How ubiquitous is the Superior Weapon feat?

[UngeheuerLich]

depends on playstyle... a single +1 bonus to damage or to hit won´t make a difference most of the time... it is not an MMORPG where monsters have so much hp that 10% damage difference is very notable... especially if the DM builds encounters for PCs to challenge them, not to screw them if they didn´t take a certain feat.

that beeing said, In one of my groups, everyone took SWP or DWP... (cleric, fighter and ranger)
Here for the cleric the SWP fullblade is a noticable damage upgrade, as DWT is especially useful for a TWF ranger. Actually i would have been happy if SWP requires MWP to that it is not possible to upgrade from simple to superior...

 

[Herschel]

As others have said, there's a lot of niftiness in there and many racial feats (dwarf, githzerai, eladrin, goliath, etc.) have similar effects. I HATE missing also, so I try for a +3 proficiency weapon. With an Avenger, than means Fullblade because High-Crit is very useful. A War Axe is like a Great Axe except versatile (free +1 damage or still use a shield w/ that d12 damage die) .

With my swordmage, my feat needs are higher and my focus is not on damage so I still use longsword. Whiel some times waiting on teh weapoin feat can be just fine, it's nice to have the feat already going for when you find that nifty magic weapon and aren't "stuck" with an awesome Great Axe when you want to use a shield too.

 

[Mort_Q]

I'm using a D12 displaying 1-4 three times. Nicer even than a d8.

Ditto.

 

[Flipguarder]

I'm using a D12 displaying 1-4 three times. Nicer even than a d8.

See now I have to get a d20 displaying 1-4 five times.

 

[Ferghis]

d100 displaying 1-4 25 times.

Sorry, I'm getting caught up in this... whatever it is.

 

[jbear]

Some lucky races can sidestep SWT, like the Dwarf. Dwarven Weapon Training is basically SWT +extra damage as long as you take a hammer/axe.

A Superior Weapon like the Urgosh boosts your dmg dice to d12 and givs you a +1 bonus to AC and REF. This is pretty hard to ignore for someone like a STR based cleric, who seriously has no reason to want to be targeted.

A TWF Ranger is more than likely going to want the best 1h weapons available and then stack as many static bonuses to his twin strike as possible. Longswords are cool. Bastard Swords are cooler.

As for the avenger, who is enormously accurate but have fairly weak extra damage class features compared to their striker kin, it is certainly a tempting and viable option to take a high crit weapon, considering the amount of d20s he gets to roll every encounter compared to everyone else.

SWT is certainly one of the first feats I would consider taking for most of my weapon based characters. That is why I love humans... extra feat.... mmmm, nice.

 

[DracoSuave]

A Superior Weapon like the Urgosh boosts your dmg dice to d12 and givs you a +1 bonus to AC and REF. This is pretty hard to ignore for someone like a STR based cleric, who seriously has no reason to want to be targeted.

Strength-clerics are secondary defenders, and any character that isn't a controller or non-melee striker should take hits once in a while. The defender should be protecting the fragile characters' arses. You are not.


That said, I do not disagree with Urgrosh+Cleric=Good times.

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I'm in 2 games - one as DM, the other as player.

In the game I DM, 2 of the 5 players have superior weapons, though one only picked it up at 7th level due to a rather massive change to his character (his eladrin got changed to a tiefling for story purposes, and he decided to swap eladrin soldier for bastard sword rather than weapon focus). The other player is a dwarven cleric, and has a mordenkrad simply because dwarven weapon training gives him it. The 3 players without them are an eladrin wizard (he may get one of the superior implements), an eladrin warlord (uses a longsword - I think he has eladrin soldier) and a dragonborn melee ranger (has been using her feats to boost her crappy AC).

In the game I play, 2 players again have them - the half-orc strength cleric has a mordenkrad (had a maul for story reasons, and found the boost to mordenkrad worth the feat) and our dwarven fighter (again, due to have dwarven training, though this one has the superior 1 handed axe). The drow sorceress (me), human thief and gnome invoker do not have it, though I'm likely to get a superior implement when this group games again.

So, they do feature pretty heavily in my games, though this may be skewed by our con loving dwarf player (he plays both of the above dwarves) getting one "for free" through dwarven weapon training.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Wait, which builds does Weapon Proficiency in a superior weapon give +1 to-hit? Few! It will do so for say a STR cleric that is wanting to use a sword instead of a mace but not too many others. Weaplement users are a whole other story of course, but even there you normally see them going for blades and every such character already has dagger proficiency at the very least, so again the only gain for them is to ALSO take Weapon Expertise (or something).

I mean lets see, of the 5 PCs in the main group I run for the Dwarf is all axes and has DWT, the STR cleric sticks with maces for the nice enchantments, the rogue is all set with daggers, the warlock could care less about superior weapons, and the wizard is using orbs and Staff of Ruin/DIS etc.

I'll venture to say that the vast majority of fighters, barbarians, rangers, some rogues, probably eventually get a superior weapon etc. Its not automatic, its just a common feat.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

superior crossbow and greatspear