Weapon Prowess? Add Dex mod to damage?

[Stalker0]

Stat...istically Dex is a better stat than str for the most part.

It improves a save, your AC, your initative, your ranged attack roll.

With one feat, weapon finesse, my dex fighter can now attack as well as the str fighter, but I also have a better AC and importantly....touch AC, I will go first more often, my bow doesn't actually blow, and my reflex save is actually decent. Granted, they will not be doing the damage. But that's a pretty good tradeoff, and frankly I think its worth a feat.

But if you allow dex to add to damage as well, all of a sudden my dex fighter is blowing away your str fighter. I hit and damage as well as you do, but gain all the other advantages.

And that's something a human fighter 1 could do potentially and still have 1 more feat.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I don't think I'd allow this as a feat; I already don't like it as a class ability.

Dexterity does too much for you already.

 

[Panask]

IMC I had an alternative feat where a character, using a Dex-based weapon (ranged weapons, or weapons with Weapon Finesse applied) could shift Dex bonus points from "to hit" to damage. So, for example, a character with an 18 Dex could take up to a -4 penalty on his attack roll with a bow in exchange for a +4 bonus to damage. Or he could keep +3 of his Dex bonus to hit, and add +1 to damage; and so on. He could only use this with ranged weapons from a distance of 30 ft. or less.

I thought it was useful for the high-Dex, low-Str characters, without being unbalanced.

Panask
Servitar of Baldur

 

[dagger]

Heroes of High Favor: Elves by BAD AXE GAMES has a feat called Improved Weapon Finesse, that does this. I know one of the pre reqs is +6 BAB, not sure about the rest though.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If you wanted to make dex worthless, WotC has amply provided the powergamer. Just take improved initiative, Insightful Reflexes (CV, Int mod to ref saves instead of dex), zen archery, brutal throw (str used for thrown weap attack rolls instead of dex) and put on the heaviest armor you can find. Granted, that's a lot of feats that cover 3 different ability scores, but a) a fighter could still easily afford them and b) no one should ever need all of those. With II, IR, and BT alone you'd be able to play a burly fighter hurling weapons without need of a good dex score. Sure, you'd need a higher int, but that gets you skill points anyway. Plus, take 3 levels of swashbuckler and you're doing str + int damage!

The argument isn't that it's bad to make a single stat useless. The argument is that it's bad to make one stat cover everything. If all those feats you cited moved those things to strength, then perhaps you would have an argument. As is, you don't.