Best Weapon Enhancements


Advice


ok so starting with a longsword, not taking into account feats or class abilities or stats of the wielder, what is the highest consistant damage output possible simply from enhancements including psionic (from the dreamscarred press stuff)? is it just a +5 misc elemental burst, keen and maybe impact longsword? or is there a more exotic combination that does more damage?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

Who is wielding the weapon?

A courageous ferocious +5 Keen weapon in the hands of a barbarian is terrifying.

So is a +5 Holy Avenger in the hands of a paladin.

A Sun Blade against Undead. Even beats a mace of disruption.

A Hunter's Bane sword in the hands of a ranger with lots of FE's.

A hammer of thunderbolts against giants, except I think it's a minor artifact now...

A Sword of subtlety in the hands of a rogue.

Etc etc.

==Aelryinth


In the most generic circumstances, something generic is probably the best. However, there's a lot of room for improvement on that depending on the wielder and the enemy.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

If you were talking a barbarian:

A +5 Ferocious Courageous Keen Ghost Touch Discipline (Iron Heart or Diamond Mind or Tiger Claw, pick your Stance) is the following:

Ghost Touch, so can harm ANYTHING.
Starts as +8/+5 as long as you are in a stance devoted to the same discipline.
Is +10/+7 the instant you rage.
Increases your bonus from Rage by 50% (+4/+4 Str/Con becomes +6/+6, etc), which effectively means another +1/+1, for +11/+8 while Raging.

You could swap in Valorous for double damage on a charge, if you are using a Pounce build, and swap out Keen.

A Fighter would use a +5 Ghost Touch Adaptive Discipline Valorous something weapon. +9/+6 if he has Weapon Focus in it, all the time, Ghost Touch, double damage on a charge.

For Rogues, nothing beats a Sword of Subtlety getting +4/+4 th/dmg if they qualify to dish out a SA...even if the target is SA immune!

For Rangers, +2 spent for Hunter's Bane on all FE's is hard to beat.

==Aelryinth


There are a lot of good ones. It's hard to go wrong really. The only one that's defininately not worth it is the vorpal enchant. Total waste of your gold. Yep. Definitely don't get a vorpal enchant.


Frank Jabberwock wrote:
There are a lot of good ones. It's hard to go wrong really. The only one that's defininately not worth it is the vorpal enchant. Total waste of your gold. Yep. Definitely don't get a vorpal enchant.

Unless you're fighting adamantine golems on a regular basis...

Lantern Lodge

Without knowing anything about who's using it I'd have to put my money on keen plus any two elemental bursts.


Discipline Weapon Enchant?


Where'd you find that "Discipline" property, Aelyrinth?

Anyway, I'd say the best stand-bys are probably Keen and Speed if you don't have a Haste buffer.

I have no idea at all why any Barbarian would not get a Ferocious weapon.

I'm quite partial to Bane weapons myself, as long as I know one type of enemy will be prevalent. 2d6 extra damage for a +1 enhancement ain't too shabby in those circumstances.


Holy is nice as well if you know you will be combating Evil Beings a lot or entirely.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

Discipline is a 3.5 +1 Enhancement from the Book of 9 Swords. If you are using a manuver/stance/boost from the discipline the weapon is tied to, you gain a +3 to hit. Ergo, if you only have one stance and are always in it, it's awesome.

The Adaptive Enhancement means that feats that affect any weapon affect your weapon. Most people restrict this to the Weapon Focus tree, but there are exceptions. If you actually are specced in the weapon, you gain +1/+1 with it. So, if you are spec longbow, you could gain spec bonuses with your sword. If you are already WFocused with the sword, you gain +1/+1.

Since you were referring 3rd party, I thought you'd like those two. Combining up you get some sick nasty bonuses.

Now, if you're able to lift the 'Scourge' property from the Sun Blade, the one that gives it +2/+2 against all Evil, I'd grab that in a heartbeat, too.

==Aelryinth


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

For most campaigns, using a longsword as the base and assuming adequate healing, +5 holy impact vicious (2d6 weapon +2d6 vs. evil +2d6 vicious) will probably give the best results. If the campaign is focused around a certain type of opponent, then bane in place of vicious may be a better choice (and less hazardous to use). If a barbarian (or another character with rage), then furious instead of vicious may be worth it.

Keen isn't the best ability for longswords. Crit-fishing should be reserved for the 18-20 or x4 weapons (or the 19-20/x3 ones). The gains for other weapons are marginal relative to the investment (IMO).

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

Keen is a good ability for Barbs, who aren't going to blow a feat on Improved Crit. At higher levels, Critical Feats are game changers, and twice as many crits is a good thing. Yes, it's stronger with 18-20, but a 19-20 threat range doubles VERY nicely. The only one to disdain it on is the nat 20 threat range.

==Aelryinth


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

For status effects from the Critical Focus feats, you want a high critical range. Period. Straight damage is almost secondary at that point. If you're going that route, stick with a rapier or scimitar (or spend the feat for katana, rhoka sword, or urumi; don't bother with a falcata).

