Flashing Blades (use versatile weapon as though double)

[Garthanos]

When using a Versatile weapon two-handed in place of bonus damage you may treat the weapon as a double weapon.

This was inspired by both Aragorn II, son of Arathorn whose primary weapon was likely a bastard sword AND the classic samurai as a ranger. (Two weapon fighting was arguably entered in to the fantasy legends from such a samurai, but was historically just an exercise to train off hand use and was considered even by its originator just a training exercise not the optimal technique).

It doesnt seem worth a full feat to me but rather as a class option when one takes Ranger OR am I wrong?



I admit that I typically feel like building Aragorn as a Warlord and it works fairly well... but to a fan of the original ranger this can bring it home. (perhaps multi-classing or hybriding a bravura warlord)

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Instead of +1 damage I can Twin Strike with a longsword? That doesn't seem right. Aragorn isn't a dual-wielder. If a 4e player wants their character to be a dual-wielder, they should be choosing a class with a dual-wielding fighting style.

(As for Aragorn, a warlord with Ritual Caster seems to cover him fine. Lots of Skill Training or multi-classing with ranger for his essential Nature and Perception skills.)

 

[MwaO]

I think it would make a reasonable feat.
Versatile Strike Fighting
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Dex 15, proficient with a versatile weapon
Benefit: You can choose to treat the versatile weapon as a double weapon by using it two-handed. When you do so, it loses the versatile bonus to damage. As a double weapon, both ends of the weapon deal their normal damage. The primary end gains the stout property, and the secondary end gains the off-hand property. For more on double weapons, see Adventurer’s Vault, page 10.

Note: All strikes made are using the normal end of the weapon, not the hilt or shaft.

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I picked Dexterity 15 because that would make it more useful for Str/Dex Rangers over Str/Wis Rangers(or worse, Str/Wis Ranger|Clerics). That also makes it somewhat comparable with Staff Fighting - an option that turns a Quarterstaff into a +2 proficiency double weapon with the defensive property - that almost certainly has Reach as opposed not much of anything for Heavy Blades until Paragon.

 

[Garthanos]

Instead of +1 damage I can Twin Strike with a longsword? That doesn't seem right.

It doesnt give you twin strike of course its not like the ranger cannot equip two long swords anyway ie just the ability to do strong fast strokes that are functionally like twin strike.

 

[Garthanos]

(As for Aragorn, a warlord with Ritual Caster seems to cover him fine. Lots of Skill Training or multi-classing with ranger for his essential Nature and Perception skills.)

And that is almost an exact description of my typical technique for building Aragorn

 

[Garthanos]

I think it would make a reasonable feat.
Versatile Strike Fighting
Heroic Tier
Prerequisite: Dex 15, proficient with a versatile weapon
Benefit: You can choose to treat the versatile weapon as a double weapon by using it two-handed. When you do so, it loses the versatile bonus to damage. As a double weapon, both ends of the weapon deal their normal damage. The primary end gains the stout property, and the secondary end gains the off-hand property. For more on double weapons, see Adventurer’s Vault, page 10.

Note: All strikes made are using the normal end of the weapon, not the hilt or shaft.

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I picked Dexterity 15 because that would make it more useful for Str/Dex Rangers over Str/Wis Rangers(or worse, Str/Wis Ranger|Clerics). That also makes it somewhat comparable with Staff Fighting - an option that turns a Quarterstaff into a +2 proficiency double weapon with the defensive property - that almost certainly has Reach as opposed not much of anything for Heavy Blades until Paragon.

Nods good to note the parallel with Staff Fighting..