Polearms!

by Xavius

Back to Common Grounds.

Xavius2010-05-23 07:42:54
Edit: Moved from an idea thread!

CODE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                      Polearms                                     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                  Jab Afflictions                                  |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                    Wound Level                                    |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Part  |  Negligible   |   Light    |    Medium    |    Heavy    |    Critical     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Head  |               |            | EyeGouge     |             | ThroatPierce    |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Chest |               | OpenChest  | PunctureChest| Ischaemia   | HeartPierce     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gut   |               | Peritonitis| SepticWound  | Impale      | MangleLiver     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Arm   | ArmArtery     |            | SeverNerve   |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leg   | LegArtery     |            |              | PinLeg      |                 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                   1H Polearms                                     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                 Swing Afflictions                                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                    Wound Level                                    |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Part  |  Negligible   |   Light    |    Medium    |    Heavy    |    Critical     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Head  |               | BreakNose  | RingingEar   |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Chest |               |            |              |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gut   |               |            | Wind         |             | BurstOrgans     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Arm   |               |            |              |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leg   |               |            |              |             |                 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|                                   2H Polearms                                     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                 Swing Afflictions                                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                    Wound Level                                    |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Part  |  Negligible   |   Light    |    Medium    |    Heavy    |    Critical     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Head  |               |            | FractureSkull| BlackEye    |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Chest |               |            |              |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gut   |               |            | Wind         |             | BurstOrgans     |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Arm   |               |            |              |             |                 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leg   |               |            | Knockdown    | Kneecap     |                 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Summary:

The art of wielding polearms covers both one-handed weapons, such as the spear and trident, and two-handed weapons, such as the halberd and glaive. Most of the force and technique in the use of polearms lies in footwork and posturing, so even the smaller weapons cannot be effectively dual-wielded like small sword or bludgeons. In exchange, the master of polearms can turn an opponent's force against him or take advantage of the power in a strong mount's stride. The use of polearms favors those who fight defensively and with foresight, making this skill a favorite of disciplined knights, but poorly suited for raging berserkers.


Thematically, a warrior using polearms focuses on jabs to the chest and gut for victory. Swings are blows from the pommel of a two-handed weapon or the shield equipped alongside a one-handed weapon. The chart above assumes that swinging will use the same mechanics as currently existing swings. For further awesomeness, polearm swings should ideally generate only damage, but no (or very little) wounds. If you can do that, go to town fleshing out the swings with things from Bonecrusher, including BashBrain.

One-hand weapons would have the same stats as two-hand weapons, but inferior swing attacks and the ability to shieldstun while holding an impale.

New affliction skills (but only three new afflictions, only two of which need to be added to systems!):

CODE

EyeGouge
Bodypart: Head
Minimum Wound State: Medium
Maneuver: Jab, one-handed or two-handed polearm
A precise jab through the eye will render it useless. Striking both eyes in this
way will cause blindness. Because of the unique physiology of krokani, this
will only cause additional wounding for them.


Peritonitis
Bodypart: Gut
Minimum Wound State: Light
Maneuver: Jab, one-handed or two-handed polearm
Gut injuries can cause inflammation of the lining of the abdominal cavity, which
interferes with core muscle control. Although only transient, this will cause your
victim to writhe more slowly.


Ischaemia
Bodypart: Chest
Minimum Wound State: Heavy
Maneuver: Jab, one-handed or two-handed polearm
Although extremely difficult on a healthy target, it is possible for a master of
polearms to sever the common carotid artery with a jab between the upper ribs
angled in towards the sternum. The result is an immediate loss of blood flow to
the brain, causing severe disorientation and difficulty mustering the will to fight.


ThroatPierce
Bodypart: Chest
Minimum Wound State: Heavy
Maneuver: Jab, one-handed or two-handed polearm
Eating, drinking and smoking are impossible with a blade lodged in your victim's
throat. Rending your blade from this position can cause extreme bleeding.


MangleLiver
Bodypart: Gut
Minimum Wound State: Critical
Maneuver: Jab, one-handed or two-handed polearm
A deep thrust and a quick twist will disrupt most of the body's systems by
polluting the blood. The most immediate signs are inefficient blood clotting
and difficulty purging poisons.



