to Paimon (who grants Whirlwind Attack), I was considering either binding to Karsus at 8th level to get wands of Enlarge Person or taking a level in an arcane spellcasting class. Of course, before I do this, I should definitely make sure I know what effects my weapons will have!
All help is greatly appreciated.
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2007-09-08, 03:06 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Easton, PA
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
yes.
Presuming that to be correct, what effects do Short Haft and Shorten Grip have for large creatures with reach weapons?
Finally, how would these feats work in conjunction with Whirlwind Attack?
With all these questions about reach weapons and polearms, I want to make a halberd wielding warblade with all these amazing feats!
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2007-09-08, 03:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2005
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- PA these days
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
Large creatures with reach weapons can hit things 10-15 feet away, but not 5. Medium can hit 10ft, but not 5.
Spiked chain, hits all in reach (15ft large, 10ft medium)
Edit: Short Haft let'sm work like Spiked Chain I believe. Will investigate if I remember.Last edited by Seffbasilisk; 2007-09-08 at 03:20 PM.
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2007-09-08, 03:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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- Texas
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
Shorten Haft allows you to treat a reach weapon as a non reach weapon. This means a large creature would be able to hit anything within 10ft as a large creature wielding a sword would. However, it takes a swift action to switch between different uses of the weapon.
Shorten Grip allows you to hit adjacent squares as well as far away ones at the same time, at the cost of a -2 penalty to attacks. This means you can hit everything within 20ft at once, including in a whirlwind attack.
Short Haft involves switching how you hold the weapon as a swift action. Shorten Grip allows you to hit all areas, and requires on activation.
I just finished my reach build. But of course, it relies on a Spiked Chain.
Psychic Warrior X/Fighter 2/Exotic Weapon Master 2.
With a Spiked Chain and Inhuman Reach that's everyone within 20ft. Add on Expansion and it becomes 30ft. Extend Range becomes 40ft. Augment Expansion gets that up to 60ft.
Whirlwind attack everyone within 60ft? Yes Please.
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2007-09-08, 03:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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2007-09-08, 04:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
Re: Reach Weapon Questions
This makes most sense to me as well. The attack penalty of Shorten Grip shouldn't be too much of a problem given the levels to which I intend to boost my PC's strength.
I just finished my reach build. But of course, it relies on a Spiked Chain.
Psychic Warrior X/Fighter 2/Exotic Weapon Master 2.
With a Spiked Chain and Inhuman Reach that's everyone within 20ft. Add on Expansion and it becomes 30ft. Extend Range becomes 40ft. Augment Expansion gets that up to 60ft.
Whirlwind attack everyone within 60ft? Yes Please.
Another question: can I use Whirlwind Attack to trip everybody in range?
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2007-09-08, 04:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2005
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- Davis, California
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2007-09-08, 04:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2007
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2007-09-08, 05:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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- Texas
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
Where is Improved Whirlwind Attack?
Another part of my build is many sets of Bracers of Opportunity that allow three extra AoO a day. Probably need a new one after every fight with a reach like I have.Last edited by Kaelik; 2007-09-08 at 05:48 PM.
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2007-09-08, 05:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
Re: Reach Weapon Questions
Over here in epic-land
Was whirlwind attack changed in 3.5? The language of Improved Whirlwind is strange, considering what regular whirlwind does now.
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2007-09-08, 06:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2006
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- Canada, eh?
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
Short Haft is found the PHBII, yes? Where's Shorten Haft from?
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2007-09-08, 06:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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2007-09-08, 06:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2007
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
I've got a reach weapon question, unrelated tot he topic at hand, and it came up in my game earlier today.
We've got a character with a 10' reach weapon, who is attacked by an orc. Said orc starts more than 10' away, and in the process of moving to attack, enters the area threatened by the reach weapon, and then out of it to attack,
Now, I pointed out that this provoked an attack of opportunity, but we weren't sure,a nd the rules didn't totallly clarify it for us. The DM thought that since he was moving into a non-threatened suqare that couldn't be attacked by the player there was no AoO.
Could anyone clarify this for us?"And if you don't, the consequences will be dire!"
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2007-09-08, 06:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
I do believe that is Shorten Grip. I think any instance of Shorten Haft in this thread is a mistake, but refers to Short Haft.
Edit: Yes he provoked an attack of opportunity.
Point out that according to his logic moving from adjacent to a Greatsword wielder to some distance away would not provoke AoO since you are moving to a square not threatened. The key is leaving a threatened square, it doesn't matter where they are going.Last edited by Kaelik; 2007-09-08 at 06:35 PM.
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2007-09-08, 06:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2006
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- Oak Harbor, WA
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
AoOs happen any time you leave a threatened square by your own power without taking a 5' step or tumbling. The square you go to is irrelevant, the AoO 'goes off' when the target is still in the square you threaten, just prior to the actual movement.
So yes, you should have gotten an attack of opportunity when the orc moved back out of your reach, assuming there was nothing else preventing it."It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
- Thomas Jefferson
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2007-09-08, 06:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Reach Weapon Questions
You get your attack of opportunity the moment anyone leaves your threatened square. With a spear, you threaten the squares 10' away from your character, so anyone who leaves that square - even to come closer to you - provokes the AOO before they leave that square.
Otherwise, most reach weapons would be kind of useless. :P
So yes, when the orc went from 10' to 5' away from you, he'd provoke an AOO upon leaving the 10' square.
[Unless he took a 5' step or the withdraw action.]
Provoking an Attack of Opportunity
Two kinds of actions can provoke attacks of opportunity: moving out of a threatened square and performing an action within a threatened square.
Moving
Moving out of a threatened square usually provokes an attack of opportunity from the threatening opponent. There are two common methods of avoiding such an attack—the 5-foot step and the withdraw action.Beginnings usually happen over trifles... even if it's a coincidence...
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