Which weapon would you prefer?

[Archer]

If you were a 10th level fighter with 24 str and power attack which weapon do you think is more effective or are they equivalent? Would it make a difference to you if it was a long sword or the strength was 28? I'm trying to find what people think is balanced rules-wise.

 

[hong]

+3d6 fire damage? Where'd that come from? Regardless, as long as GMW is available, it's a no-brainer.

 

[Archer]

What if you couldn't use GMW? Would your answer change then?

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

I chose the +4 Greatsword for a couple of reasons:

1) I have no brains.

2) I can't stand GMW.

3) We have a house rule that the enhancement bonus of any weapon must be greater than or equal to the total bonuses derived from special abilities. That means the Greatsword +1 of Megafire must be cursed.

[EDIT] 4) Oh yeah, fire resistance is SO prevalent.

 

[bret]

Personally, I would want a completely different weapon.

Most likely a +3 Greatsword with Ghost Touch, so that there were very few creatures I couldn't hurt with the weapon. At +3 bonus, there is also less of a chance someone would have a weapon powerful enough to sunder the weapon.

As a fighter, I'm rather fond of the Bastard Sword and Buckler approach. Allows you to use the buckler when you need more AC or the sword 2H for more damage. That is a personal style thing though, I like the flexibility it gives.

 

[DarkJester]

+4 Greatsword

It will have a 15% better chance to hit, can get past damage reduction easily, and can't be sundered by a +1 axe.

 

[shilsen]

What Darkjester said. Relying on GMW is a problem at high levels when Dispel Magics are flying around the place.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

LOTS of creatures have damage reduction greater than +1 at that level, and releying on someone else to be able to damage something is not a good idea.

Personally, I'd prolly go with +3 weapon and a +1 equivalent enchantment. There aren't too many +4 damage reduction creatures, and they are too powerful for a 10th level character to be facing.

Burst weapons are more effective on weapons with big crit mults because without at least x3 on a crit you are only getting 2 extra damage on average. At least IMHO.

Of course this all goes out the window if you face an inordinate amount of cold creatures.

If you want to check things out, and you have Excel installed, DL my damage calculator linked in my sig.

--Numbers Spikey

 

[magnas_veritas]

+4 Greatsword

It will have a 15% better chance to hit, can get past damage reduction easily, and can't be sundered by a +1 axe.

Yep. My sentiments exactly. Enough things are immune to fire that no one in my party has a flame-using weapon. I also appreciate the extra + to hit, as we routinely face things that are irritatingly hard to hit, and I've had enough swords destroyed that I'm paranoid about my weapons being sundered. Hey, they're expensive.

Brad

 

[suburbaknght]

Ignoring everything that's the same (the greatsword itself, the strength of the fighter) the +4 greatsword does 9 extra points of damage on a full power attack.

The +1 +3d6 Fire greatsword does 4 to 19 extra points of damage (average 11.5) without even using power attack.

We're talking higher average damage and hitting more often.

While you could make an argument about damage reduction, look at it this way:

The +4 greatsword will defeat any damage reduction up to a god's, excluding that of certain spells. This means an average of 16 to 26 points of damage (average 21). Power Attack can raise all of these by 5.

Let us assume the creature in question has 20/+2 DR (the most common of the +2 DRs).

The sword itself will do 11-21 points of damage (average 16). Power attack can raise the damage by 5, meaning with full power attack, each successful hit wil get an average of 3 points past the damage reduction. However, damage reduction does not apply to energy such as fire. Meaning that unless you're fighting demons or devils (or anything else with fire immunity or reduction) you're doing 3-18 points of damage, average 10.5, which gets through every hit. Critical hits change things slightly, but not significantly.

In conclusion: if you're facing creatures with +1 damage reduction, or less, and no fire resistance/immunity the +1 greatsword is better. If you're facing against protected opponents, opt for the +4. If you're unsure, go with the +1 and have someone cast magic weapon or bless on it as necessary.