More Diverse Weapons

[thaelis]

Some of the weapons in 3e are pretty useless compared to others (e.g. halberd is a greataxe with -1 dmg). I made these feats for our PnP game with the aim of increasing the diversity of weapons a martial character could use effectively.
They all have prerequisites to prevent non-Fighters from easily taking them, but allow a Fighter to use them at 1st level, and I tried to make the feats on par with exotic weapon proficiency (e.g. 1d10/19-20) as you essentially have to spend a feat for nothing otherwise. Wouldn’t it be cool for fighters to be able to have a bit more diversity in the PW?! Instead of longsword, longsword,….oooh bastard swd…longsword….

Rending Blow
You have learned to use the extra length afforded by your halberd to deliver punishing blows, whether slashing or piercing.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Martial weapon proficiency, Weapon focus (Halberd)
Benefit: You receive +2 damage when wielding halberd ( 3-12 dmg / x3 , average 7.5)

Scorpion Strike
Your deftness with the spear allows you to place your full body weight behind each strike, whilst still retaining your balance.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Dex 13, Martial weapon proficiency, Weapon focus (Spear), (?Weapon finesse?)
Benefit: You receive +3 damage when wielding spear ( 4-11 dmg / x3 , average 7.5)
Note: Would it be possible to make weapon finesse apply to spear?? If so, I would change this feat to +2 damage to balance it out.

Whirling Fury
You have learned to utilize the momentum and nigh unstoppable force of your weapon to crush your opponent.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Int 13, Martial weapon proficiency, Weapon focus (Flail)
Benefit: You receive +2 damage when wielding flail ( 3-10 dmg / x2 , average 6.5)

Razor’s Edge
Your skill with the blade is such that you can almost cleave your enemy asunder with a single blow.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Martial weapon proficiency, Weapon focus (Falchion)
Benefit: You receive +1 damage when wielding falchion ( 3-9 dmg / 18-20 , average 6)

[The Almight Red]

First, the spear is a simple weapon, and should never be on par with martial weapons. It's right where it should be already, to be honest, and by no means should such a huge bonus to its damage be allowed. In my opinion.

Second, to the flail. It is a little worse than the longsword, in comparison, as one can see by its lower threat range for crits, but its crit damage and die damage remain the same. The main difference is the sort of damage it does, however. It does bludgeoning instead of slashing, so it's usually seen as being the sort of weapon people use in particular situations. So, it's kind of a toss up. I can see why lots of people wouldn't ever take it, since it is slightly worse than the longsword (and becomes even more pronouncly worse as you start taking a feat like Imp. Crit or using the Keen spell), but it's not an enormous difference.

Third, as to the falchion: You're not taking into account the crits for the average, but only averaging the base die damage, which isn't nearly an appropriate way of comparing weapons. Frankly, the falchion is by far one of the best weapons in the game, especially in the hands of a Weapon Master. It becomes incredibly ridiculous, in fact. A 2d4 13-20/x3 weapon in the hands of a Weapon Master is unreal, especially.

But, even in the hands of another individual using such a weapon, they could get it to 2d4 15-20/x2. Which is still very potent, and when you crunch the average numbers of such, it's on par with other martial weapons (and with power attacks, it sometimes will blow other weapons out of the water because of those constant crits).

The one I do think is silly is the halberd. But not because of the base PnP rules, but because how Obsidian really FUBAR'd the DR system. In NWN2, if you have two types of attacks (like with the Halberd having Piercing and Slashing), it works against you instead of for you. In PnP, it's to your advantage, since if you have either of the damages to bypass DR, it will. However, in NWN2, if you have a type of damage that doesn't bypass the DR, and one that does, it automatically makes you fail on DR.

So, the Halberd's screwed. Not only does it do less damage, it has double the likelihood of having physical damage being hit by DR. If someone has Piercing or Slashing. Halberd's a totally borked weapon because of this. But, it doesn't stop some people from still using it, for RP reasons!

[thaelis]

Yeah, the falchion was the only one I wasn't sure about. I was just comparing it to the step down in damage longsword -> scimitar, which is quite minor, whilst greatsword->falchion is a big drop. But actually, after facing so many yuanti with improved critical falchions in SoZ...I realise its a lot better than it looks on paper :/

As for spear, I agree that when used as simple weapon it shouldn't be as powerful. The important thing is, these feats can only ever be taken by someone who can already use martial weapons. For 90% of the population, spear is still 1d8 damage. Its not unbalancing, it adds to diversity, and in fact its very lore friendly. For example, there are many magical spears. Why enchant something thats next to useless to fighters? (who are the main people who use enchanted weapons).

Its not spear in particular that annoys me. I just don't think any one weapon should be outright "better" than another unless it absolutely can't be avoided. Yes I know people take them for RP reasons, and they shouldnt be punished for it!

