Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-27404492-20170511131216/@comment-25936766-20170604224617

GreyStark wrote: The hammer is what separates it from a halberd

The Halberd's spearing-spike is what separates it from Pollaxes. Not to mention that Halberds normally had the spike and the axe-head as a single piece, while Pollaxes were more "modular" in design.

Pollaxes sometimes had spikes on the top too, but not one designed for effective piking and spearing like Halberds did. Piercing poking maybe, but not to Spear levels, since a Pollaxe's spike was much smaller than a Halberd's.

Pollaxes's heads could have an axe-head or a hammer-head in the damaging face, and a spike, hammer or fluke in the reverse. Keynote in OR. It was not a rule that they must have hammers. Look: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Alytus_County_COA.png A Pollaxe. Without a hammer-head.]

There's also the matter of usage, which is another thing within which weapons are classified. Pollaxes had a sophisticated fighting style based on the Quarterstaff. The Halberd, meanwhile, was used instead as Pikes generally were, but with the addition of the head's hook and axe.