Glaive

“Territorial army units are always the most expendable in battle. But we should, at least, give them a fighting chance. Arm them with glaives instead of scythes and sickles. Any extra enemies they kill are ones we won’t have to face.”
— An anonymous colonel from the Middenrealm, modern

The glaive is one of the most common polearms there is. It is inexpensive to produce and is more effective than the war scythe. It is found in territorial army units and mercenary units, especially those that cannot afford better weapons.

Like the halberd, it is unsuitable for certain battle formations, but its bad reputation is unmerited because it serves well in charge attacks and deals respectable damage.

“I don’t think much of this weapon. There are better choices. The halberd, for instance.”

— Geron Bladebreaker, mercenary

“A glaive is not that different from a mage’s staff. For people with little education in the art of warfare, a glaive is not such a bad choice.”

— Mirhiban al’Orhima, Tulamydian fire mage

Technique	Damage	P+T	AT/PA	Reach	Weight	Length	Cost	Complexity
Polearms	d6+5	AGI/STR 15	0/–2	long	2 stn 4 lbs	200 hf/cm 78 inches	50 S	primitive

Weapon Advantage: A warrior with a glaive can form a wall with at least one another fighter who is armed in the same way. The fighting partner must be no further than 1.5 feet away, and both must face the same direction. If these conditions are met, a wall can consist of any number of fighters. All fighters in this wall receive a +1 bonus on PA. If the warriors cooperate to perform the maneuver Charge, they lose their PA bonus but inflict +1 DP (see Core Rules, page 246).

Weapon Disadvantage: When using the special ability Pike Wall (see Aventuria Compendium, page 154), the wielder’s AT has an increased difficulty of 1.