I would like to see some two handed weapon feats for the greatsword; there are all kinds of fighting style feats in the Warrior book for all kinds of weapons except greatsword which many, many warrior types choose. Can we have some greatsword and bastard sword two handed feats please. I cant figure out why there are so many other feats, expecially two weapon feats, but this fighting style was completely ignored as a specialty.
I'd like some sort of feat-tree/Prestige Class that replicates the Warhammer Fantasy 'Swordmasters of Hoeth' fighting style.
These elves are a monastic order dedicated to the god of wisdom, they fight fully armoured in a coat of scalemail and helm with six-foot-long greatswords - often using them in one hand!
The training they receive teaches them to use the swings and momentum of the blade in conjuntion with their own body weight to create a deady ballet of death!
Hmm I agree that power attack is certainly useful, but is not specific to any weapon or fighting style; my point more or less is that there are a lot of specialized feats for various fighting styles such as two weapon; sword and sheild; etc; I was curious why there are not feats specific to two handed bladed weapons like greatsword. Curiously, there is no feat to improve the slam attack either if your character has that such as a half vampire from Libre Mortis; no improved slam. On a side note; doesnt power attack say specifically that you can only take a penalty that does not exceed your base attack? To make use of a 10 power attack you would have to be 10th pure fighting class or much higher for other classes and against powerful creatures you generally shouldnt be able to hit taking a -10 to your attack.
Hmm I agree that power attack is certainly useful, but is not specific to any weapon or fighting style; my point more or less is that there are a lot of specialized feats for various fighting styles such as two weapon; sword and sheild; etc; I was curious why there are not feats specific to two handed bladed weapons like greatsword. Curiously, there is no feat to improve the slam attack either if your character has that such as a half vampire from Libre Mortis; no improved slam. On a side note; doesnt power attack say specifically that you can only take a penalty that does not exceed your base attack? To make use of a 10 power attack you would have to be 10th pure fighting class or much higher for other classes and against powerful creatures you generally shouldnt be able to hit taking a -10 to your attack.
In general I don't think the style feats are that great. The bonuses provided are substantial, to be sure, but the steep prerequisites preclude anyone other than a single-class fighter. I much prefer the tactical feats for their general utility. That said, I think the Quick Staff, Spinning Halberd, and Three Mountains style feats from Complete Warrior could all see use with a greatsword or greataxe. Many such large bladed weapons had a ricasso that facilitated grabbing the blade without injury in order to shorten your swing or change your stance. For inspiration check out any of the Osprey military series books on the German Landsknecht.
In general I don't think the style feats are that great. The bonuses provided are substantial, to be sure, but the steep prerequisites preclude anyone other than a single-class fighter.
I think that's the idea. There's not much appeal to being a high-level fighter - even if you want the exclusive feats, the last one is at level 12. It can't hurt to make a straight fighter more attractive.
As for the greatsword, I don't think it needs a style feat as it's already one of the better weapon choices in the game. The existing style feats all affect weapons or combinations of them that wouldn't otherwise interest a fighter or other character with a good set of weapon proficiencies - for example, wielding two different weapons is detrimental if you have Weapon Focus or similar feats.
R-type, see the Champion of Corellon Larethian prestige class from Races of the Wild, and give the elves the elven courtblade (from the same book).
I'm not sure if you're after "flavor" feats, or something substantial. If the latter, you're probably better off multiclassing as an incarnate (Magic of Incarnum) or rogue.
Thanks.
I will check that out, for some reason I always think of the RoW as 'The Raptoran book' and RoS as 'The Goliath book' and then completely forget about the other cool things the books have! :)
...never thought I would see the phrase "ballet of death"...
You should check out my 'waltz of war' and 'boogie of bloodshed'. ;)
What I was thinking is that as plenty of warriors choose to use greatsword as do spellswords that over time there would be schools that specialized and taught techniques of using this weapon. Some greatsword feats could be some type of mighty blow for 2x str damage or whirling defense for ac bonus; after all you dont really want to get to close to someone whirling around a big six foot blade; somebody creative or skilled in the use of this weapon from like SCA or something could input some good ideas and an article come out in the dragon.
The greatsword is already pretty much the most powerful martial weapon in the game, so we have to be careful before adding in abilities to make it even more powerful. A prestige class to make it more versatile, I think that can work.
2x Str mod in particular is very powerful, due to how high your Strength score can get at high levels. It's too powerful to give out unless you limit how often it can be used. Once per day per two levels in a prestige class, I think that's fair.
Greatswords are not the most powerful weapons in the game; sheesh spells are weapons and do much much more damage and I dont really think anyone has tried to balance anything in 3.5; it is all just kind of out there for DM's to pick and choose from; I like the prestige class suggestions; never heard of the war hulk. Spring attack works well with power attack for my spellsword who uses the greatsword and uses true strike to not miss. The idea of mighty strike for 2x str damage would be a great feat; as well as the defense; the prestige class may the the way to do it. The Warhammer roleplaying game has a skill called strike might blow hehe also, for just the d20 role playing game there is a feat for 2x damage with 2h weapon. Seriously, it doesn't seem that powerful, yet makes fighter types do a little more damage at 10th level as compared to a mage who is just gonna incinerate stuff.
Actually, I agree that 2x Str mod damage isn’t that big a deal (and I’m a DM).
Yeah it is, if you get it on every hit. Say you allowed it as a feat; or alternately, as one fifth of the benefit of a fighter prestige class, which is of equivalent value. Your 20th level average greatsword fighter, Regdar, has perhaps 26 Strength, so going from 1.5x to 2x Str mod gives him +4 extra damage - twice as good as Weapon Specialisation. In other words, it's worth at least two feats, and you can't normally take those feats multiple times.
Now say you've got a nicely munched-out character. 18 Str to begin, maybe 20 (half-orc), the +6 Belt, the +5 Book, and he's thrown all five level increases into Strength. By 20th level he's got 34 to 36 Strength. Going from 1.5x to 2x Str mod gives the human +6 damage, or the half-orc +7. This feat would get more powerful the more munchkin your character is.
Lets not even consider the possibility of a half-dragon ogre ftr12, whose Strength score can reach as high as 50 (+20 modifier), and for whom that extra half a Strength modifier adds ten damage on every hit!
if you want good combinations for use of the greatsword, i suggest 'monkey grip' this will let you use the greatsword in one hand. along with two-weapon fighting, and then oversized two-weapon fighting.. you can become quite nasty esp if you go straight fighter..
The greatsword is already pretty much the most powerful martial weapon in the game, so we have to be careful before adding in abilities to make it even more powerful. A prestige class to make it more versatile, I think that can work.
2x Str mod in particular is very powerful, due to how high your Strength score can get at high levels. It's too powerful to give out unless you limit how often it can be used. Once per day per two levels in a prestige class, I think that's fair.
In the APG the two handed fighter archetype allows for double strength when wielding two handed weapons when making a full attack, so maybe a similar ability or just the same carried over?