Melee Weapon Mastery

[Corsair]

PHB 2, Read the description of the feat & the feat list. Both those locations state the feat lets you use weapon focus and specialization bonuses with other weapons.

Read your own picture. That isn't what it says. It says "Multiple" weapons, not "Other" weapons. Multiple can include the main weapon.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yep. Until PHB2, there was no mechanical reason to keep taking fighter levels after, oh, 10 or 12.

I'd say. . . 1, 2 or 4, actually.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

The table is always trumped by the actual text though. That's the danger of just reading the table, like I did.

The table text is highly condensed non-rules descriptive text that is supposed to tell you what the feat allows you to do as succinctly as possible ... it's a more complex feat than it appears on the surface because you're getting +2/+2 with all B/P/S weapons ... but it stacks with Focus/Specialization for a +3/+4 with that weapon.

The broad effect of the feat is what it says ... adds bonuses to more weapons. A side effect is that you're still better with the one core weapon.

--fje

 

[maggot]

The idea behind it is that WotC thinks they had previously somewhat underpowered fighters, and they're trying to make up for it.

Do you have a reference for this assertion?

 

[Nail]

PHB 2, Read the description of the feat & the feat list. Both those locations state the feat lets you use weapon focus and specialization bonuses with other weapons.

Ah.

Interesting.

Since text always trumps tables, I don't carefully examine the tables unless really called upon to do so.....

 

[Legildur]

Do you have a reference for this assertion?

I'm pretty sure I've seen that line of reasoning before. I reckon it is either in the PHBII itself, or it was taken from an interview with the author.

 

[Li Shenron]

I feel compelled to point out that while there are lots of great ways to make the fighter stronger, creating massively powerful feats that are available to anyone with four fighter levels and that are so much better than anything else available at that level to all but mandate their selection is probably not the best way they go about it.

(I think, though I suspect I'm close to alone in this, that denying that these feats stack should be a more or less universal house rule, though MWM could plausibly stack with the Greater versions, continuing to provide a small boost even with your favored weapon.)

I'm with you on this.

It seems obvious to me that the editor screwed up this feat. The flavor text is clearly different from the feat RAW description. So now every gamer can make this feat whatever they want: those who like to think in terms of RAW will debate until the last single word to prove that the intent is irrelevant, and those who cannot accept the feat because they think it's too powerful will just trump the RAW and adjudicate it differently.

Me I'm just content enough every time something causes havoc to 3.5 since that makes my pet love 3.0 more proud that its old balance problems are getting less and less in comparison

 

[Li Shenron]

But more seriously, I think that +2 attacks and +2 damage for the cost of a feat (even if it has 2 other feats as requisites) is definitely too much, considering it raises you to a total of +3 att +4 dmg and it's not even high level yet. I think that the amount of total attack bonus available by stacking different feats (MWM, WF, GWF...) is getting too much overall, and that is not good in general IMHO.

Furthermore, I don't understand how could someone could not honestly notice that because if requires only 4 levels of Fighter, it does NOT give any justice to the Fighter at all. It might increase the number of non-fighters multiclassing into fighter, but doesn't make straight fighters (or "primarily fighter" characters) more popular at all. So the argument "because the Fighter needs a boost" makes really little sense.

 

[Nail]

#1) The Fighter needs a boost.

#2) This feat doesn't do that.

#3) Considering how much specialization must occur (due to equipment costs and constraints), I doubt this feat is overpowered *in practice*. That is to say: Few will use it for anything other than their specialized weapon.

 

[Drowbane]

Yep. Until PHB2, there was no mechanical reason to keep taking fighter levels after, oh, 10 or 12. around lvl 4

The addition of these feats make fighters viable all the way up, and returns them to the spot in the game that they should hold: i.e. a class called "the fighter" really ought to be, oh, I dunno, the game's best fighter.

fixed that for ya.

I'd say. . . 1, 2 or 4, actually.

d'oh!!! Snow beat me to it.