You're right, I didn't give you that one, because I'm not sure I want to create powers that let you voluntarily break your weapon in half.
No worries, the weapon glues itself back on when you take a short rest (or rather when your stance ends). In this particular case, I was thinking of Dervish's Challenge, but you got the other powers I had in mind pretty much right.
Possibly, it is because there's nothing special about doing those things with a staff, compared to just doing those things with your two-handed bastard sword/greataxe/sword-and-board/whatever. There's no incentive. There's no payoff. I do it with my staff, and I'm just like the guy who does it without a staff, give or take a feat or two. There's nothing different, unique, or special about it. I don't feel like a staff fighter, I feel like any other fighter, except I spent my feats to use an unorthodox weapon.
This is exactly it. Say you're using Blades from All Angles, why trip someone with a +2 proficiency 3d8 weapon when you can do the exact same thing with a +3 proficiency 3d12 high crit?
It's okay to spend a feat (or a class feature) to use an unorthodox weapon but it should be worthwhile compared to the other options out there. It doesn't have to be the highest consistent damage, or the highest attack bonus which are the immediate tangibles people are looking at. But there should be some obvious or even subtle but worthwhile benefit.
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It's not too difficult to create builds in the pre-essentials format. Consider a staff article that does the following:
Fighter talent: Staff Weapon Talent - You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with a staff. You gain the Staff Fighting feat even if you don't meet the prerequisites.
If you picked Staff Weapon Talent, add this line as an indent to the hit portion of the following fighter powers:
Staff: You deal additional damage equal to your dexterity modifier and knock the target prone.
Fighter: Threatening Rush, Sure Strike, Distracting Spate (e1), Crushing Blow (e3), Reaver's Hook (e3), Griffon's Wrath (e7), etc.
Fighter feat: Staff Superiority: (prerequisite Staff Weapon Talent) When you hit a target with a combat challenge attack or an opportunity attack, you may also knock the target prone.
Ranger Fighting Style: Staff Fighting Style. You gain the Staff Fighting feat even if you don't meet the prerequisites. In addition you gain a +1 bonus to Reflex and AC while wearing light armor or no armor.
If you picked Staff Fighting Style, add this line as an indent to the hit portion of the following ranger powers:
Staff: When you attack two or more creatures, add your dexterity bonus to the damage roll against your hunter's quarry.
Ranger: Dire Wolverine Strike (e1), Thundertusk Boar Strike (e3), Claws of the Griffon (e7), Sweeping Whirlwind (e7), etc.
Ranger feat: Whirling Staff: Add Twin Strike to the list of powers you gain your Staff Fighting Style benefit with.
Monk feat: Staff Discipline: You gain a +1 bonus to attacks against fortitude when wielding a staff. Whenever you push, pull, or slide a target while wielding a staff, the distance of the forced movement increases by 1 square. (i.e. forceful, unstoppable superior implement). In addition, if you have the Crashing Tempest Style feat, you may apply its bonus while wielding a club or a staff.
Bard feat: Singing Staff: You gain proficiency in staff implements. When you use a staff with a bard attack, and would push or pull the target, you may instead slide the target.
Didn't really put too much thought into this stuff, there is probably a better way to pose some of it in the MP2 format, even though I'm not really fond of the feat taxes for picking an unusual weapon. But you get the gist of what I'd like to see.
I also would have liked to see a small staff, simple melee, +2 proficiency, 1d6 damage, so small guys wouldn't have to burn a feat to use a staff, and could just pick one off the shelf and go. However, I'm already pretty uncomfortable with the weapon selection woes of small characters, so there might be a better solution to this.
It's not too difficult to create new builds in the pre-essentials format. You don't need to write two dozen new powers, just modify some existing ones. Their previous stance was that Dragon Magazine wasn't going to introduce any new builds, and that's probably why we haven't seen any. Since they seem to be changing that stance, perhaps we will see new builds in Dragon.[/sblock]