Is This Right?

[saankiip]

I couldn't find a search on this site, so here goes...

A player of mine has made up a fighter 1 / cleric 3 and he uses a Ranseur in combat. He has the Improved Disarm feat and an 18 Strength.

His opposed roll to Disarm someone is +17 (+4 for Str, +4 for Imp. Disarm Feat, +2 Ranseur, +4 for using a 2-handed weapon and +3 for his BAB).

Does this seem fair and balanced? No-one (not even a Fighter with 18 Str) would come close to be being able to beat him!

Are we all working this out correctly? This just doesn't seem right to me! It seems like any enemy with a weapon he faces will be disarmed!

Any help/guidence would be apprciated.

SaanKiip

 

[The Madhatter]

I think he's right on his numbers. That's still a pretty impressive modifier though! If it's any consolation, wielders of two handed weapons will also get that +4 and it scales for size, so an ogre would have a chance to hang onto his club. He does need an int of 13 and combat expertise as prereqs for Imp Disarm.

 

[Darkness]

I couldn't find a search on this site

It's on the top right, but it's limited to Community Supporters.

Does this seem fair and balanced? No-one (not even a Fighter with 18 Str) would come close to be being able to beat him!

Well, he's obviously optimized for this tactic. NPCs of similar level won't stand much chance, but monsters do. Also, some NPC races get a nice bonus to Str, even including ones without an LA or racial HD (e.g., half-orc +2, orc +4).

If enemies who're familiar with his tactics know they will face this guy, they can get locked gauntlets (+10 bonus to avoid being disarmed).
Some people will use locked gauntlets in any case, of course, no matter who they're facing.

It seems like any enemy with a weapon he faces will be disarmed!

Well, any enemy (except for some monsters) with a weapon who's within 10' but not closer, as you cannot use a ranseur against an adjacent creature.

Also, he'll roll very low occasionally.

 

[Anax]

Agreed--it looks fine. Notice that a level 4 fighter with 18 strength using a two-handed weapon is only at a disadvantage of 5 points--since all the modifers except the +2 from the Ranseur and the +4 from the feat apply to him as well. Also, a locked gauntlet has the penalty of making unequipping a weapon harder than normal, but gives a +10 bonus, turning things in the other direction--with a locked gauntlet, the fighter has +22 to his checks to avoid being disarmed. And +24 if he has a nice potion of bull's strength or a friendly cleric on his side.

Note, of course, that it would be Mean to make every opponent use locked gauntlets for their weapons. But it's certainly something you can throw in at need. Certainly any especially dangerous opponent who's done his research into the party's abilities (or has encountered them before) will know to bring locking gauntlets to negate this character's specialty.

Other things to think about... well, any time a cleric spends fighting is time the cleric isn't casting spells. It's possible to buff yourself up quite a bit as a cleric, but as time goes on, that ability becomes less important than calling down the holy smack. In that potential future context, the ranseur looks more interesting as a defensive tool than anything else--if the enemy tries to rush in melee, the cleric can quickly disarm them with the ranseur and negate the threat. Ranged attackers (including casters) are a different story.

Which feeds into the final point: sunder and disarm are both limited paths in that they do not apply well to non-humanoid opponents, since those opponents are less likely to use equipment. (This applies in lesser degree to trip and grapple, where non-humanoid opponents are more likely to have extra limbs or the like.) As such, the feats that improve these tactics aren't hugely overpowered--they give a big advantage in a limited set of circumstances, but outside those circumstances they're pretty much good for nothing. So on the other side from tinkering with what the bad guys bring to the table to be sure that they're not pushovers every time, make sure you do bring out bad guys that *can* be disarmed often enough to make this path worthwhile.

 

[Amaroq]

As others have noted, I think its right, and, like any 'optimized' character, he's optimized for one thing and one thing only. So be it. Give him his 'moment in the limelight', by offering opponents who can be disarmed, and give him challenging opponents who cannot, e.g., claw-claw-bite creatures, grapple creatures, or an unarmed monk. Also fun to face him against someone of similar build who can disarm him - the goose and the gander, of course.

Just be careful not to overdo either side - you don't want every fight to end with the enemy's weapon lying on the ground, but if he's spent that much on his character's abilities, be sure to let him use them!

Also, I'd say save the 'locked gauntlets' opponents for BBEG's who you want to make sure get to use their +X sword-of-badness(tm) throughout the encounter before the PC's get to add it to their armory.

 

[Coredump]

But play out the combat.

An NPC tries to close, provokes and AoO, and get disarmed. But is now within 5', and has no weapon.

What else is there to do? He is going to try and grapple... the Cleric gets no AoO since not threatening, and then it is about a toss up who wins the grapple.

 

[Shin Okada]

Clever opponent does not need to recklessly come close to a guy with reach weapon. The opponent may ready an attack (without moving) and when the ranseur user try to attack him, make a 5-foot step and strike.

As already mentioned, large or larger monsters will have higher bonuses. Also, the PC is spending 2 feats into a tactics which is completely useless against something does not wield manufactured weapon. He can't disarm a Dire Ape.

By the way, giving longspears to enemy grants and Orcs are quite natural (fluff-wise) and effective.