Non-afflicting skills
CODE

Brace
Syntax: BRACE
Power: 1
Bracing for impact will protect you from a blow from an unaware opponent.
The next attack against you will result in a vicious jab to the gut or chest of
your attacker, causing increased wounding. Bracing is especially effective
against large, heavy targets, such as mounts. If the next attack comes
from a beast or mounted opponent, your blow will drive deep through the
animal's chest, killing all but the strongest mounts. This attack relies on
surprise and your opponent's momentum, and will be ineffective after a short
while.


Overpower
For Training:
Syntax: BEAST TRAIN OVERPOWER
Prerequisite: Mount
Type: Body
Trains: 100

Syntax: OVERPOWER
Power: 4
If you are mounted on a beast capable of assisting your attack, you can
use the force of your mount's sprint to plunge your weapon through most
defenses. The force of the blow results in increased damage and
wounding if done to an unmounted opponent.


Fusilade
Syntax: FUSILADE
Power: 10
The fusilade is a truly remarkable feat of strength and acrobatics fortified
by aetheric power. By coiling your entire body behind the shaft of your
weapon and launching yourself at your target, your blade will punch through
your opponent straight to the hilt, which will cause a fluid shockwave that
can weaken even neighboring body parts.


CoupDeGrace
Syntax: REND
If your opponent is impaled with at least heavy wounds to the gut and critical
wounds to the chest, or vice versa, rending your weapon will allow you to make
a follow-up attack to end your opponent's suffering.


Advantages:
- Jabs don't suck, and all the good stuff is by jab.
- Brace opens possibility for a good initial burst by striking an opponent twice faster than other knights.
- Fusilade sure beats haymaker and its counterparts!
- Death to mounts.
- Real opportunity to have knights with shields.

Disadvantages:
- No double pinleg like the blademasters.
- No cleave clone (functionally replaced by brace)
- Requires at least some skill in beastmastery.
- Assault/sweep clone requires a mount and the ability to leave the room.
- Does not benefit from a group of non-polearm knights smashing up a target's head.
Elostian2010-05-23 09:41:26
Right, since the lastest Ask Estarra and the question concerning polearms as well as my own shameless love of the polearm (anyone who has seen the Sentinel background and guildhall will have noticed this), I'm wondering if it's worth a shot creating a brainstorm thread about this topic. If it doesn't work, no effort lost, if it does, who knows, we might actually have Orcs-who-stare-at-cats in Lusternia soon!

What sort of skills could you envision in a polearm spec?
Eventru2010-05-23 09:43:36
Elostian2010-05-23 09:45:13
Yay, I got a troll!
Rika2010-05-23 09:46:48
Quick, close the thread before it gets worse!

Xavius idea
Veyrzhul2010-05-23 09:49:14
Is this something official?
Fusilade seems way over the top, especially if it ignores parry/stance/rebounding.
Eventru2010-05-23 09:52:23
Right. For the sake of productivity, I've merged the two threads into one!
Veyrzhul2010-05-23 10:01:55
On a sidenote, common sense suggests that polearms are cutting weapons. This would mean we have four types of cutting weapons vs one type of blunt ones. Especially with the 'downfall' of bonecrusher as a skillset, blunt protection is really underrated in pvp right now. I'm not sure how commonly done this is, but when I now was a knight, I only always used a helmet tempered for maximum cutting protection, and although I never did the same for my masterarmour, doing it would have had no downsides at all in pvp, there were never any enemy bonecrushers.

Maybe it would be good to either introduce another blunt weapon skillset or alter axelord to be something like maul-lord and let that be a blunt weapon skillset.
Aerotan2010-05-23 10:04:31
Tahtetso is blunt damage, isn't it? And I think Rockslide is too. But you're right, the list is rather short.
Veyrzhul2010-05-23 10:13:04
Yea, and I was referring to knight weapons only. Punches and kicks are blunt type attacks, too, but monks can dish out many important afflictions nicely regardless of wounding, so having protection or not doesn't matter much there. And rockslide does no wounding (or does it?) to my knowledge. There are more attacks in pvp that do blunt DAMAGE, but what you really want and need is protection against wounding against knights. And right now, there is simply no real need for high blunt protection.
Elostian2010-05-23 10:16:11
If you think this is a veritable issue, I suggest you make an alternative thread about it.
Xiel2010-05-23 10:20:57
I'd highly recommend staying away from incorporating even -more- new afflictions to the specialty. I'm sure that with the four other specs already built as well as the host of other afflictions out there currently, Polearms can just be made to put a new spin on a number of the less seen or more useful conditions rather than creating new ones.
Casilu2010-05-27 22:48:39
So, let me try my hand at this.

