Glaive

Game Stats

• Range: melee
• Base damage: 1d8-1 (slashing)
• Secondary: +5 melee avoidance, +5 to parry
• Concealable: no
• Civilian Carry: no

Description

A glaive is a polearm with a cutting sword-like blade affixed to the end of its shaft.

Use and Characteristics 

The glaive proper is a Sevillan weapon and distinguished by a cutting blade affixed to the end of the shaft by a socket.  The blade is usually between 18 and 22 inches long and most often single-edged.  A small guard is common, to prevent enemy blades from sliding down the shaft into the wielder's hands.  The hardwood shaft is usually about six feet long (or more precisely, the height of the wielder) and sometimes capped by a spike-shaped counterweight.  The end result is a polearm roughly eight feet in length.

The glaive is often considered an elegant weapon, extraordinarily well suited to dueling and self-defense.  This is due to its ability to combine the thrusting prowess of a spear with a wide cutting reach.  A glaive's blade is usually slim, resulting in a light weapon for two hands.  Most glaives weigh about three to four pounds.  The weapon's center of balance is often forward of the midpoint of the shaft even when used with a counterweight, to give it better cutting ability.

Glaive use alternates evenly between cutting and thrusting, with a secondary emphasis on butt-end techniques such as tripping and striking.  The position of the wielder's hands on the shaft often changes rapidly, allowing a glaive wielder to fight at many different distances as the fight dictates, or to surprise his opponent.  This weapon's use owes more to the spear than the sword, but the longer cutting blade and guard make it much more effective at engaging and controlling an opponent's sword when necessary.

Although a glaive has very similar dimensions to the short spear, it does not have the latter weapon's reach.  This is due to the glaive's center of balance, which is usually just forward of the shaft's midpoint, whereas a spear's center of balance is behind the midpoint.  The forward center of balance means a glaive cannot thrust as far beyond the wielder's hands before he begins to lose control of the weapon.  Thus, despite its somewhat greater overall length, the glaive is considered a shorter-ranged if more versatile weapon than the spear.

Advantages

The glaive's principal advantage is its ability to alternate naturally between thrust and cut with the reach of a polearm.

Disadvantages

The glaive's primary disadvantage is that, like most polearms, it can create a competent defense at close quarters but has difficulty striking a killing blow  However, the glaive is more versatile at close range than many polearms, as it can simulate in some ways the action of a short sword.  For this reason some Sevillan fencing masters consider the glaive the best weapon for self-defense dueling.

Variants

Glaives are produced with high-quality steel (referred to as "steel" colloquially) and low-quality steel (referred to as "iron" colloquially) warheads.  Their butt-spikes are often bronze, as bronze is denser than steel (and thus makes a more compact counterweight) and more resistant to corrosion (and thus can be used to stand the glaive upright by thrusting it into the potentially damp ground).  Glaives are much more likely than spears to be produced with crystal edges or from Dolotai steel, as their warheads are much less prone to be lost in battle.  Moreover, many glaives are owned by wealthy and accomplished martial artists, for whom exotic warheads are a status symbol.

The glaive is produced in a number of variations throughout the Circle.  One simple variation is to expand the simple guard found on most glaives to a more capable crossguard, which enhances the weapon's ability to parry at the expense of making it handle somewhat more sluggishly.

The voulge may be thought of as a type of glaive variant, as it is also a polearm with a cutting blade and approximately the same size.  However, the blade of a voulge is affixed to the side of the shaft rather than the end, making it somewhat less suitable for thrusting.  In compensation, voulge blades are often wider, giving them enhanced cutting power.

The Kisugochi Empire produced a glaive-like weapon independent of Sevillan influence called the naginata.  A naginata performs essentially the same function as a glaive, although a number of construction differences exist.  Naginata are much more likely than glaives to have oblong handles to help the wielder orient his blade, as naginata use tends to emphasize cutting over thrusting.  Their blades are often longer, extending up to 30 inches in some cases.  Naginata blades are also affixed to their shafts with a tang, so that the shaft surrounds part of the blade, rather than by a socket, whereby the metal fits around part of the shaft.

Party Associations

Heroe Adoria uses a glaive as one of his primary melee weapons.

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