Where is "Impact" from?

[0-hr]

I recall a item ability that is equivalent to Keen but for blunt weapons. Which book is this from? (And I'm hoping for a weapon enchantment rather than a spell).

Thank you for the assistance.

 

[Beckett]

I believe Magic of Faerun as an enhancement, probably with a corresponding spell (the spell Weapon of Impact does show up in Spell Compendium).

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

It's either one of the Complete books, Miniatures Handbook, or Arms & Equipment Guide. I think it's the latter. I've seen it but I don't collect FR stuff so it's somewhere else.

 

[0-hr]

Ah yes, found it in the Arms & Equipment Guide.

Strange that the text does not match the text for Keen more closely. Is the A&EG 3.5 material? (notably, it does not say that the ability does not stack with other things that increase crit range).

 

[moritheil]

I have seen A&E listed with 3.0 material.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

A&EG is 3.0 and has never been updated.

 

[0-hr]

And it's never made its way into 3.5 in any of the various books? Weird, I didn't think that "Keen for blunt weapons" would be unbalanced.

Mybe it's because there are things like the Goliath Greathammer that have a x4 crit range. Are there exotic equivalents (two handed, x4 crit, and 2d6 or d12 damage) that aren't blunt?

 

[pawsplay]

It doesn't matter. Ever since Improved Critical got nerfed, all weapons with better multipliers became, in the final calculation, even. That is, anything with a x3 or higher can get to 19-20 but not beyond, barring some prestige class abilities.

 

[Staffan]

It doesn't matter. Ever since Improved Critical got nerfed, all weapons with better multipliers became, in the final calculation, even. That is, anything with a x3 or higher can get to 19-20 but not beyond, barring some prestige class abilities.

They were even before that too, assuming you ignore the effects of "wasted" threat range (critting on a 12 doesn't help when you need a 16 to hit) and overkill damage (doing 84 points against a monster with 30 hp).

A blngsword does 100% extra damage on 10% of hits. That's +10% on average.
A Keen longsword does 100% extra damage on 20% of hits. That's +20% on average.
A Keen longsword with Improved Crit does 100% extra damage on 30% of hits. That's +30% on average.

A battleaxe does 200% extra damage on 5% of hits. That's +10% on average.
A Keen battleaxe does 200% extra damage on 10% of hits. That's +20% on average.
A Keen battleaxe with Improved Crit does 200% extra damage on 15% of hits. That's +30% on average.

You can probably see for yourself that the same reasoning applies to rapier vs. heavy pick as well. The only unbalancing thing with heavy-crit weapons are things like the 3.0 weapon master's ability to increase his threat range by a fixed number (2, IIRC), which does unduly benefit the heavy-crit weapon. I see that as a problem of such an ability rather than the heavy-crit weapons, though.

 

[pawsplay]

Right, and those kinds of abilities seem to have vanished from new PrC writeups.