Pike

Health: 6

Hardness: 8

Craft DC: 20 (Smithing) and 20 (15-20 ft) or 27 (25-30 ft) (Woodworking)

A pike is essentially nothing more than a very long Spear, a favorite weapon of infantry phalanxes, and a powerhouse on the battlefield. It is between 15 and 30 feet in length, though as noted on the Weapons page, pikes longer than 20 feet weigh more and are exotic weapons. They require both Martial weapon proficiency and exotic proficiency, though exotic proficiency covers both 25 and 30 foot pikes - they do not have to be taken separately.

For game rules sake, pikes come only in 5 foot increment lengths - there are 15 ft, 20 ft, 25 ft, and 30 ft pikes, with the latter two being exotic weapons. All of these are reach weapons, with the reach naturally equal to the length.

You can attempt Trip attacks with a pike. A touch attack that deals no damage is required. If you are tripped following your own trip attempt, you can drop the pike to avoid being tripped. Trip attacks may be made against opponents that are closer than the weapon's reach, often making them the only option if an opponent has become too close.

With a 25 or 30 foot pike, AP costs to turn increase by 1, making it costly even on your turn. Turning may no longer be incorporated into a motion for free, as well.

If a character wielding a pike is facing an enemy who is charging him, he may spend 1 AP to make the resulting attack of opportunity deal double damage. Either way, a successful attack halts the charge.

Despite being a two-handed weapon, a pike may be used with a shield of any type, though the armor penalty is increased by one.

Wielding a pike negates Split Focus and similar feats.

A pike of any length may be made without a head, which forgoes the smithing craft check and lowers the price by 2, but it gives a -4 penalty to damage and gives the pike a 5% chance to splinter and become useless on every successful attack. This does provide, however, for easy and quick production, and will often be seen in peasant armies. The same rules apply to the Spear.