From: Gregory Jay Scott <scott3@america.net>
Subject: Roman spears and misc. magic items

Roman spear.
This weapon is a real historical based weapon. Its head is about 1 to 1.5 
feet long and is made from unquenched low grand steel. It does one less 
damage than a regular spear. It does have several advantages over a 
regular spear. For one thing (although this is more the thing you might 
worry about in WFB) if they hit the ground, especially rocky ground, 
they will bend over. This makes it so that the enemy can not throw them 
back at the owner. Stone will always have this effect, sand or well 
cultivated soil never. On regular soil(with some small pebbles etc) or wood 
there is approxiamately a 25% chance of it bending over. Also if it 
peratrats bone, scales, plate armor or perhaps scale armor it will deform 
around the peretration point. Thus it is very hard to remove and in the 
case of armor will most likely require that the armor be cut appart. In 
the case of scales or bone taking the spear out will take a intellegence 
test by a person with surgery skill this takes about an hour. Failure 
means a one point critical is rolled on the for the approriate area. Also 
the until the spear is removed I is 10, WS -15 and all risk tests are 
taken at -20. this is to account for the imbalance resulting from having 
a 6 foot long spear sticking out of you.

A magical equivalent of this is a thin metal spear with a bulging flat
head. A large group of these are use usually paired with a magic trinket
such as a ring or a amulet. It causes most of the same problems as a roman
spear. It does not bend like a roman spear. When the end strikes anything
solid it adheres so strongly that it is easier to have a black smith or
surgeon chisel away the spear shaft or cut the armor/flesh away than to
pull the spear off. If the surface hit is very dirty it will stick to a
layer of dirt and fall off. If it is cut out by a surgeon the surgeon must
pass a Int check or cause 1 wound to the patient a non-surgeon using a
dagger or scalpel may attempt this but automatically causes 1d3 wounds
ripping it requires a test against (S-T+2)*10, were S is the pullers
strenght (-1 if trying to rip it off of your self) and T is the
victem/patients toughness. If successful this causes d6 wounds. A
anti-magic spell will negate it perminently or contact with the trinket it
is paired with with negate it for the duration of the combat. It has an ES
two less than a normal spear and caused the same problems except the item
hit may usually be removed. If it hits skin it will loosen and fall off as
the skin naturally replaces it self. In case of scales the next molting
process will be difficult due to the spear being in the way but when
completed will have left the spear behind. If you want to tone this down
have the PC's find several spears but not the trinket that goes with them. 

A similar item is a metal disk with the same enchantment on one side and a
ring on the other. Again a set of them are paired with a magical tricket. 
This is in valuible for anchoring ropes when climbing or whatever. A
hydrologist master might have a few of these and there matching trinket. 
