PCI_StatMonkey wrote:
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