The Master of Many Weapons PrC

[Shinsetsu]

Well, I think the new version is pretty cool. It's a little more restrictive than the first version... in fact, I wouldn't say there's a need to include the two penalties in it, for sake of balance.

And, twjensen, to retort, isn't a prc that can pick up any weapon and use it as if he is specialized in it just a little overpowered- that's the equivalent of having about 10 or more extra bonus feats? That's why I suggested limiting the choice of weapons somewhat.

Yeah, Ea, I think it's OK. Keep up the good work.

 

[Shinsetsu]

one more thing

Hey, Ea, I was thinking about this the night after I last posted here, but never came back and posted again. There's one problem with the prc. The double weapon style doesn't work when it comes to two handed weapons like a bow or two handed sword. Just thought I'd add that, if you're still tweaking it. Later.

 

[Al]

More like too weak.

Everyone has screamed 'too powerful' it seems, without thinking realistically.

Firstly, is it just my group or do fighters only tend to specialise in one melee weapon and one missile weapon, at most? Where is the real benefit in gaining more and more weapon specialities? Does your party fighter really use a different weapon for each different encounter? More realistic that he sticks to his preferred weapon.

Secondly, the prerequisites are fairly prohibitive. THREE exotic weapon proficiencies? I can understand a fighter perhaps taking one. I can even possibly understand two (one missile and one melee) but to take three just to qualify for this PrC seems unrealistic.

In short, he blows a lot of feats, both in the qualifying and the sacrificed fighter feats (5) to gain what? Assuming he uses no more than say two weapons, he can use the six surplus feats to gain Specialisation with those weapons and have four left over: Improved Crit and Weapon Focus are taken as prereqs.

The reworked version is even worse! Realistically, you sacrifice many feats to gain what? A 'class' of weapons. This is a joke. Is a bastard sword wielding fighter *really* going to wield a longsword. Or the longbowman going to swap to the inferior shortbow or crossbow?

Far from being too powerful, I'd argue it to be too weak. Without trying to be too critical, it's also somewhat unoriginal. It needs a serious reworking.

 

[Blacksad]

Re: More like too weak.

Everyone has screamed 'too powerful' it seems, without thinking realistically.

I must agree here, but....

Firstly, is it just my group or do fighters only tend to specialise in one melee weapon and one missile weapon, at most? Where is the real benefit in gaining more and more weapon specialities? Does your party fighter really use a different weapon for each different encounter? More realistic that he sticks to his preferred weapon.

It might be worth, if your DM doesn't cheat on random treasure, the chance that you get the magical weapon in which you focus are weak, and remember, you can only sell magic item at half their value as a PC.

So if this character get a +3 holy keen fire burst axe in his first treasure, and a +4 warhammer of cold burst as a second treasure, he will keep both, and be efficient with them, and would gain some flexibility against monster (so this monster is immune to blunt damage? let use the axe instead!)

Secondly, the prerequisites are fairly prohibitive. THREE exotic weapon proficiencies? I can understand a fighter perhaps taking one. I can even possibly understand two (one missile and one melee) but to take three just to qualify for this PrC seems unrealistic.

In short, he blows a lot of feats, both in the qualifying and the sacrificed fighter feats (5) to gain what? Assuming he uses no more than say two weapons, he can use the six surplus feats to gain Specialisation with those weapons and have four left over: Improved Crit and Weapon Focus are taken as prereqs.

Difficult to take yes, unrealistic to take them, no. and the prerequistes perfectly fit the concept of a character that want to be proficient in all weapons, thats what it is designed for after all.

The reworked version is even worse! Realistically, you sacrifice many feats to gain what? A 'class' of weapons. This is a joke. Is a bastard sword wielding fighter *really* going to wield a longsword. Or the longbowman going to swap to the inferior shortbow or crossbow?

Here I agree with you, it has no real interest stats wise.

Far from being too powerful, I'd argue it to be too weak. Without trying to be too critical, it's also somewhat unoriginal. It needs a serious reworking.

The first prestige class might work as it is now to my mind, even if a bit unoriginal, but it could well fit a fighter concept.

 

[-Eä-]

Actually, I agree with most of your points. It's neither creative nor interesting... It's in fact a PrC I needed for a Gladiator type in my game, and I wanted the class to be accesable for PCs as well (although it's quite unlikely that any will take, even though one qualifies for it)... I like all my major NPCs to be statted, and I believe that NPCs should not get abilities that are unaccessible to PCs - hence the PrC.

The Gladiator type in my campaign is a person who may grab any weapon and use it almost perfectly and enjoy combining some weird weapons. For instance, in a fight, he monkeygripped a Spiked Chain and a Maul. Quite bizarre combination, but those were the weapons available, and he chose to dual-wield them. Opposed to his competitor who was not particularily good at wielding any of them.

The PC I'm referring to likes to have some kind of versatility, but is likely to focus on wielding the Dwarven Waraxe than getting the edge in a situation where you cannot choose weapons. It's all about character concept: What is more important to the character.

That being said, I like generic PrCs for NPCs, as my NPCs are more likely to have a broader range of focus than the PCs. They should be able to handle things more versatily than my PCs, both combatwise and socially. But I guess that's how I like my NPCs. (I have some very narrowed focused NPCs as well, although those are far between)

 

[Marshall]

Good God.
This is way over the top. It outshines every fighter and just about every fighter-type PrC I have seen.

J

So you get to use weapon focus and weapon specialization for any weapon you pick up,

So What! +1 to hit and +2 to damage are nothing at the 10+ level youre talking about here. The improved crit with every weapon is nice. But seriously how many different types of weapons do you generally use? And moreover you can only use two weapons at a time.

Theoretically you spend 8 feats to get the class and gain at most 3-4 feats worth of ability.

Its really underpowered.