+2 or +1 and Keen Rapier at 8th lvl?

[Falcon]

Hey Experts,

My rapier-wielding ftr5/rog3 with a very high to hit (15) has the oportunity to have his ancestral rapier increased to either +2 or have Keen cast on it. We are at the level where we are facing creatures who have Damage Reduction. My one concern is facing DR2 creatures, as our mage is not high enough up to cast Magic Weapon yet. Otherwise, I'd go with Keen. Whaddya think?

 

[tburdett]

+2 for the following reasons...

It will improve your chance to hit for every attack. This will result in a greater number of successful attacks.

Every attack that does hit is going to do an additional 1 point of damage.

You will do normal damage versus creatures with DR xx/+2.

The extra +1 is effective against every type of creature, Keen is not effective against creatures immune to critical hits or sneak attack.

Just my opinion.

 

[prodawg]

I think you should go with +2 as well. DR can make your +1 weapon almost useless. You can get improved critical for your rapier (lev 9 feat) if you know your character will be sticking with the rapier.

 

[Chacal]

From a mathematical point of view, if your PC hasn't a (strength bonus+spe) >3 keen is not interesting. Even if you ignore factors like : hitting a little less often and DR.


But from a fun point of view, it's up to you :
Are you a critical addict ? If so go for it !

If I wasn't facing DR /+2 or veryHigh AC monsters, I'll probably go for keen, just for the fun of rolling critical more often.




Chacal

 

[hong]

+1 flaming. Energy enchantments are very cost-effective.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Keen is lousy, the extra damage doesn't happen that often.

Hong's suggestion of Flaming is good (an extra 1d6 damage on every hit, vs Keen's extra 1d6+? on 15% of hits).

Personally, I would take +2. Mainly for DR, but the extra chance to hit and damage works against all opponents, not just those vulnerable to criticals.

Geoff.

 

[Darkness]

+1 flaming. Energy enchantments are very cost-effective.

I concur with hong's reasoning: Flaming (or frost or shock or...) might be the best option if it's available to you.

 

[Plane Sailing]

A player in my game has a +1 frost rapier, and he recently found things very frustrating when facing creatures with DR +2 which he could only hurt on a critical hit. He would select the +2 rapier in a flash!

(it is also harder to sunder and has more hit points)

Cheers

 

[drnuncheon]

Keen is lousy, the extra damage doesn't happen that often.

There just aren't that many CR8-9 creatures that have DR x/+2 - basically, various sorts of outsiders - and some of those are x/+3, so +2 wouldn't help with those anyway.

On the other hand, I just ran the numbers on a spreadsheet, and it looks like you'll be doing lower average damage with keen than with the +1. With keen and improved critical, you'd be doing more average damage against foes with a comparatively low AC, but still less damage against foes with higher ACs. That's kind of a bummer, I always thought keen was better than that. I guess it's mostly to excite the player. (Woo! Another critical!)

For raw damage, something that does bonus damage (flaming, etc) is your best bet - since it's energy damage it'll pass right through DR as well. On the other hand, many creatures which have DR also have energy resistance.

J

 

[Darklone]

Hmm. Really depends on your strength and I assume you got Weapon Specialisation.

Add in sneak attack... and you may very well be doing damage against DR20/+2 outsiders with the keen +1 scimitar.

Not much, but hey, it's style!