However, the OP was specifically asking about "consistent damage output" with a longsword. On that basis, keen (+10% to average damage per hit on a 19-20/x2 weapon, not counting opponents in fortification armor or otherwise protected against critical hits) is less valuable than +2d6 damage per hit against all opponents with 1d6 backlash (vicious), +2 on attack rolls/damage and +2d6 per hit against the campaign's "signature enemy type" (bane), or +2 on attack rolls/damage when raging (i.e., pretty much every combat round; furious). Unless you can do on average more than 70 points of normal damage per hit before the critical, keen will be less effective than vicious for damage. Bane is more situational, but effectively increases average damage by +11% (counting both the increased hit chance and the increased critical confirmation chance, and not counting the +2 damage) plus an extra 7 points on average per hit against the enemy type that's the focus of the campaign. Furious, without even considering the possible skill bonus, provides a +11% average damage increase when raging (independent of the Str bonus from the rage and the +2 damage).

Impact on a 1d8 weapon is pretty much a no-brainer. Holy, in a typical campaign with the majority of foes being evil, will probably come into play more often than (and even stacks with) bane.


Dragonchess Player wrote:
Impact on a 1d8 weapon is pretty much a no-brainer.

Not sure what you mean by that... Please explain?

Do you mean that the property should be taken or not?


It increases average damage from 4.5 to 7, an average increase of 1.5 points of damage per hit.

In my estimation that is NOT a no brainer, but rather typically a waste of resources, along with use on a 2d6 weapon.

Taking a 2d8 weapon to 3d8 goes from 9 to 13.5, or an increase of 4.5, and I STILL wouldn't highly recommend it, although it would at least be less of a waste of gold.

It's not until you reach 4dx (4d6 or 4d8) before Impact that I would legitimately give Impact a recommendation, at that point it increases the dice by 2, and gives an average increase of either 7 or 9 respectively, which is actually decent for a +2 enhancement.


It also gives you a bonus to all Bull Rush Attempts as well.


That it does. But unless you're playing a dedicated bullrusher, that's not going to come up very frequently.

A shield-user specialized in bullrush might consider +2 worthwhile to turn their 2d6 shield they already bullrush frequently with into a 3d6 one with a bonus to bullrushes.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Impact stacks with size increasing transmutations (enlarge person, etc.) and modifies the base weapon damage, which makes the Vital Strike chain more effective. Except for pouncing barbarians and mobile fighters you can't count on getting full-attacks in melee nearly every round.

An impact longsword and juggernaut's pauldrons gives you a base weapon damage of 3d6 for pretty much every combat. When you've already maxed out the allowable enhancement bonus (+5, or +7 with bane or furious) there's not much else in weapon abilities that improves normal weapon damage. The energy damage abilities are weak and too easy to negate; thundering, since it's sonic, might be worth it on a 18-20/x2, 19-20/x3, or x4 weapon, but not a longsword.

Again, the OP is specifically requesting how to maximize "consistent damage output" with a longsword. Whether the enhancements are "optimal" for the cost compared to straight plusses before getting to +5 or even whether a longsword is an "optimal" weapon choice for damage (or even combat in general) does not address the OP's question.

Grand Lodge

+5 Keen Holy Bane (evil outsider), Merciful.

Of course, that may vary, depending on character and campaign.

Liberty's Edge

Aelryinth wrote:

If you were talking a barbarian:

A +5 Ferocious Courageous Keen Ghost Touch Discipline (Iron Heart or Diamond Mind or Tiger Claw, pick your Stance) is the following:

Ghost Touch, so can harm ANYTHING.
Starts as +8/+5 as long as you are in a stance devoted to the same discipline.
Is +10/+7 the instant you rage.
Increases your bonus from Rage by 50% (+4/+4 Str/Con becomes +6/+6, etc), which effectively means another +1/+1, for +11/+8 while Raging.

You could swap in Valorous for double damage on a charge, if you are using a Pounce build, and swap out Keen.

A Fighter would use a +5 Ghost Touch Adaptive Discipline Valorous something weapon. +9/+6 if he has Weapon Focus in it, all the time, Ghost Touch, double damage on a charge.

For Rogues, nothing beats a Sword of Subtlety getting +4/+4 th/dmg if they qualify to dish out a SA...even if the target is SA immune!

For Rangers, +2 spent for Hunter's Bane on all FE's is hard to beat.

==Aelryinth

Is that right? Sword of Subtlety works even against immune monsters?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

The Sword of Subtlety's language is that when you qualify for SA, a +4/+4 bonus kicks in.

It says nothing about if the monster is immune to SA damage. Uncanny Dodge, which prevents you from Qualifying for sneak attacking, will stop a SoS, but simply being immune to SA damage will not.

So, yeah, SoS is actually the biggest damage kicker a Sneak Attacker can get.

Made up a build on the WoTC boards with a Fighter using Daring Outlaw for SA, the Shadow Hand stance for +2d6 SA, and 2 +4 Heavy Sun Swords of Disciplined Subtlety (shadow hand). His damage/full attack while Power Attacking was in the 800 range. +11/+8 with his Sun Swords was smoking for PA damage. Combine with Weapon Supremacy, and he could really roll.

Isn't Impact restricted to blunt weapons? Not sure.

Impact is Vital Strike's friendly little cousin. Like VS, it stacks with size...so if you get bigger, it's a VS multiplier.

==Aelryinth


You're thinking of the 3.5 Impact, which was a blunt version of keen.

Pathfinder Impact is restricted to not-light melee weapons.

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