Best Reach Weapon

[Jimlock]

Although i voted for spiked chain... I perhaps like the long spear more, now that i think of it. I agree with Dannyalcatraz.

 

[anest1s]

Guissarme

My 3rd favorite weapon (after Falchion and Shortsword)

No wonder its the only one in the pool written with italics.
Because its easy to get and good to use.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Though I don't use it for all my reach builds, my favorite is the Greatspear. 2d6 x3, Reach, RI 10' out of the box. As of CompAdv (as I recall), it works with feats taken for use with other spears, so you don't need to double up. Add feats like Monkey Grip (or the Powerful Build attribute), size boosting powers, as well as weapon enchantments (Returning, extended range, things like Fiery, Shocking, bane, etc.) and it gets ugly fast.

Not bad, though the Dwarven Warpike (Races of Stone) is also an exotic reach weapon. It hads 2d6 damage, ability to trip, can be set against charging for x2 damage, x3 crit, can do slashing or piercing damage, and...if you've got a DM who allows the text from C.Warrior (iirc) about swapping racial weapon proficiencies, may not even cost a feat for you to obtain.

If having spear feats already is the issue, just dip Warblade for Weapon Aptitude or ask to use the retraining rules in PHB 2.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If having spear feats already is the issue, just dip Warblade for Weapon Aptitude or ask to use the retraining rules in PHB 2.

The spear feats thing was this: according to CompAdv p116, if you already have taken the WeapFoc & Specialization feats (and Greater versions) specifically for the longspear, their benefits apply to the Greatspear as well. That's all I was getting at.

As for the rest, the greatspear is also x3 on crits, and while RAW, it doesn't do double damage set against a charge (that language is absent from it's entry), I suspect that since it's just a spear with an oversized head and all other spears (including the aforementioned longspear with which it shares feat overlap) have that language, that its absence is a typo. DM's call, though.

 

[Empirate]

Not bad, though the Dwarven Warpike (Races of Stone) is also an exotic reach weapon. It hads 2d6 damage, ability to trip, can be set against charging for x2 damage, x3 crit, can do slashing or piercing damage, and...if you've got a DM who allows the text from C.Warrior (iirc) about swapping racial weapon proficiencies, may not even cost a feat for you to obtain.

If having spear feats already is the issue, just dip Warblade for Weapon Aptitude or ask to use the retraining rules in PHB 2.

Wow. Races of Stone was already way out there among the "supplements nobody thought to balance before publishing", as it contained so many OP things (viz. Whispergnome, Runesmith, Shadowcraft Mage...). Now we can add a weapon for good measure.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If...you think those things are OP...you clearly haven't read many supplements. Or even core primary casters' spell lists...

All those things are good (actually have no experience w/ Runesmith, but I'll just take your word that it's awesome), but far from broken. Shadowcraft Mage can get ridiculous with the right cheese, I will grant. Otherwise it's just a very varied caster with some annoying hindrances (by RAW, not sure you can access shadow spells outside of material, shadow, etheral, and possibly astral planes) and hefty feat requirements.

 

[Empirate]

One of the things to make Shadowcraft Mage so ridiculous is Earth Spell, which is conveniently found in the same book...

On the lack of balance thing: sure, compared to Gate or Time Stop, a weapon will never be overpowered. So let's just say, it isn't balanced well against the other weapons out there. Weapons, at least, used to be a part of the game that was viable, balance-wise. But the thing you described is better than the Spiked Chain, which is already the best Exotic Weapon out there.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

For some reason, never noticed your reply.

The warpike gets no disarm bonus, it can't also hit adjacent, and it can't be finessed (I don't consider that last one worth anything at all...you 2H something to get str x 1.5 and PA afterall, but may as well mention it). It's one of the only exotic weapons about equal to the spiked chain, and thus worth a feat. I don't think it's better, though.

And basic Shadowcraft Mage using Earth and Heighten Spell isn't broken, just versatile. You can summon stuff that's mostly real and use damage spells pretty much spontaneously. Big deal. Gets cheesy if you abuse the Conj. Creation spells balanced by having an expensive material component often. And gets broken when you use dirty tricks like Arcane Disciple for Wish.

 

[Empirate]

Even just adding in some levels of Shadowcaster (the PrC from Underdark, not the horrible base class from ToM) makes all your shadow illusions hyper-real. So real you want the other guys to fail their save. I consider that broken. And Arcane Disciple for Miracle isn't exactly way out there - it's in a common and well-known book, and it is used quite often as a way to broaden spell lists. It's not the individual component that makes Shadowcraft Mage broken, it's the combination. But the two core ingredients, especially Earth Spell (which allows 9th level spells, after all), are in Races of Stone.

You may be right about the weapon, though. Spending a feat IS a heavy cost just for using a better weapon, which I myself had been pointing out earlier in this thread, ironically enough. Consider me convinced on that one (unless you're a Dwarf and it doesn't cost you a feat!).

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, Dwarves are broken already, so them getting a weapon equivalent in power to a spiked chain w/o a feat is just icing on the cake.