Does everyone take Superior Weapon Proficiencies?

[Obryn]

Everyone who uses weapons, that is?

Honestly, this is by far the most-taken feat in my game. (Second place is Toughness, in a complete reversal from 3e ) When folks are asking for advice, it's one of the first ones I suggest. Feats are cheap, and good feats can be hard to find.

In my group now, 5/6 of them have superior weapons. 2 people use Bastard Swords (Swordmage & Warlord), 1 uses a Fullblade (Cleric), 1 uses a Greatbow (Ranger), and 1 uses a Craghammer (Fighter). The only one without is the party's Wizard.

Personally, especially after Adventurer's Vault, it seems almost silly not to. In some cases, it's one of the few ways to get an extra +1 to attack. Failing that, a die size increase is a huge benefit that will pretty much make a difference on every single attack. (And, personally, I'm a huge fan of the Brutal property.) With the Transfer Enchantment ritual, you even avoid the 3e pitfalls of specializing in a hard-to-find weapon.

Now, I don't see this as a problem - in fact, I think it's pretty cool. I'm just wondering if everyone else is seeing this.

-O

 

[cjais]

I see it as a bit of a problem. It locks the player in with regards to weapon usage, and as a DM, it's kinda frustrating to be so restricted when dealing out magic weapons: "Here's a Greatspear, a Waraxe and a Bastard Sword, I guess you can figure out who takes what". If you ignore their Superior Weapon feats, they feel wasted.

I'd much rather have the freedom of giving them a broad range of weapons, which they can then decide how to use best.

 

[deleteme123456]

I see it as a bit of a problem. It locks the player in with regards to weapon usage, and as a DM, it's kinda frustrating to be so restricted when dealing out magic weapons: "Here's a Greatspear, a Waraxe and a Bastard Sword, I guess you can figure out who takes what". If you ignore their Superior Weapon feats, they feel wasted.

I'd much rather have the freedom of giving them a broad range of weapons, which they can then decide how to use best.

If the enchantment type is compatible, they could always perform the Transfer Enchantment ritual from the adventurer's vault to copy the properties from one magic item that you give them onto another.

 

[Skallgrim]

Our group has ONE player with a superior weapon proficiency, the human cleric, who used his bonus feat for Triple Flail. The dwarf fighter took Dwarven Weapon Training, the Ranger uses Longswords, the wizard didn't bother, and while the Rogue likes the look of Kukri, to her (and me) it is basically a short sword with +1 damage (as the lowered proficiency bonus balances Rogue Weapon Talent) and she could get that +1 to damage with Two Weapon Fighting anyway.

Almost everyone has had another feat that they are more excited about. The cleric wasn't even particularly interested in triple flail, but we had a mini with a flail, and he liked the extra proficiency bonus it conveyed.

 

[Obryn]

If the enchantment type is compatible, they could always perform the Transfer Enchantment ritual from the adventurer's vault to copy the properties from one magic item that you give them onto another.

Yep, it has quite literally not been an issue in my game. The Transfer Enchantment ritual costs a paltry 25gp a pop. When the party got a +2 Flaming Maul, the Swordmage claimed it. His Frost enchantment went to the cleric's fullblade, and the cleric's acid enchantment went to the drow ranger's longsword. The +2 Flaming enchantment went into the Swordmage's bastard sword. Total cost was 75gp, and it was pretty cool, IMHO.

Our group has ONE player with a superior weapon proficiency, the human cleric, who used his bonus feat for Triple Flail. The dwarf fighter took Dwarven Weapon Training, the Ranger uses Longswords, the wizard didn't bother, and while the Rogue likes the look of Kukri, to her (and me) it is basically a short sword with +1 damage (as the lowered proficiency bonus balances Rogue Weapon Talent) and she could get that +1 to damage with Two Weapon Fighting anyway.

Almost everyone has had another feat that they are more excited about. The cleric wasn't even particularly interested in triple flail, but we had a mini with a flail, and he liked the extra proficiency bonus it conveyed.

Huh! I can understand the rogue and wizard not caring (really, the Rogue is best off with a simple dagger).

Question, though - does the dwarf fighter use one of the Superior Weapons? He lucks out and gets proficiency in all the axes and hammers, so I'd be surprised if he didn't avail himself of one.

Also, is the Ranger looking into bastard swords?

-O

 

[Cadfan]

I see it as a bit of a problem. It locks the player in with regards to weapon usage, and as a DM, it's kinda frustrating to be so restricted when dealing out magic weapons: "Here's a Greatspear, a Waraxe and a Bastard Sword, I guess you can figure out who takes what". If you ignore their Superior Weapon feats, they feel wasted.

I'd much rather have the freedom of giving them a broad range of weapons, which they can then decide how to use best.

Then your basic problem isn't with superior weapons, its with the concept of weapon specialization itself.

 

[Yumepenguin]

I see it as a bit of a problem. It locks the player in with regards to weapon usage, and as a DM, it's kinda frustrating to be so restricted when dealing out magic weapons: "Here's a Greatspear, a Waraxe and a Bastard Sword, I guess you can figure out who takes what". If you ignore their Superior Weapon feats, they feel wasted.

I'd much rather have the freedom of giving them a broad range of weapons, which they can then decide how to use best.

I don't think that's really a bad thing. You have to do the same thing with armor unless everybody takes the feats to all be at Scale armor.

Also, the DMG encourages a DM to get a "wishlist" from the players to ensure people are getting what fits for how they want their character to play.

If you don't like that then it's fine, but for times when many characters have special weapons I'd find it highly advisible because they'll feel their feat is useless if they're not constantly using their superior weapon type.

 

[Mengu]

In my game, only the Rogue got Kukri, and that was more for flavor than anything else (really I think the dagger is the best rogue weapon). In our other game, no one has a superior weapon though one person is considering it because we just found a magic bastard sword.

I'm playing a Warlord with a Longsword, and have no intention of upgrading to a superior weapon. There are many other feats I'd like to grab before that.

Toughness is probably the most commonly picked feat, I have 2 players with it, and a third planning on it next time he gets a feat. And in our other game, we have 1 person with it, and 2 others planning to get it (including myself for my warlord).

Every wizard in every game we play has leather armor proficiency.
Every rogue in every game we play has backstabber.

 

[Obryn]

Every wizard in every game we play has leather armor proficiency.

The Wizard in mine got a Shimmering Robe +1 (from AV) and hasn't looked back. I think it's safe to say she'll never get Leather at this point. "You don't provoke Opportunity Attacks by making Ranged or Area Attacks" is just too huge a benefit.

Every rogue in every game we play has backstabber.

Yep, that one's a gimme. Even more than Lethal Hunter is for Rangers.

-O

 

[Evilhalfling]

No one in my table group took it - Fighter, warlord, rogue, ranger (level 4)
Since the group dropped to 3 players 2 took toughness and one took durability. They are retraining other feats for Martial Power options - improved inspiring word and the reuse sneak attack with AP feat. Both saying "this is just exactly what I was looking for."

They used a transfer enchantment ritual on a +2 magic x-bow, turning it into a throwing axe (eh...close enough) The warlord is considering using this as his primary weapon - same chance to hit as his +1 longsword, and no tedious weapon shifting. When I put in the (useless) +2 x-bow I had no idea it would become such a favored weapon.

In the one online game Im playing that uses AV -(L20) the dwarf uses a (dwarf weapon prof) Craighammer, while others use longbow, maul, staff and longsword. Im not sure the elf cleric even has a weapon. When I suggested that he needed something, he picked up a magic dagger and longbow.