Favorite Wielding Style

[Ron]

Actually, I remember Monte Cook dicussing that after a lot of playtesting at different levels with different styles, in order to balance the system, they came to the conclusion that the sword/shield combo was the best (albeit by a very small margin).

edit: I think the problem occurs when you would enchant shields if you would boost the base power of them (they probably need to be +5 to start with, if looked at it realistically, but could you imagine getting +10 AC from a single shield?)

BTW: Favourite weapon style: Two handed weapon with animated shield

Rav

That's really funny. I am currently playing RtToEE, which was written by Monte Cook himself. We couldn't find any magic shields so far and none of the wizards of the party actually know how to craft a magical one. We currently in the 10th level and our TWF fighter still have the edge, although I agree that since the characters have evolved from the fourth level, his lead is shortening bit a bit.

 

[Kraedin]

Kraedin like big sword. It make enemies squishy.

 

[fl8m]

my favorite has always been the two-handed weapon, i just love the greatsword. Of course my fighters carry a wide variety of weapons just in case.

 

[ForceUser@Home]

Depends on the character concept. My bladesinger prefers sword-open hand, of course

I tend to agree though that the sword/shield is the best combo over the lifetime of the character. Take a large shield and stack armor bonuses on it and you can have up to +7 AC just on your shield! Say you're a spellsword in magic full plate. Theoretically you could have +27 AC just from shield, armor, and shield spell! Add in expertise, dodge bonuses, deflection bonuses, haste bonuses, etc, and you've got a monster of a character.

 

[Blackwind]

Hmm... I guess I prefer dual-wielding, especially with exotic weapons. Asian weapons. Kamas, 'chucks, Chinese double swords, butterfly knives, tiger-head hooks... you name it, I'll dual-wield it. Fighter/Monks are the best for this.

OTOH, I also love polearms. They can be really effective when used by a high-Strength and Dex fighter with Combat Reflexes.

 

[Broken Fang]

Real life - I voted sword and shield because its so much easier to block something incoming with a shiled.

Game - I would have voted two hand axes. Think it looks much cooler than short swords. It's way to easy to use two weapons in D&D...at least from my real-life exp. (Escrima and Fencing w/ Rapier and Dagger).

 

[Supers-freak]

Two shields? Cool idea. Like those armored bug thingies in final fantasy 10. A dwarf with two large shields? I gotta do that.

 

[gamecat]

bing-bang-bounce-BUMP

 

[Sigma]

I keep misreading this thread and thinking that it says 'Favorite Wedding Style'. Which was confusing the heck out of me. Figured maybe it was something about what was your favorite event to stage in an in-game wedding. Weddings are a staple of fiction, and something's always happening during them. Maybe something like:

Interrupted by bad guy
Bride turns out to be villian in disguise
Bride turns out to be hero in disguise
Bride turns out to be Dudly Doo-Right's Horse in a Nell costume
Old boyfrind/girlfriend objects (at point where minister says 'if anyone objects to this unioin...' of course.)
Cake is poisoned, everyone dies
Wedding goes well, they live happily ever after

All of this really made me wonder if everyone else out there was running a bunch of wedding based campaigns, and that there was some bizarre trend of which I was unaware.

Anyway, on topic, I like them all!

 

[Wolfen Priest]

2 things, one related, one notsomuch.

Related to the thread topic, I chose 2-handed, because not only does a greatsword have the best damage output in the game (or close enough), but it magnifies a fighter's STR by 1.5x, his highest stat. Furthermore, spellcasters can cast spells with one, they just hold it in one hand, aside from the 'action' for a round. Thus is 2-handed fighting the grandest of all the styles.

I just wish there were stats for a 2-handed war-hammer! Can anyone post some?

Regarding the argument all the ranger-bashers out there had for a while about the mathematical 'weakness' of TWF in general (but esp. for the ranger, who has limited armor options while doing so): I give the ranger (in addition to the option of taking bow specialization at 6th level) a +1 to hit at level 8, and +2 at level 10, when using TWF in light armor. So at 10th level he is not taking any penalties for TWF, ala 2nd edition AD&D.

I also thought about allowing him to TWF in medium armor at level 7, but it really makes almost no difference, assuming he/she has a high dex, so either way it matters very little, combat-wise.