How can I walk softly and carry a BIG sword?

[Ruslanchik]

Just play as a half giant. (Am I right on that, from the XPH?) They can wield large weapons with no penalty, IIRC.

 

[BASHMAN]

Play a Goliath. They are medium sized, but have the powerful build ability, which allows them to wield large weapons without penalty. So a medium Goliath fighter could use a large greatsword no problem.

 

[irdeggman]

As pointed out above any race with the powerfurl build ability can do it.

• Powerful Build: The physical stature of half-giants lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.

Whenever a half-giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the half-giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.

A half-giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A half-giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.

 

[Kurashu]

I was going to say Half-Giant/Goliath.

Half-Giant would probably be better as they are naturally psionic and can qualify for all those nice psionic feats without neededing to dip in PsyWarrior or take Wild Talent. Deep Impact anyone?

 

[frankthedm]

The problem with it, to my understanding, is that it's never worth it. In every case, it's more advantageous to simply Power Attack for 2 (netting the same attack penalty), which raises your average damage by 4 with a two-handed weapon (as opposed to the average for more enlarged weapons, which, I think, was 2.5 or something). So there's no reason to spend a feat to do something you could have already done even better, except for the "flavor" of wielding an incredibly large weapon.

Ogre's Grip {monkey grip] was a casualty of increasing the potency of Power Attack in 3.5.

Wielding a Large bastard sword one handed with ogre's grip is decent if you were going down the Bastard sword and shield route to start with.

 

[frankthedm]

Just curious if it can be done. I mean, if Cloud or Ichigo can do it, why can't I?

Because the D&D system does care what your weapon weighs! It might not get the weights perfect, but it cares. Even a hero with 18 STR suffers if he caries 110 pounds of crap. Whether that is a backpack full of gold or a steel girder forged into a blade does not matter to his check penalty.

 

[Masquerade]

Just curious if it can be done. I mean, if Cloud or Ichigo can do it, why can't I?

You can. It's all a matter of description. Just because it says "greatsword" on the character sheet doesn't mean that your weapon looks just like every other greatsword on the market.

If you absolutely need mechanical justification (which I understand--we all play the game differently), earlier posters have some fine suggestions.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

How do you know they're not just using Monkey Grip and taking the attack roll penalty?

I'd assume Cloud and Ichigo are taking the -2.

-Hyp.

Personally I'd just take the -2 to hit for using Monkey Grip.

I'm sensing a trend.

Because the D&D system does care what your weapon weighs! It might not get the weights perfect, but it cares. Even a hero with 18 STR suffers if he caries 110 pounds of crap. Whether that is a backpack full of gold or a steel girder forged into a blade does not matter to his check penalty.

Lucky for my character, he can handle the 16 pound large greatsword.

The problem with it, to my understanding, is that it's never worth it. In every case, it's more advantageous to simply Power Attack for 2 (netting the same attack penalty), which raises your average damage by 4 with a two-handed weapon (as opposed to the average for more enlarged weapons, which, I think, was 2.5 or something). So there's no reason to spend a feat to do something you could have already done even better, except for the "flavor" of wielding an incredibly large weapon.

Wow, that's a good breakdown, thanks for that. However, even knowing what I am getting into mechanics-wise, I'm the type of player who would spend the feat for flavour. Besides, I didn't take Power Attack, the character is much more of a "sword-fu" type rather than your standard heavy hitter.

Strongarm Bracers let you count as 1 size category larger for the purpose of what weapons you can wield, so that'd let you do it without taking the -2. On the other hand, that's coming from your gear rather than from you. Definite loss of cool factor there.

I read that just after I made the post actually, but your right - it's just not the same when it's your gear doing all the work.

So, the final result is taking Monkey Grip and just suffering the -2.


Thanks folks,

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Moon-Lancer]

As far as I know, the Fullblade has not been updated to 3.5; were I to do so, I'd call it a Large bastard sword (in 3E, it was also named an 'Ogre's Greatsword', suggesting it is designed for a Large creature; the mechanics fitted a bastard sword better, however). As such, there would still be a -2 penalty for a Medium creature...

-Hyp.

so whats the feat doing then if you still take a -2 on attack with a fullblade? if you didn't have exotic weapon prof fullblade, would you take a -6 on attack? The full blade text says nothing about penalty's for medium creatures.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The full blade text says nothing about penalty's for medium creatures.

Nothing in 3E said anything about penalties for Medium creatures. The penalty for inappropriately sized weapons is new in 3.5.

In 3E, a wizard who found a Storm Giant's Large Dagger could use it... effectively as a greatsword he could throw, but because it was a dagger, he's proficient in it.

In 3.5, it would be a Huge dagger, and he'd deal damage like a longsword (since daggers effectively got one size bigger), but he'd take a -4 penalty because it's designed for a creature two sizes larger.

The Fullblade was written in 3E. When you convert it to 3.5, you get a Large Bastard Sword... and since it's designed for a creature one size larger than Medium, you take a -2.

Assuming you can wield it at all, which will require either the EWP or Monkey Grip. If you have neither of those, it's too large to wield...

-Hyp.