| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, assuming you bypass DR or any other resistances. Fair enough, so it doesn't go off as much as you like. It's still an unlimited use IK enchantment. In my opinion, anyway, that warrants a +5 enchantment.
The problem is that the IK effect is so infrequent that Vorpal ends up being exactly as powerful as a 75gp consumable, to wit, Drow poison.
Worked incredibly well as compared to WHAT?
A Rogue with a rapier?
It's an instakill a hilariously small amount of the time. The rest of the time it is hugely inferior to a weapon with the same amount of flat enhancement.
Yes, Vorpal doesn't care about DR.
Thankfully, 95% of the time (or more!) it doesn't care about anything since it DOESN'T ACTIVATE.
|
Worked incredibly well as compared to WHAT?
A Rogue with a rapier?
It's an instakill a hilariously small amount of the time. The rest of the time it is hugely inferior to a weapon with the same amount of flat enhancement.
Yes, Vorpal doesn't care about DR.
Thankfully, 95% of the time (or more!) it doesn't care about anything since it DOESN'T ACTIVATE.
Seriously, If once per day a ronin can use this and then has a 5% chance anywhere else, THROW OUT MORE THAN ONE ENCOUNTER/DAY! Then, you have a samurai who wasted +3 or +5 (depending on what you judge to be fair) on a one/day kill!
Also, on an unrelated topic, why doesn't it work on bludgeoning weapons? you can just as easily slice of someones head with a sword as you can lop it of with a warhammer! The only difference is one relies on a strike to the neck and the other needs a strike to the side of the skull, with more force.
Also, on an unrelated topic, why doesn't it work on bludgeoning weapons? you can just as easily slice of someones head with a sword as you can lop it of with a warhammer! The only difference is one relies on a strike to the neck and the other needs a strike to the side of the skull, with more force.
Literary answer: Because bludgeoning weapons don't go "Snicker-SNACK!"
Real answer: No good reason at all -- except that the game designers really want bludgeoning weapons to suck, and have spared no effort in making sure that was true, and it extends even to the vorpal property.
There was a Marrowcrusher enhancement in 3.5 that was basically vorpal for blunt weapons, I believe.
Likewise, there was a Heartpiercer (?) for piercing weapons, and you could even put it on bows. Tailor made for one-shotting vampires.
==Aelryinth
|
|
Also, on an unrelated topic, why doesn't it work on bludgeoning weapons? you can just as easily slice of someones head with a sword as you can lop it of with a warhammer! The only difference is one relies on a strike to the neck and the other needs a strike to the side of the skull, with more force.Literary answer: Because bludgeoning weapons don't go "Snicker-SNACK!"
Real answer: No good reason at all -- except that the game designers really want bludgeoning weapons to suck, and have spared no effort in making sure that was true, and it extends even to the vorpal property.re force.
*raises mug* "Aye".
Well, assuming you bypass DR or any other resistancessure that you do. Becouse instead of a puny +1 vorpal you have a +5 sword. Which by pass all metal and alignment DRIn my opinion, anyway, that warrants a +5 enchantment.have you bought it? Would you buy it?Doesn't bypass DR/-, DR/weapon, or DR/epic. Vorpal doesn't care about DR.
Yes I've bought it, for my said Ronin build. Worked incredibly well especially with the critical confirmation feats and trait.
one trick poney doesn't make the price fair.
You're not serious, by the way, about using a TWF build with a vorpal weapon, are you? Unless you've got TWO vorpal weapons, you're only getting half of your attacks using the vorpal property.If you make it cheaper like the OP suggests it becomes a distinct possibility, with 6 attacks (11-15 mobile fighter) you're going to get a decapitation once every 3 and a bit rounds on average. That's enough to make a difference.
it is not. Assuming you confirm 75% of crits, in 3 rounds you have a 50% of decapitate. (49.74% actually). Howevee, with 3 rounds of full attack vs a creature with 75% average chance to hit, you'll kill it 100% just through HP depletion
You get a decapitation every 3 rounds on average, not after 3 rounds ... the average HP of critters at the moment of decapitation will be an even distribution of 0-100%.
you didn't read the post, did you? You jave got a decapitation 50% pf yhe time after 3 rounds. That means 50% of the time, you DO NOT get a decapitation in 3 rounds.
And the hp will not be evenly distributed 0-100% in three rounds. More often than not, it'll go like 100% to 0/25% in the first round, 25% to 0% in the first few hits of secpnd round, and you'll be hitting a dead horse for the second half of the second round and the whole third. 50% of the time you'll be hitting a dead corpse im round 4 and beyond too.
Doing something "on average" in x actions is not the same than having a 100% chance to do it in x actions. Sometimes you will decapitate in the first attack, sometimes you won't in the first fifteen rounds. The chance to decapitate in 3 or less rounds is slightly below 50%
Or it might happen in a hit way later than you killed it through hp. 50% of the time you wont get a 20 im the first 3 rounds.
You're also assuming that all the attacks for 3 rounds are on one target.
The fact is, you could be fighting any number of targets with any number of hit points during that round.
When vorpal goes off, it does hp=remaining hp of monster. That could be 1 to 700+ points of damage. Bam, Dead.
If its the first or second attack against a dragon, that's a LOT of damage it's doing.
If it's on Mook #14, well, you just one hit the mook, which is also harder to do at high levels.
So, effective damage that Vorpal does is ALSO highly variable. However, it's a combat ender when it goes off.
And btw, it's generally easier to invest in stuff that confirms criticals (the primary feat to do so is +4, and there's a trait that's +2 to +3 more) then it is to hit something in the first place.
==Aelryinth
When vorpal goes off, it does hp=remaining hp of monster. That could be 1 to 700+ points of damage. Bam, Dead.If its the first or second attack against a dragon, that's a LOT of damage it's doing.
If it's on Mook #14, well, you just one hit the mook, which is also harder to do at high levels.
I bolded the relevant words.
ALso, being able to do three full rounds against different enemies isn't common. Often, the enemies aren't in a queue so you can hit all of them with 5' steps. Oftenyou'll kill the mook#14 with your second attack, only to find yourself idfle for tge rest of the round, unable to hit anything else. Without Vorpal, you would had made the other 4 attacks, killing tbe mook regardless. So vorpal gave you nothing
or have Pounce!...