Thanks for feedback

[EndsBeginning]

Basically if you look at it in general it is balanced. The pattern goes like this martial weapons dice is one better than simple and for non class specific exotic weapons (namely monk ones) exotic is one better than martial. with a cap of 12 points base damage for 2 handed weapons and a d10 for one handed. Now, for every increase of threat range or crit multiplier it drops by 1 die. Ergo Great sword and great axe both do a base max of 12 damage, with the great sword having a 19-20x2 and the axe having a x3. The falchion has a crit of 18-20x2 so it's dice drops. not sure why it's not a d 10, but still kinda fits. Also, all bludgeoning weapons have their dice dropped 1 over slashing and piercing. The other ones without top damage have extra abilities somewhere, or are light weapons, which can be considered a special ability.

MY weapon master went scimitar for the threat range.

As even sorcerers get proficiency with all simple weapons, they need weapons too. Clerics for instance are very fighty, but don't get martial. Most base classes don't get martial proficiency, even ones that do often fight. So fighters aren't really a being taken away from, there's a martial weapon for almost every need, and they're BETTER than simple. Aka a halberd is better damage than spear, has reach (at least in PnP), AND it trips. If your players cant see the benefit of having a weapon that can stand against a charge, and it has reach so let's throw in combat reflexes and cleave. I made a human fighter that used it, I killed SWARMS of baddies at level 1, and if any made it to me, I'd just 5 foot back, power attack cleave.

[Kaeldorn]

Something that would be better is to apply less direct bonuses to straight damage and instead grant penalty reductions and on-hit effects for when a certain type of weapon is used in combination with another type of weapon or a fighting mode, like the some of the tactical feats in several manuals suggest.

To give some custom examples:
Guarded Strike
You've trained to make use of the shield to protect yourself whilst striking around it with the spear in a precise and disciplined martial dance of war.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Dex 13, Martial weapon proficiency, Shield Proficiency, Weapon focus (Spear), Monkey Grip
Benefit: You can use Light and Heavy Shields in combination with the Longspear at no penalty to your attack bonus. When fighting defensively, your dodge AC bonus is increased by an additional +1.

Crushing Flurry
You have become a master of the flail, using your weapon as a tool of distraction, allowing you to strike with either hand when least expected.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Dex 15, Martial weapon proficiency, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Flail)
Benefit: When dual wielding the flail in combination with any weapon, your attack bonus with both hands is increased by 1.

[Cornuto]

First, the spear is a simple weapon, and should never be on par with martial weapons. It's right where it should be already, to be honest, and by no means should such a huge bonus to its damage be allowed. In my opinion.

They all have prerequisites to prevent non-Fighters from easily taking them, but allow a Fighter to use them at 1st level, and I tried to make the feats on par with exotic weapon proficiency (e.g. 1d10/19-20) as you essentially have to spend a feat for nothing otherwise.

Restricting these feats to just fighters would eliminate all concerns about simple v. martial weapon balance as fighters get both anyway.

[GodBeastX]

Almighty Red, are you CERTAIN that's the case with NWN2? I know I've done alot of DR testing, but I havn't tried a dual damage weapon. NWN1 and NWN2 don't have the same DR mechanics at all. NWN1 it may have been true, but have you tried in 2? And have you tried lately? Obsidian fixed some of the DR and weapons. For example, EB works from ranged weapons now.

[The Almight Red]

The last time I had checked would have had probably been about five months ago. If it's changed since then, that would be outstanding, to be honest. I'm going to see if I can figure out if it's still the case or not, if you believe it might have been fixed since then.

[KimKandor]

One thing I do know from talking with grinningfool is that all DR items in the OC and campaigns are broken, the DR system was changed in one patch but none of the items updated to make use of it. ANything created in the toolkit does take part in the new DR system though.

All that really means is testing in the campaigns is impossible.

[thaelis]

Basically if you look at it in general it is balanced.

Yeah, I get where you are coming from. The damage of th weapons is used to balance the classes, giving the martial classes an advantage. What I'm saying is that within the fighter class, or paladin, ranger whatever its not balanced. A fighter with sword will always be better than one with spear by a big margin.

I think someone that wants to play a fighter with a spear should be able to. Effectively. It should have pros and cons. Not cons and cons.

The suggestion about having other pros apart from pure damage increase is a good one Kaeldorn. That would be ideal, but its much harder to keep balanced and would require playtesting.The feats which you use as examples are D&d feats though. In d&d a longspear in one hand isn't bad, you get attacks of opportunity and reach. In nwn2, you'd be throwing away the Monkey Grip/Guarded Strike feats in order to effectively have the equivalent of a battleaxe 1d8/x3...