[Weapon/PEACH] Ring Blades

[Lord_Gareth]

"What else does one have if not the joy of conceit?"
Changeling: the Lost

The Ring Blade is not a weapon for the cold, calculating warrior; it is not a weapon for a disciplined master of combat or the tactician. No, the Ring Blade was made by and for those who fight with a smile on their lips, cracking jokes and taking reckless moves - risk-takers and gamblers of the highest order with a joyous disregard for their own lives.

The Ring Blade is a large metallic ring, usually flat, that is three feet wide and sharpened on the outside edge. Make no mistake - it takes patience and dedication to learn to use the weapon without cutting oneself to ribbons, having it bounce harmlessly off of foes, or simply looking utterly rediculous. But those who do become combatants of grace and deadly deception.

The Ring Blade is an exotic two-handed weapon that deals 1d8 slashing or bludgeoning damage (user's choice). Large and awkward, it's use confers a -2 penalty to attack rolls even for proficient weilders. However, the Ring Blade may benefit from the Weapon Finesse feat, and may be thrown with a range increment of ten feet. Furthermore, a weilder with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat may add their unarmed damage to melee attacks made with the Ring Blade, and they don't have to drop the Ring Blade when engaging in a grapple (they cannot, however, attack with it).

Thoughts? Opinions? Revisions?

A PrC will follow.

[Lord_Gareth]

Bump? No one has an opinion at all?

[kyoten]

Why would the user STILL suffer a penalty after burning a feat to wield it? Would not the fact that they take EWP Ring Blade imply that the user has trained extensively and would therefor be more capable to use the weapon?

I can see this if it was due to the size by comparison to the user or sheer weight/balance, but not just because the weapon is different.

[Lord_Gareth]

It's a giant steel hoop that one has to be incredibly careful not to grab the outer edge of - thus making it heavy, awkward, and dangerous to oneself. Furthermore, it's got more benefits than most exotic weapons, and thus needed a drawback.

I mean, it's a finessable, throwable longsword that also adds unarmed damage. That's pretty damn good, y'know?

[lesser_minion]

It seems balanced, although I'd suggest just saying that it suffers a flat -2 penalty on all attack rolls so that proficient wielders gain something. I'd suggest making Weapon Finesse a special prerequisite to proficiency in this case, though - trying to use this thing with Dex 8 is basically asking to lose a few non-redundant internal organs.

It's a bit of a unique choice of weapon, although it seems more reasonable than the Dire Flail (and this forum's current weird weapon award winner, the Whole Bunch of Weapons Duct-taped Together). And it's something I can see a character trying to master, so I'm probably going to eagerly await the promised PrC.