The issues of size and recoil of a weapon like a stake launcher could be somewhat mitigated if you designed it to be used by the giants that the Healing Church use; they could take a weapon that was designed to be mounted on a building and use it as a handheld weapon fairly easily.

It doesn't seem like a practical weapon at all, for several reasons, but if it did have a use it would probably be to cripple large beasts by impaling them with a huge stake; the intention wouldn't be the pierce straight through them but to have the stake stay in them, something that they can't heal around and which hinders their movement to make them easier to kill.

[quote=@Dark Jack]
As I said, a giant stake-launcher might actually have a practical application... though I wonder if anyone would dedicate the resources to design and make the weapon given how narrow the possible uses are.
[/quote]

Honestly, this is the Power Kegs in a nutshell. "If a weapon ain't got kick, it just ain't worth it.'"