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Elfcrusher wrote: EDIT: All of the above aside, the Beorning character I've been making uses Great Spear because I like the visual.

Word. Me too.

Elfcrusher wrote: That actually raises another interesting point: spears already have the highest probability of a pierce, and bows are tied with swords. So not only does the called shot success cancel out the normal pierce, but they have the highest chance of getting that pierce.

On the other hand, you could easily argue that a Pierce is way more valuable than a Disarm or a Shield Smash. So there.

I went and actually checked my books for myself when I got home last night, and frankly I'm still torn. I can see the Feat die proviso presented on that table on page 162 as being intended one of two ways; either as an explicit exception to the normal Called Shot stacking, or as a clarification meant to say "the Called Shot Pierce is NOT DEPENDENT on the Feat die like a normal one is, you guys."

You do have a strong point that Pierce is a lot more valuable than Shield Smash or Disarm, though. I've actually not ever heard of Shield Smash being used.

Disarm SEEMS like ought to be useful... I mean, there are lots of guys with really deadly weapons they have Favored skills in, right? Whatsisface, Bolg's son, doesn't he have that really nasty Scimitar? Various flavors of Great Orcs also have nasty weapons, and some Trolls use something like Club as their primary method of attack instead of Crush.

And hell, it seems like it would be a prime option versus the Nazgul, as you can't actually STOP the special effects of a Called Shot in any way; there's no protection test. So all their weird powers and immunity to Wounding and such are no protection against some dude with a sword making them drop their own swords.

This is all just theorycraft on my own part, tho. I've been having trouble convincing our Barding, the only one of us with a sword, to give disarming a try. Aside from the fact that we've largely been fighting spiders and other things of that nature since the game began (we made the decision to cross the entire Heart of Mirkwood on our third session in search of a treasure marked out on a map we bought from a seedy merchant. Because those are always reliable, am I right?) he really wants to just crouch in Defensive Stance and save the rest of us from ourselves, tanking up a storm.

EDIT: All of the above aside, the Beorning character I've been making uses Great Spear because I like the visual. Statistics be damned.

Oh man, I know, right?

I'm actually considering picking up regular Spear as my secondary weapon skill, just because I like the idea of my badass Beorning redhead with a spear taller than she is deciding "You know what? I don't have ENOUGH spear. I need some more." So she has the one giant spear, and people are like "That's a big spear" and then she turns around and they see there are like three regular-sized ones strapped to her back, and they're like "... and that's a LOT of spears."

It would be horribly encumbering but also awesome.

Hobbit: "Egil, he's got a spear!"

Egil: "That? That's not a spear..."

(pulls out Keen, Fell, Grievous Giant-slaying Great Spear)

Egil: "...now that's a spear."

(Rolls Awe. Extraordinary Success. Hobgoblins flee in terror.)

Hobbit: "He could've killed us!"

Egil: "Nawww....just orcs having fun."

By the way, this game really needs throwing axes. When you've got Great Spear and Axes for weapon skills you have no ranged weapons.

In before Rich: yes, I know fan content includes throwing axes. I meant officially.

A Beorning with a great spear is horrible. My Beorning, Nemo, in the RPOL campaign, just took out 4 of the 6 Marsh Dwellers by himself, with Great Spear: 3. On a great success, hitting for 15 damage, 21 on an extraordinary success.

Where "horrible" == "horrifying to enemies"?

Does Nemo's great spear have 3 prongs?

Yes, Elf. That's exactly what I mean.

Actually javelin would be a weapon that is true to the cultures that Tolkien used as a basis for his books. The angon was a Frankish weapon for example and javelins are often just a shorter version of a close-combat spear.

Javelin 4 10 14 Enc 1 Spears Ranged weapon

Conceptually I like the idea of a couple throwing axes tucked into a belt, Ragnar Lothbrok style than I do a brace of spears. It just feels more plausible for an adventurer who needs his hands free and to be somewhat unencumbered without big, long shafts of wood sticking out from his gear harness.

Throwing axes feels more like a military weapon than a javelin/throwing spear which can be used to bring down a boar or deer if you get close enough.