Why not make the rapier military?

[comrade raoul]

Why not make the rapier a military weapon, rather than a superior one?

It'd be nice for fighters or rangers who dipped into rogue (or heroic-tier fighters who wanted to use rain of blows with a sword), though it wouldn't make a difference for rogues, who wouldn't get free proficiency with it anyway.

 

[generalhenry]

compare it to the short sword and longsword

it steps on too many toes as a martial weapon

 

[jaelis]

Not really... shortsword still has the off-hand property, and the longsword is a different group. The OP's idea seems reasonable to me.

I don't see why shuriken are superior either.

 

[Starfox]

The light blade group just is weaker, supposedly because rogues can use it.

 

[juggler434]

I'm guessing they made rapiers superior with the rogue in mind. A rogue can sneak attack with 3d8 if it has a rapier and backstabber.

 

[theNater]

Rogue powers aren't the only mechanics that interact with light blades. The rapier is the most powerful one-handed weapon that gets the bonus in Armor-Piercing Thrust(fighter 3), and the Light Blade Precision and Nimble Blade feats only work with light blades. There are also some magical weapons(Duelist's Weapon and Pact Blade) that must be light blades. It is possible that these were factors in making the rapier a superior weapon.

 

[robsenworldaccount]

orly

I think you are just trying to save yourself a feat.


They guy(s) who mentioned backstabber/rogue I feel are correct.

The average die roll of a d4 is 2.

he average doe roll of a d8 is 4.

Your are spending a feat on mechanically doubling the amount of average dmg the base weapon will do while still being able to supply sneak attack dmg.

That is worth a feat.

TheNater, is also quite correct. This weapon makes for a nice finesse fighter as well.

 

[billd91]

Rogue powers aren't the only mechanics that interact with light blades. The rapier is the most powerful one-handed weapon that gets the bonus in Armor-Piercing Thrust(fighter 3), and the Light Blade Precision and Nimble Blade feats only work with light blades. There are also some magical weapons(Duelist's Weapon and Pact Blade) that must be light blades. It is possible that these were factors in making the rapier a superior weapon.

But are those really superior to similar attack powers for heavy blades that a weapon doing the same basic damage needs an accompanying feat? I'm unconvinced.

 

[eamon]

The rapier deals the most damage of all light blades in the game. It's not surprising it's superior. With the Nimble Blade and Light Blade Precision feats, they might be pretty enticing to rogues, and probably more builds in the future (with the release of new splat books).

 

[jaelis]

They guy(s) who mentioned backstabber/rogue I feel are correct.

The average die roll of a d4 is 2.

he average doe roll of a d8 is 4.

First, it would make more sense to compare to a short sword, which is d6. Second, a rogue would still need to take a proficiency feat to use a rapier, so it would make no difference to him.

The impact would be to a fighter, ranger, paladin or warlord, who would now have a choice between the longsword and the rapier, both with the same damage and proficiency bonus. The only difference would be the weapon group.

If the light blade weapon feats are actually better in general than the heavy blade weapon feats, then that could be an issue. I would have said they were about comparable.