First: The non-wounding skills/ones that are new.

Polearm Mastery of the polearms.
Cleave Strike through shields into flesh in one stroke.
Thrust Put your back into it!
- This is just like the normal sweep/assault, works as a jab.
Rend Viciously rip an impaled blade from your target's body
Shaftstrike An unexpected attack for when they parry.
- Replacement for heftyaxe/heftysword, gives a knockdown-type balance-loss (half the time as a real knockdown) and a high chance to prone.
Deeppinleg Pulling that strike out is going to do some damage.
- For this afflict, rend has to be used when you have balance and writhing time should be increased far above pinleg. When rended, it gives a short stun with mangle and a large amount of bleeding.
Deepimpale That is not coming out easily...
- Like deeppinleg with respect to the rend condition. When rended, it gives a short stun and severspine.
Ready Ready your polearm against a charge.
- When you do this, you cannot do any sort of attack or else the one or so power is wasted. When an enemy moves into the room with you, you automatically attack them with a readied polearm attack. If they use a move/attack action like charge, the attack is interrupted and the damage and wounding is doubled.


CODE

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Polearms |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Jab Afflictions |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wound Level |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Part | Negligible | Light | Medium | Heavy | Critical |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Head | Slicedforehead | | Fracturedskull| | |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Chest | | Puncturelung | PunctureChest | | HeartPierce |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gut | | Opengut | | Impale | Deepimpale |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Arm | Laceratearm | | SeverNerve | | |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leg | Lacerateleg | Knockdown| | PinLeg | Deeppinleg |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Polearms |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Swing Afflictions |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Wound Level |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Part | Negligible | Light | Medium | Heavy | Critical |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Head |slicedforehead | | fractureskull | slitthroat |Behead
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Chest | | |Gashchest | | |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gut | | Opengut | | Rupturestomach| |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Arm | | | |Collapsenerve| |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Leg | | Knockdown | | Legtendon | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Estarra2010-05-27 23:40:48
Nothing in this thread is "official" -- it is a place for players to brainstorm.

However, I will point out that if we ever do polearms that it would be a two-handed specialization. While I know that logically you can divide polearms into one-handed and two-handed categories, I do not believe it would be fair to require multiple weapon types for a warrior (i.e., a two-handed weapon plus two one-handed weapons, etc.). Not to mention the aesthetics of players flipping between one-handed and two-handed weapons to have access to all their skills is not very attractive.

mf_swordfight.gif
Sylphas2010-05-28 00:15:42
I think they meant two seperate specs, one each for 1h and 2h polearms.
Casilu2010-05-28 00:17:34
QUOTE (Sylphas @ May 27 2010, 05:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I think they meant two seperate specs, one each for 1h and 2h polearms.


Xavius's was for one spec, I think. I only was talking about two-handed for mine which is why I made sure to include cleave.
Vesar2010-05-28 00:26:49
If you add polearms, I think it should be one spec (1h or 2h) and should refrain from adding yet more afflictions which add to the overall difficulty of combat in Lusternia.
Unknown2010-05-28 00:34:16
What would be extra super nice with this?

If we could transfer weapon runes to new weapons without cashing them in and rebuying them first!
Casilu2010-05-28 00:36:32
QUOTE (Rainydays @ May 27 2010, 05:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What would be extra super nice with this?

If we could transfer weapon runes to new weapons without cashing them in and rebuying them first!


Don't press your luck. tongue.gif NO WHAMMIES! STOP!

/out-dated joke
Gregori2010-05-28 00:36:44
QUOTE (Rainydays @ May 27 2010, 06:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
What would be extra super nice with this?

If we could transfer weapon runes to new weapons without cashing them in and rebuying them first!



This. It's only been asked for the last how ever many years the game has been running. Make them just like other runes and they add "weapon auras" instead.