That's not the simpler solution. It's bad game mechanics to make this one exception. And sweeping plus pike isn't that bad considering the penalties. Whirldwind plus pike is a little much though.

OK. So, a Great Trident gets me the 10' reach that I want mechanically. Thematically, it doesn't fit for a Legionnaire to be walking around with a Milandisian Weapon. BUT... I can make this all fit if I chance from Human, to Unden. No one would question an Undir with a Trident, and it making an Undir a standard bearer in the Legion of the Watchful Hunter makes perfect sense. With a slight rebuild after the first adventure, I think I can make most people happy and add color to my PC as well.

A big THANK YOU for helping me puzzle this out.

I'm not sure I follow the logic. Carrying a standard in a Legion is a high honor. The personal choice of weapons would have nothing to do with it. That isn't to say that you couldn't have been a standard bearer. The two are just not connected.

If you wanted to keep stick with the Legionnaire theme, the short spear works. You'd take glaive rather than trident and need to take Adapt Weapon Trick. It lets you stay thematically with legion weapons that way.

If you don't want to use a legion weapon, that's fine too. You'll stand out a bit more, not sure if that's what you want or not.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

I'm thinking more of a squad/platoon Gideon than the actual legion colors. Normally these are mounted on the top of spears. Which is why I was originally going with a spear. A trident works mechanically, as it gives me 10' reach and fits for an Undir. But it would standout in the legion. Not as much now as it once did however given recent events in Metra.

I did shift my build from a Battle Mage, to a Bard with Leadership and Rousing Performance. Not as much spell punch but it better fits the honorific position I had in mind. Sorry if I wasn't clear before. We can fine tune things off line, as I would really appreciate your input.

Do remember,

a weapon as long as a long spear.. a GM could require the hero to have a "clear sweep path" to use Sweeping Strike.... there is a long shaft between the hero and the point of the spear.

just saying....

Now see, that's the problem. (I mentioned this point earlier.) Once you introduce realism into the weapon, it breaks down. A Pike is not a viable melee weapon except in formation fighting. It's just too unwieldy to be used by a lone warrior. (Unless he's in a wide-open field fighting against another lone warrior.) But if you suspend your disbelief, you can put it in the weapon charts as a two-handed melee weapon. And a PC can use it.

Now, if you use the realism argument to prevent the abuse of the massive reach by combining it with multiple-target maneuvers, then you've just jumped onto that slippery slope head-first. Where does it end? Realistically, the weapon should not be viable, except in formation fighting. And for that reason, i don't think that you can use the "clear sweep path" argument. You could reasonably grant the target a cover bonus to his avoidance. But to use that logic to prevent the use of the maneuver stretches the suspension of disbelief too thin in my opinion.

Scott

This goes for just about any two-handed pole-arm. Once you get out beyond about 10' of weapon, it becomes near useless outside of group tactics.

Personally I am fine with that Pedro. But that isn't the way you wrote it.

because we don't want this game to become gurps where we need special rules for everything.

common sense, its a long pole.. you can't attack around objects or corners

Okay then. I'm perfectly fine with the common sense approach. But as with other things, expect table variation. (I plan to use the optimum range guideline. YMMV.)

Scott