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Thread: Inappropiately sized weapons
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2016-12-08, 06:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
- Location
- LaVergne, TN
- Gender
Inappropiately sized weapons
Hey, I'm having to redo my party of halfbreeds due to my hard drive being wiped and I have a question. Are Inappropriately sized weapons worth the -2 to attack rolls to use? I'm asking this cause I'm thinking about having the Half Ogre Hexblade use a Falchion sized for medium characters. I'm also using the Physical Description and Personality from the Bastards and Bloodlines version with the game mechanics from the Races of Destiny version(if that's even possible). I'm doing that because I hate the Physical Description and Personality of the Races of Destiny version which is very biased against them. If the -2 to attack rolls isn't worth it then I'll just use the Bastards and Bloodlines version due to the main difference between the two versions, mechanically speaking, is a +1 to AC and one Size category.
Also the reason I'm asking is cause all talk of this kind seems to only come from Pathfinder, which I'm not using.
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2016-12-08, 07:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2016
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
I don't think it's worth getting that -2, there are wonderful weapons of your size that you can use, just wield a large scimitar instead, even cutlass will do actually, plus magi don't struggle to get their damage in, but are you sure you want that intelligence penalty?
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2016-12-08, 07:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2012
- Location
- LaVergne, TN
- Gender
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2016-12-08, 07:27 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2006
- Location
- Cleveland, OH
- Gender
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
In general, no. To be worth it, the -2 penalty has to outperform Power Attack, which gets you +4 damage on a two-handed weapon. You have to get a weapon's base damage up to 2d8 or 4d6 before you start getting a decent damage increase. Each additional 1d8 adds +4.5 damage, each additional 2d6 adds +7.0 damage.
But that's just basic Power Attack. Once you start adding damage multipliers (Leap Attack, Headlong Rush, Valorous weapon, etc.), then it gets much harder to outperform the -2 penalty.Handbooks:
Shax's Indispensable Haversack, TWF OffHandbook
Builds:
Archon of Nine, Jellobomber, King of Pong, Lightning Thief
Spells:
Druidzilla, Healbot, Gish
Iron Chef:
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2016-12-08, 08:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
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2016-12-08, 08:57 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2006
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Gender
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
So you're using a smaller weapon than you're supposed to? Doesn't that just go down to being a one-handed weapon?
Hill Giant Games
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2016-12-08, 09:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
Back in 3.0 I think they did that, but in 3.5 they shifted that under the idea that a greatsword is not just a big longsword, but a sword that has different relative dimensions and shape. Other weapons work similarly. You could still, theoretically, use a large longsword like a greatsword, but it would be unwieldy and awkward. Same with using a 2 handed small size weapon 1 handed.
The whole weapon sizing thing is such a pain that I decided to make it so that magical weapons in my game automatically resized up to one category larger or smaller based on the wielder, so an ogre, human, or halfling could all wield the same medium sized greatsword at different times and it would resize to a greatsword of their size.
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2016-12-08, 10:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2008
- Location
- Texas
- Gender
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
I implemented the same "magic items resize up to 1 size" rule for normal magical items. I also allow 3.0 weapon size rules, so that a Large Warhammer can be used as a Medium Maul.
Both rules reduce the amount of bookkeeping and give my players more options to Do Cool Things.Things published on DM's Guild
Campaign Logs:
Baldur's Gate 2 (ongoing)
Castle Dracula (Castlevania)
Against the Idol of the Sun (high level hexcrawl)
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2016-12-08, 12:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
Re: Inappropiately sized weapons
Only in certain niches.
There are times it's return rate exceeds power attack (example -2/+3.5 for free vs spending a feat slot for -2/+4) but generally power attack will out perform it and combos with other feats. But inappropriately sized weapons are the best way to gain two-handed bonuses using weapons that are classified as light when medium, like a gauntlet or quick razor.