I apologize in advance for this not being a huge post with a fully fleshed out idea for people to look at and judge, but I was thinking about how a lot of the strength of spears in real life comes from having a number of people with them in some kind of formation.
So here was my proposal, a feat to try and replicate this, giving people armed with a spear some manner of bonuses for being near to other people using spears, maybe a small AC, AB, or damage boost for each spear user other than themselves in some radius, capping at some point to avoid hugely overshadowing other choices. Bladesinger has something vaguely similar, where it grants bonuses to other elves, so I was thinking it might not be too difficult to design something similar but weakened enough to maintain balance compared to other weapon options.
This would allow for a slightly more realistic take on spear (maybe other polearms too?) use and perhaps encourage some more variety in peoples weapon choices and concepts. Make the angry peasant mobs and shield walls a legitimate threat.
I was hoping others who are more certain of themselves with regards to balance might have some suggestions as to the type and severity of any bonuses such a thing could give. I haven't used the spears on here to be able to even say if its strictly necessary, but I have seen them go mostly ignored on many servers before now.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I didn't see a suggested format for these things, so I hope I didn't miss something.
So here was my proposal, a feat to try and replicate this, giving people armed with a spear some manner of bonuses for being near to other people using spears, maybe a small AC, AB, or damage boost for each spear user other than themselves in some radius, capping at some point to avoid hugely overshadowing other choices. Bladesinger has something vaguely similar, where it grants bonuses to other elves, so I was thinking it might not be too difficult to design something similar but weakened enough to maintain balance compared to other weapon options.
This would allow for a slightly more realistic take on spear (maybe other polearms too?) use and perhaps encourage some more variety in peoples weapon choices and concepts. Make the angry peasant mobs and shield walls a legitimate threat.
I was hoping others who are more certain of themselves with regards to balance might have some suggestions as to the type and severity of any bonuses such a thing could give. I haven't used the spears on here to be able to even say if its strictly necessary, but I have seen them go mostly ignored on many servers before now.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I didn't see a suggested format for these things, so I hope I didn't miss something.