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Message: <blockquote data-quote="cignus_pfaccari" data-source="post: 1774781" data-attributes="member: 14557">With Bastard Sword, you can use it one- or two-handed, if you put a feat into it.  You can also take a level of Exotic Weapon Master from Complete Warrior and take the trick that lets you add 2x Str to your attacks when using it two-handed (instead of 1.5x as normal).  You can also use a shield if you prefer, which would help with AC.  It's also usable with combat styles from Complete Warrior, if you want to put the feats into those.With Greatsword, you're using it two-handed all the time, with no option for one-handing it, but you're not using a feat on it, and feats, even for fighters, are precious things.Both are common random treasure drops; assuming the DM rolls for random treasure, they actually have an equal chance of coming up.  The greatsword's more expensive, so if you're starting at 1st level, it may be a bit harder to afford that and good armor.  Stylistically, the bastard sword has a bit of an edge, since you can pretend it's a katana.  Then again, big huge swords are cool.  The greatsword has an edge in damage of 1.5 points (2d6 averages to 7, d10 averages to 5.5), which is significant.Both will return equal benefits on WF, WS, IC, and PC feats applied to them, since those apply equally (+1 to hit, +2 to damage, +2 to crit range, and +4 to confirm crits).Basically, I think that the bastard sword is more for characters who want to be some sort of weapon mastery type.  You can get more benefits out of it, but you have to put some effort into it.  The greatsword is much simpler, though; aside from the above feats, you won't need to spend anything else to wring capability out of it.If you want a bit of flavor, you can take one of the weapons from Complete Warrior, like the Maul or Dire Pick, which are bastard versions of hammers and regular picks, and quite nifty.  However, if the DM rolls treasure randomly from the DMG, they won't drop.  At all.I rather like the Greatspear from CW; it just looks cool, and you might be able to convince the DM that you can have it do slashing damage as well as piercing (just look at how long that blade is!  It has to be sharp!).  The lowly halberd is pretty nifty, too, if you anticipate being charged a lot and if you want to try and trip people, and doesn't suck up a feat.Brad</blockquote>

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