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Double sword, not as good as everyone thinks
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<blockquote data-quote="eamon" data-source="post: 4581280" data-attributes="member: 51942"><p>The "benefit" of having the enhancement work on both ends is pretty slim. That's a patched-up disadvantage at best. I'm not convinced it's broken, rather that it's just a bit poorly designed.</p><p></p><p>Since a weapon with a lower level is so much cheaper it's often still beneficial to wield to separate weapons. This costs hardly much more, (and you can just recycle your previous best weapon anyhow), and you'll mostly attack with the "better" weapon anyhow, so a potential enhancement bonus difference isn't that big of an issue (and remember, an enhancement bonus difference is a full five levels worth of cost, so if you drop down one enhancement bonus, cost becomes almost negligible). The ability to have that extra weapon power just when you need it can be pretty damn cool.</p><p></p><p>Making it a light blade would cripple non-dex based characters, so if you want to strip one weapon type, keep the heavy blade. If you make only one end off-hand, and <em>not</em> the primary end, that makes it pretty crappy for a tempest, since that means he can't use his magical weapon properties on the most powerful attack (the one with the +2 damage and +1 to hit from his class ability). So, if you make the blade light, change it to d6, and make only the "off" end have the offhand property, it's a trap - it'll be absolutely terrible.</p><p></p><p>I think double weapons look better on paper than in practice. If there's something dubious, it's that it's both a heavy and a light blade - and that's not an issue for tempests but for rogues. As is a double-blade wielder gives up part of the flexibility of being a dual wielder (having two weapon properties), while not getting to use his weapon properties on off-hand attacks. He deals less damage and fewer status effects than a ranger, but is stickier: he's a defender/striker.</p><p></p><p>If a fix is necessary, I'm not sure exactly what it is. The argument that other tempest builds are (even) weaker doesn't particularly convince me; I think tempests aren't that great anyhow and perhaps a double blade is "too" good for them, but a battle-rager or a shield fighter will often be more attractive as defender, and a ranger remains better as a striker...</p><p></p><p>The easiest fix is just removing the light-blade-ness, but that'll make some currently existing rogues very unhappy. The urgrosh is already potentially more attractive, and if the light-blade aspect is removed, it's certainly balanced with a double axe or a double flail.</p><p></p><p>Edit: just to be clear, it's definitely not broken, and I'm not convinced it's even unbalanced as-is for tempests, though there is certainly an argument for rogues.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="eamon, post: 4581280, member: 51942"] The "benefit" of having the enhancement work on both ends is pretty slim. That's a patched-up disadvantage at best. I'm not convinced it's broken, rather that it's just a bit poorly designed. Since a weapon with a lower level is so much cheaper it's often still beneficial to wield to separate weapons. This costs hardly much more, (and you can just recycle your previous best weapon anyhow), and you'll mostly attack with the "better" weapon anyhow, so a potential enhancement bonus difference isn't that big of an issue (and remember, an enhancement bonus difference is a full five levels worth of cost, so if you drop down one enhancement bonus, cost becomes almost negligible). The ability to have that extra weapon power just when you need it can be pretty damn cool. Making it a light blade would cripple non-dex based characters, so if you want to strip one weapon type, keep the heavy blade. If you make only one end off-hand, and [I]not[/I] the primary end, that makes it pretty crappy for a tempest, since that means he can't use his magical weapon properties on the most powerful attack (the one with the +2 damage and +1 to hit from his class ability). So, if you make the blade light, change it to d6, and make only the "off" end have the offhand property, it's a trap - it'll be absolutely terrible. I think double weapons look better on paper than in practice. If there's something dubious, it's that it's both a heavy and a light blade - and that's not an issue for tempests but for rogues. As is a double-blade wielder gives up part of the flexibility of being a dual wielder (having two weapon properties), while not getting to use his weapon properties on off-hand attacks. He deals less damage and fewer status effects than a ranger, but is stickier: he's a defender/striker. If a fix is necessary, I'm not sure exactly what it is. The argument that other tempest builds are (even) weaker doesn't particularly convince me; I think tempests aren't that great anyhow and perhaps a double blade is "too" good for them, but a battle-rager or a shield fighter will often be more attractive as defender, and a ranger remains better as a striker... The easiest fix is just removing the light-blade-ness, but that'll make some currently existing rogues very unhappy. The urgrosh is already potentially more attractive, and if the light-blade aspect is removed, it's certainly balanced with a double axe or a double flail. Edit: just to be clear, it's definitely not broken, and I'm not convinced it's even unbalanced as-is for tempests, though there is certainly an argument for rogues. [/QUOTE]
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