Flaming/Flaming Burst...and its cousins...

[Epametheus]

Instead of dropping Bane to +1, I let it act sorta like a Favored Enemy, giving a few small bonuses that add up. So, besides just +2d6 damage, you also get +2 to a roll to confirm a critical hit, act as +2 higher enhancement for the purposes of bypassing DR, that sort of thing.

Actually, that's how Bane is supposed to work. A +3 dragon-bane longsword works as a +5 sword that deals another 2d6 damage when used against dragons. Unless there's something sayng otherwise that I'm not remembering, a +5 dragon-bane longsword would be +7 vs. dragons.

It's still a horribly situational weapon, and I'd much rather just have Holy or Unholy. In the group I play with, human-bane isn't bad -- humans are certianly the most commonly run adversery -- but still not really worth it.

As for flaming-flaming vs. flaming burst.. Depends on how confident you are in your crit rate, I guess. IMC, I've only seen ONE weapon with a burst enchantment, and it was the weapon of the guy with a 12-20 threat range.

A weaponmaster with a keen falchion can do pretty well with a burst enchantment. A weaponmaster with 3 levels of wizard so that he could cast Assassin Senses from Relics & Rituals would do even better.

Most characters would be better off with flaming-flaming, though. Crits don't really happen enough for the burst enchantments to worthwhile.

 

[Arnix]

Except for one of my players who has an aura of luck around him. Any dice rolled near him rolls high. Major encounter, double 20, triple 12 on great axe crit. Sucked for my encounter...

 

[kreynolds]

Does the base +1d6 get replaced on a crit with the xd10?

No. See the DMG errata.

Also, here's a Sage reply on the matter...

If I get a critical hit with a burst weapon (such as flaming burst) do I deal an extra d6 and extra d10

Yes. (See the DMG Errata).

 

[Spatzimaus]

Epimetheus: I left out the +2 Enhancement by accident, it was supposed to be in there.
The point was, Bane as written is a +4 ability (2 enhancement, 2d6 damage) that only works against a specific type of target. That's just not worth it, usually, so I wanted to throw on a few minor extras to bump it to a +5 equivalent.

Arnix: kreynolds covered it, although note that there are a couple "burst-like" abilities that DON'T include a "flaming-like" component. For example, there's a +2-cost ability in the PsiHB that does xd10 on a critical hit, but it doesn't do anything on a non-critical. I think the Thundering (which is like the sonic Burst) is the same way, trading the d6 base damage for a better damage type and/or a secondary effect.
But for Flaming/Icy/Shock burst, you do the d6 whether you crit or not AND do xd10 on a crit.