Weapon Master vs. Exotic Weapon Master

[jontherev]

Well, bard gives you whip and Rogue gives you hand crossbow. But yyou lose out one BAB for each of those, although your reflex save will looks good, and the will save won't be bad. The fort will be hurting. And now you've got to worry abiut XP penalties.

Yep, there's tradeoffs. A human, dwarf, or half-elf could do it w/no exp penalties. Notice, that I said you could take one AND/OR the other, so if you don't want to lose 2 points of BAB just take the rogue level. I think it's better than taking 3 feats, even as a fighter. Personally, I'd try to get my DM to nerf the Rage requirement and run a fighter/rogue type. That fits the EWM better in my mind, having a sneaky fighter type that is master of all weapons. Rage makes NO sense to me.

 

[Howling Coyote]

Looks like EWM is winning. Lets see what exotic weapons should I take.
There's the bastard sword, while it's bit cliché, it's still a useful item.
At least the nagaika is a must, I just love whips (maybe I should consider the lasher for him too)
The preferred melee weapon is definitely going to be an axe, and the orc double axe fits in rather nicely, because it's a double weapon too.
Any suggestions?

 

[Romotre]

spiked chain - nasty AND cool

 

[Crothian]

Tiger Hook from Arms and Armour. Cool looking and versatile.

 

[Zhure]

For an EWM who uses a whip, nagaika or whip dagger, I recommend at least two levels of Lasher (S&F). Close combat is a must. In fact, a Fighter/Lasher/Weapon Master is probably as nasty or nastier than a Fighter/Master of Chains/Weapon Master.

Greg

 

[Slaachma'jur]

Come on now, you just can't go past a wagon full 'o cabers!

 

[Seule]

I find that the Weapon Master is a natural progression for a fighter who specializes (which almost all do) while the Exotic Weapon Master is a specific concept that won't work without the Prestige Class. On the whole, I think that Wepon Master is more useful and I suspect more used, while the EWM is more flavourful.

--Seule

 

[Orco42]

It's not such a big deal. Let's forget taking a monk level. Instead, you could take a level of bard and/or rogue for 1 or 2 free EWP's. And the prereq. for rage is just stupid imo. This prc should've been in S&F.

Hehe. One play ing my game is a fighter/monk/barbarian/EWM.

When he first said he was going to throw in a level of monk I thought he was crazy... but those bonus feats more than make up for one BAB.

 

[Psifon]

Weapon master, definately weapon master.

Weapon master is hands down the better PrC. There are two big reasons for this:

1 you can concentrate your feats into making your chosen weapon more effective. Using weapon specialization, Improved critical and power critical, you can concentrate a lot of damage potential into the weapon. On top of this the PrC gives you the ability to decide "this is the BBEG, I want to kill him extra fast." Yes you can do this a limited number of times per day, but you only NEED it a limited number of times per day. And the limits are pretty generous.

2 You can concentrate a lot of money into your weapon of choice. Having 50,000 gp in 5 different exotic weapons gives you 5 mediocre weapons to weild. Having 50,000 gp in one weapon gives you a rightious can of whoop-ass to weild.

As a fighter you have one mission: Do as much damage as you can every round. There are three considerations for achieving this mission:

1) Positioning- can you get to a place where you can hurt the enemy? Increased movement, tumble, climb and jump are all good for this need, but ALL of these skills/ abilities take second place to magic for meeting this need. Ideally, you should combine character abilities and magic to get uber here. Using a ranged weapon also takes care of this need nicely.

2) Damage per attack - Here the weapon master shines, becasue you will do more damage per attack with specialization, better crit ranges and a better attack bonuses. All things you get with WM. Mercurial greatsword is your weapon of choice here (but note the eratta on this weapon).

3) Number of attacks - again, weapon master has the advantage: Whirlwind attack is a prerequisite for this PrC, as is Combat reflexes. If you go with Ftr 10 and WM 10 you will even have enough feats left over to pick up great cleave (you always want power attack and cleave anyway). If this is your area of focus, then Spked Chain or the Duom are your weapon of choice.

I myself am working on a FTR 10 WM 10 master of Mercurial Greatsword with all these feats. He is fun to play, and kicks butt and takes names. He loses out on a few attacks, w/o the reach weapon, but he closes and kills very quickly.

I think that WM has it all over EWM. When push comes to shove, you will be more efficiently deadly with WM any day of the week.

 

[jontherev]

Re: Weapon master, definately weapon master.

Weapon master is hands down the better PrC. There are two big reasons for this:

1 you can concentrate your feats into making your chosen weapon more effective. Using weapon specialization, Improved critical and power critical, you can concentrate a lot of damage potential into the weapon. On top of this the PrC gives you the ability to decide "this is the BBEG, I want to kill him extra fast." Yes you can do this a limited number of times per day, but you only NEED it a limited number of times per day. And the limits are pretty generous.

2 You can concentrate a lot of money into your weapon of choice. Having 50,000 gp in 5 different exotic weapons gives you 5 mediocre weapons to weild. Having 50,000 gp in one weapon gives you a rightious can of whoop-ass to weild.

As a fighter you have one mission: Do as much damage as you can every round. There are three considerations for achieving this mission:

1) Positioning- can you get to a place where you can hurt the enemy? Increased movement, tumble, climb and jump are all good for this need, but ALL of these skills/ abilities take second place to magic for meeting this need. Ideally, you should combine character abilities and magic to get uber here. Using a ranged weapon also takes care of this need nicely.

2) Damage per attack - Here the weapon master shines, becasue you will do more damage per attack with specialization, better crit ranges and a better attack bonuses. All things you get with WM. Mercurial greatsword is your weapon of choice here (but note the eratta on this weapon).

3) Number of attacks - again, weapon master has the advantage: Whirlwind attack is a prerequisite for this PrC, as is Combat reflexes. If you go with Ftr 10 and WM 10 you will even have enough feats left over to pick up great cleave (you always want power attack and cleave anyway). If this is your area of focus, then Spked Chain or the Duom are your weapon of choice.

I myself am working on a FTR 10 WM 10 master of Mercurial Greatsword with all these feats. He is fun to play, and kicks butt and takes names. He loses out on a few attacks, w/o the reach weapon, but he closes and kills very quickly.

I think that WM has it all over EWM. When push comes to shove, you will be more efficiently deadly with WM any day of the week.

Yeah, until you are disarmed or have your weapon sundered. A lasher/ewm could disarm you AND take your weapon in the same round. And, if hasted, smack you with your own weapon (at a LOW to hit probability, but embarassingly funny). I know this is a special case, but I wanted to point out that you are VERY limited without your one special weapon. Not to mention, against a creature that is immune to your particular damage type (slashing, piercing, etc.), you are in a bad position. Greater Magic Weapon works wonders on those halfling skip rocks, kukris, mercurial greatswords, whips, etc. The WM has more danger/damage potential, but is also very limited in many ways.