I've seen more than a few complaints about Weapon Finesse as is and I wanted to throw this out there. Last weekend we experiments with a new version of it. It was houseruled that all light slashing and piercing weapons use Dexterity by default and all other melee weapons used Strength. The Weapon Finesse feat in its new incarnation grants the ability to use any weapon with either attribute and could be declared before each attack action.
It worked out tremendously well. The feat still worked as a pre-req for things like Dervish Dance, added a positive dimension to character building and combat, maintained its original flavor and at the same time freed up what was otherwise a feat tax for most Dexterity-based melee classes.
Just thought I'd pass it along. We're currently discussing having the damage portion determined in the same way (Dex default for light piercing and slashing weapons, Strength for all other with Weapon Finesse allowing it to be one or the other regardless).
I'm planning on the following houserule:
Weapon Finesse: Any weapon that can be finessed can use the wielder's dexterity modifier instead of strength on attack rolls without need of this feat. This feat allows a creature to add his dexterity to damage with any light weapon or weapon with the finesse property instead of strength. You do not gain extra damage from wielding a weapon two-handed as you would with strength, and your damage is still modified by any strength penalty you may have (in addition to adding your dexterity modifier).
I also plan to fold Agile Maneuvers into Weapon Finesse, where it belongs. Dex-based warriors aren't a strong concept currently, too many disadvantages to deal with.
*Waits for people who are ok with the Agile weapon property to come in the thread and tell me I made finesse fighting too powerful*
Dex to damage is kind of broken, as you get the following off Dexterity:
AC Bonus
Hit Bonus
Reflex Save Bonus
Lots of Skills
I would suggest an Improved Weapon Finesse that let's you add intelligence to damage along with strength, with Combat Expertise as a pre-requisite. Dex-based fighters have another feature in common: they tend to be smart.
|
I'm planning on the following houserule:
Weapon Finesse: Any weapon that can be finessed can use the wielder's dexterity modifier instead of strength on attack rolls without need of this feat. This feat allows a creature to add his dexterity to damage with any light weapon or weapon with the finesse property instead of strength. You do not gain extra damage from wielding a weapon two-handed as you would with strength, and your damage is still modified by any strength penalty you may have (in addition to adding your dexterity modifier).I also plan to fold Agile Maneuvers into Weapon Finesse, where it belongs. Dex-based warriors aren't a strong concept currently, too many disadvantages to deal with.
Doing something similar in my game: All light/natural weapons do not need this feat and the attacker can either use his Str or Dex bonus to hit with the appropriate type of attack.
If you have the Weapon Finesse feat you can add your Dex modifier instead of Str modifier to damage if using a finesse qualified weapon or attack.
This has worked well with small/fast creatures and has given the Rogues/light weapon fighters in my game a solid (and needed) boost.
And I disagree with assertion that Dex damage is op or broken. Standard Str based weapons gain huge bonuses with two hands, power attack, etc. Plus Str weapons are heavier and do more damage than light weapons, so light weapon users are playing catch up with lower damage overall. Also under current rules they still need to use Str for damage bonus so when designing their character they need to worry about a stat they may not want to care too much about, namely Strength.
Letting them use their key stat for both to-hit and damage with a limited range of weapons via feat tax does not seem over powered to me.
I see a change like this making light weapon (and armor) fighter types actually viable vs. the current rule set which punishes character builds that go with lighter weapons.
I banned it years ago. Every weapon that could be used with dex can be used with dex :) (some of them must be used with dex).
Dex to damage is kind of broken, as you get the following off Dexterity:
AC Bonus
Hit Bonus
Reflex Save Bonus
Lots of Skills
I would suggest an Improved Weapon Finesse that let's you add intelligence to damage along with strength, with Combat Expertise as a pre-requisite. Dex-based fighters have another feature in common: they tend to be smart.
I plan on doing something similar, but I plan on having the damage from dex be precision based.