Hammer or Moradin PrC questions

[Longbow]

One of my players will play a Hammer of Moradin, Prc from Player's Guide to Faerûn. He will take the Two Weapon Fighting and Oversized Two Weapon Fighting feats. I can´t find anything in the rules that disallows this. Am I missing something? Because of the Powerful Grip ability fighting with two warhammers is a good deal. Maybe too good?

 

[Hypersmurf]

He will take the Two Weapon Fighting and Oversized Two Weapon Fighting feats. I can´t find anything in the rules that disallows this. Am I missing something?

Well, given that the Two Weapon Fighting feat is a prerequisite for the Oversized Two Weapon Fighting feat, it would seem odd to have a rule that disallowed the combination!

-Hyp.

 

[Longbow]

Oops, I meant if the Prc allows fighting with two warhammers.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Oops, I meant if the Prc allows fighting with two warhammers.

It looks fine, although certain abilities - Goblinkiller etc - allow him to imbue a warhammer once per day, so he won't be able to use those abilities with both.

-Hyp.

 

[Longbow]

OK, so he doesn´t get every ability of the PrC with both warhammers, good to know. My "problem" is Powerful Grip. The character gets the benefit similar to wielding a Greatsword with one weapon and he doesn´t suffer from half damage with the offhand weapon. So he gets "the best of both worlds".

The disadvantage is no Power Attack x 2 damage (but still can PA with both weapons) and -2 on both attacks. And of course if he moves he gets no offhand attacks and a smaller damage die.

 

[Wish]

Not a big problem. Oversized two-weapon fighting is OK, but it's not a huge damage option. It's also expensive to enchant two weapons. With the way the game is currently constructed, off-hand weapons just don't add enough damage to be worthwhile without some sort of boost. That boost can come from a lot of places: extra dice like flaming/shocking/holy weapons, or sneak attack; special bonuses like the dervish gets or greater weapon specialization/weapon mastery; or power attack with oversized two weapon fighting or unarmed strikes. If you don't have one of those, you're giving up a shield bonus to AC or two-handed power attack bonus, at least 2 points of attack bonus, several feats, and lots of cash (for the off-hand weapon) to get something in the range of an extra 1d8+3 per round. That's just really not very effective. I think the designers realized after a time that it wasn't effective for anybody but rogues (who can boost two weapon damage with sneak dice and who can't use a shield anyway), and so you started to see a bunch of options to improve the efficiency of two weapon fighting. It is stylish and cinematic, after all.

 

[Longbow]

Tonight is the first game so I will see it firsthand how it plays out. It´s true that two-wapon-fighting needs a boost. I´ll see if I consider it too much of a boost.

 

[pawsplay]

If you disallow this, just think of what he could do with those feats instead. A few points of damage, my friend, is nothing. Be grateful it's thematic.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Not a big problem. Oversized two-weapon fighting is OK, but it's not a huge damage option. It's also expensive to enchant two weapons. With the way the game is currently constructed, off-hand weapons just don't add enough damage to be worthwhile without some sort of boost. That boost can come from a lot of places: extra dice like flaming/shocking/holy weapons, or sneak attack; special bonuses like the dervish gets or greater weapon specialization/weapon mastery; or power attack with oversized two weapon fighting or unarmed strikes. If you don't have one of those, you're giving up a shield bonus to AC or two-handed power attack bonus, at least 2 points of attack bonus, several feats, and lots of cash (for the off-hand weapon) to get something in the range of an extra 1d8+3 per round. That's just really not very effective. I think the designers realized after a time that it wasn't effective for anybody but rogues (who can boost two weapon damage with sneak dice and who can't use a shield anyway), and so you started to see a bunch of options to improve the efficiency of two weapon fighting. It is stylish and cinematic, after all.

You are correct. However, if I recall correctly, Hammer of Moradin has a ridiculous (and imo badly-designed because it penalises a character for having a high AC) ability that adds the much of the enemy's armour bonus (the armour and natural armour part) to damage with each attack. This would qualify as a 'boost'