I'm gld to see WFRP finally give spears their due, but I think the pendulum may have swung too far.

Regular hand weapons have DR/CR of 5/3. A spear is 5/2, increased to 6/2 if 2-handed, has the fast quality, and can be thrown (plus it's cheaper!) So, not much reason to carry a hand weapon anymore...

Likewise, a throwing axe/hammer is 5/3, can be thrown, and only costs 10s, but a hand weapon sword or axe can't be thrown and costs 25s.

Throwing axe, no big deal. But the spear has become rather mighty.

LOL, yeah, I remember in v2 saying, 'A sling does how much?!?'

Sling had a SWG to use it though.

Well, a spear is 1 more encumberance ... and specialization group: Spear rather than Ordinary. Also, a hand weapon can be anything from an axe, mace, sword, a spear is a spear.

Now, I'm not saying it isn't a bit off for spears, but despite being considered "Plentiful", hand weapons are more common and available and cover a wide variety of weapons.

Reaper Steve said:

Yeah, one of the things that jumped out at me was that the Freakin' Almighty Spear was back. In v1 there was no reason to carry anything but a spear. Version 2 nerfed it, but now it's back in all it's Over-Powered Glory.

In v1 we even took a cue from another, even deadlier, RPG and gave spears a chance to break.

The solution?

Carry more Freakin' Almighty Spears !

I use a weapon length houserule in my v2 game basically forcing a combatant with a shorter weapon to succeed a maneuvre to close in on the spear weilding fellow without suffering a free attack. It has made spears (and halberds and pikes) the weapon of choice in many situations.

This said, spears are unwieldy indoors most of the time, and in sewers, dense woods, caverns...

Just be sure to give appropriate penalties ! That should do it.

Some weapons are superior on the field of battle, and spears are one of those.

Those are excellent ideas, Jericho. I will definitely use a system like that.

Also, for those of you who've seen Gladiator, cold weather might frost up swords, making them stick in their sheaths! Whether that actually happens in real life is irrelevant to me, it's just a cool concept.

Then be sure to also make spears become improvised weapons against an opponent that is too close (after a successful maneuvre to close in). So basically, the spear gives you an advantage as long as you keep the opponent at bay. To move back to spear range, the spearman must also maneuvre successfully.

This houserule changes the flow of combat, really quite a lot, but it becomes much more realistic. 4 watchmen blocking a street with halberds becomes a real threat, just like it should be !

Of course, a heavily armoured dwarf could decide to charge in as usual and soak the free attacks. That is also quite right. Plate armoured dwarfs would do that.

The lengths I use are:

• Unarmed

• Dagger

• Hand Weapon and Great Weapons

• Spears and Halberds

• Pikes

The rule really gives a true battlefield dynamic to encounters where the PCs are outnumbered and try to stand their ground using the terrain and longer weapons. You know all those WFB illustrations were tough empire soldiers are assailed on all fronts ? That's exactly what happens. Against weak badly armoured opponents, the spear becomes the weapon of choice... until they mow you down with gunfire !