Spiked Chains: Pure cheese or sometimes OK?

[Tetsubo]

C.H.E.E.S.E.

Simply the silliest weapon ever introduced into the core rules.

Runners-up would be the Dire Flail and Mercurial *anything*.

 

[DragonLancer]

The spiked chain as a rep for being a twinky broken weapon, but in the few games where I've seen it being used it was never anything special.

 

[Thanee]

Spiked Chain: Pure stupidity.

Bye
Thanee

 

[NilesB]

The Spiked Chain is not overpowered, the majority of exotic weapons are underpowered.

 

[Felix]

The spiked chain is very good against medium-sized bipedal opponents who wield weapons. It is feat-intensive to be sure, but it is still good. This is one reason why many folks have a problem with it.

It is sub-par when it comes to fighting larger, multilegged, natural weapon wielding opponents. This is the balancing factor for PCs: yes, PCs face quite a few bipedal manufactured weapon wielding types, but they also encounter quite a few of the other kind as well.

Strategy-wise, I think it makes sense for a bounty-hunter who goes after medium-sized bipedal manufactured-weapon wielders to use a spiked chain; it's an effective weapon. If he can manage the feats necessary to use it well and qualify for the Bloodhound PrC.

If, however, your PCs decide to fight this guy, they will find that the spiked chain can be frustrating to fight against. You might have some players turning against you for that reason. Not that it will necessairly happen, but it might, so look out for it.

 

[Nifft]

I vote Yes: it's cheese, and it's okay.

One PC's cohort uses one, and they've fought against one or two NPCs who use them. They are expensive in terms of feats, and they are not great in terms of damage or crits.

I agree that they are what an Exotic weapon should be. If a simple Halberd can trip, deal 1d10 x3 damage, and be used to Power Attack effectively, I should get something great for an Exotic Weapon feat.

-- N

 

[Nifft]

There's a lot of smack talk about the spiked chain, especially as it's part of a whole slew of wacky 3E double-weapons.

Since when is the spiked chain a double weapon?

Maybe you've seen it looking like that in an illustration... but find me where the rules say that, please.

-- N

 

[Cam Banks]

I had a player use the spiked chain to great effect in my Dragonlance campaign, and was somewhat bothered by it until I learned to throw a variety of opponents at the character and not just easily tripped AoO-provoking targets. I don't have a problem with the weapon, really - and I introduced an NPC with it, too, just in case.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Kunimatyu]

If you're playing a hobgoblin weaponmaster from Darguun, it's a perfectly acceptable choice. Apart from that, you'll have to do some serious convincing.

 

[Fishbone]

Ehh, it isn't as good as everybody makes it out to be. Low damage, and there are many creatures that either can't be tripped(oozes, many plants, flying creatures) and the vast majority of your enemies will never be disarmed, ever, simply because they are not armed. It'd be a great choice for somebody who has to frequently hunt down armed bipedal outlaws from Large size on down, other than that, not so much. It only is broken if the DM throws too many humanoid NPCs at you.