Swordmages without swords

[andarilhor]

I believe there is a sword in AV which is also considered an axe. This would allow a swordmage to pursue the various axe mastery feats if your looking for variety.

Well... It was just a idea.

 

[aurance]

There's not a huge balance reason to not let swordmages use whatever weapon instead of heavy/light blades. It's mostly a flavor thing.

 

[Nytmare]

Not that I should be using the Character Builder as any kind of authority when it comes to rules, but I just tried making a spiked shield swordmage and it doesn't appear to add the shield bonus to AC when it's being used as a primary weapon.

Has anyone seen anything more official than that?

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Reskinning doesn't seem to produce any imbalanced options whatsoever, no matter what weapon you pick up.

 

[boolean]

Yeah, but then you're spending a feat to use a +2 proficiency bonus 1d6 damage weapon as your primary weapon. That's worse than a short sword.

Two feats, actually. You need both Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Shield) and Shield Proficiency (Light) to use the spiked shield effectively.

 

[Dan'L]

Not that I should be using the Character Builder as any kind of authority when it comes to rules, but I just tried making a spiked shield swordmage and it doesn't appear to add the shield bonus to AC when it's being used as a primary weapon.

Has anyone seen anything more official than that?

I don't have access to Swordmage build info, so I could be completely off-base, but is the Warding a typed or untyped bonus? If it's typed as a shield bonus, the bonus from the spiked shield wouldn't stack.

-Dan'L

 

[aurance]

I don't have access to Swordmage build info, so I could be completely off-base, but is the Warding a typed or untyped bonus? If it's typed as a shield bonus, the bonus from the spiked shield wouldn't stack.

-Dan'L

Untyped, which is the only reason why the spiked shield option is worthwhile for a swordmage, as your offense will decidedly suffer.

 

[Nytmare]

I don't have access to Swordmage build info, so I could be completely off-base, but is the Warding a typed or untyped bonus?

[EDIT] I agree wholeheartedly with Aurance's findings.