The rules in play are pretty much stock (with errata considered). There are houserules in effect, mostly limiting prestige classes (max of one). Most of the other players are going to be straight up casual (aka, most own a PHB and that's it).
Anyway, so to cut to the chase: I like rolling d8s for weapon damage. I'd like to find a way to do that that is in the "rules as written" (which I assume means the set of all current version rulebooks, but I could be wrong).
Under 3.0 unerrated the Mercurial Greatsword worked well for this (it worked a little *too* well in fact). This is out for a couple reasons- not only is it incorrect and from an outdated source book, it's also a silly weapon description (too many swordsmen around to buy into that mechanism).
So my options as *I* can think of them-
1- Something using a normal longsword / shield or two weapon build using a longsword (insert whichever warhammer does d8s as being just as valid).
2- Two bladed sword- he might have thrown this out for implausibility as well though.
3- Play a large character, use a bigger weapon. This will probably not be allowed, plus I'm not sold on larger character.
That's all I know about. Other possibilities:
4- Some feat or ability that would let me dual-wield longswords?
5- Some feat or ability that scales up weapon's dice in size, so that a greatsword would scale to 2d6?
So, does anyone know if these rules exist, and if so, where they are at? Or something else?
Failing that there's always:
6- Clerics roll d8s right?
Ty for your help in my octahedra quest!
5. Weapon damage scales with size increases. If you're not allowed larger races, there's several spells to enlarge you (enlarge (duh!), righteous might, etc.) to achive the same effect. There's also goliaths and God forbid, the monkey grip feat.
These rules are in the PHB/DMG.
Why would you want to roll d8's, and what do you mean by clerics roll d8's? As hit points? So does druids, rangers, and like 100 PrCs and other classes too.
4. Of course you can dual-wield longswords.. even though you'd get a hefty penalty for doing so.
Well yes, but I'm trying to not end up with a *terrible* build.
5. Weapon damage scales with size increases. If you're not allowed larger races, there's several spells to enlarge you (enlarge (duh!), righteous might, etc.) to achive the same effect.
This is so far the most replicable solution, especially if I go with any kind of Fighter / Wizard build. I have months to read a bunch of threads on that. RM is a 5th level spell, and so I can't really count on that being around.
There's also goliaths and God forbid, the monkey grip feat.
I'll ask about Goliaths. Monkey grip would do what I want on a permanent basis- as far as I can tell, Monkey Gripping a Large short sword would let it continue to be off-handed without crazy penalties, and mainhanding could be either a longsword or, and my mind boggles, a Large bastard sword (2d8?). Alternatively a monkey gripped Halberd or Glaive would give me 2d8 and reach.
The downside being finding enchanted versions of that, and the fact that my Large short sword would be the butt of any number of jokes "Gosh, I can't quite seem to use that mild variation on long sword, despite being smaller than my normal weapon! It's somehow too big AND too small at the same time! You should be proud to have trained so hard..." etc.
Why would you want to roll d8's,
Well, in seriousness, I really enjoy that die size. As DM I get to roll all *sorts* of dice, but as a player there tends to be bread-and-butter dice you roll a lot in each encounter. Essentially, I like throwing d8s, and while I don't know *why*, one thing that life has taught me is to not pick apart the joys it offers- my life wouldn't be enriched in any way if I was to enjoy it less, after all. Also, rolling double 8s on a crit rules.
and what do you mean by clerics roll d8's? As hit points? So does druids, rangers, and like 100 PrCs and other classes too.
It was a sarcastic reference that the group would almost assuredly be better served with an experience D&Der on cleric, and also a reference to the Cure spells.
Anyway, thank you for your responses. The reason I was hoping for a "weapon balance" type feat or feat chain to mitigate penalties for double "one handed" weapons is because I'm pretty sure longswords will be plenty common, at least compared to one-off weapons.
I'm actually a *little* surprised this feat hasn't surfaced by now. But I'm not displeased to go away from two weapon fighting, which tends to throw away a bunch of feats towards lessening penalties that don't even matter when your opponent is good enough to keep away from the full attack fighter- unless he has his OWN full attack of course. I'm also a tad odd that there's no exotic weapon that just does 2d8 instead of 2d6- but of course, this is secretly a weapon specialization feat, which is probably why it doesn't exist.
You should entirely go for Cleric! If it's one thing I've learned from these forums, it's never to doubt the power of the Cleric of Druid. Of course, you're limited to only one PrC, so I don't know how strong a build for a cleric you could make with that (clerics seem very PrC heavy) while a straight Druid 20 is still pretty strong.But like you said, Cure spells do d8s! And some bludgeon weapons too! Yahoo! It's a sign!
There's always Oversize Two-Weapon Fighting
+1
Edit- Found in Arms and Equipment guide
1d8 damage and x3 critical. And with manyshot you could get up to throwing a whole fistful of d8s.
You should entirely go for Cleric! If it's one thing I've learned from these forums, it's never to doubt the power of the Cleric or Druid.
I'm not opposed to it. Clerics are really good, as are druids, and the group will probably need help, from hearing the descriptions of their current game.
There's always Oversize Two-Weapon Fighting that will let you wield a 1 handed weapon in an offhand with as if it were a light weapon.
Excellent to hear! I was wondering if a feat doing exactly this existed, thank you so much for knowing it! Complete Adventurer shouldn't be anything that breaks his standards. Longswords are easy to find in pretty much any standard games, and that's a bunch of d8s. Then I need to figure out how to actually get his attacks off, always the problem of the two weapon fighter. I'm betting that there's plenty out there for this now though. I would be very grappleable, sadly. But there is apparently a price to be paid for d8s.
There's a 2 handed weapon. With exotic proficiency feat you can use the Full blade which does 2d8. It's a huge weapon.
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Edit- Found in Arms and Equipment guide
I do remember that weapon. He started as a 1d12 with it obvious you were supposed to buy him with an exotic weapon proficiency, then he became 2d8 with rules errata that seemed to make him impossible to use. Then 3.5 happened. There's nothing stopping an exotic greatsword from "buying" extra damage with it's exotic weapon proficiency, after all, and it looks like this does it- but there are a couple versions of this thing, and they are all confusing.
A large bastard sword is 2d8, but I take a -2 to wield it (under 3.5). The fullblade is essentially the same thing, and I'm not sure whether it takes an exotic weapon profiency, monkey grasp, or both. According to the DMG, a large two-handed weapon isn't useable by a medium creature (it shifts it off the light, one hand, two hand chart). A large bastard sword *would* be, if you have XWP bastard sword- because then it's treated as one handed. That would be a -2 to hit, and then I'd just have to worry about getting large bastard swords.
All of the Inflict Wounds spells use d8's. Be a Monk/Cleric/Enlightened Fist. Empower and use Divine Metamagic. You should be able to roll a hand full of d8's.
I'll fool around with builds and look at the Enlightened Fist thread (though that mostly addresses Wizard / Monks who go that path IIRC). I hadn't considered this, thank you. This could end up being the most helpful to the party as well.
Look at the list of maneuvers for Crusader. I don't remember which maneuvers do it, but the Crusader in our party has one that involves 9d8. A pretty good start.
I'm almost positive he won't allow nine swords, but if he changes his mind I'll look into that. The problem with that book is that the other players wouldn't know where to start or how to run it, and I'm pretty sure that a heavily optimized "state of the art" nine swords character would really make them feel crummy, especially if they roll with fighter and don't tweak feats.
And I'd call 9d8 a lot more than a good start!