Recent adventure path experience has seemed to involve a lot of incidents the party finding various cool & interesting magical weapons from the villains they defeat, that in the grand tradition of fantasy literature and heroic sagas, generally end up being stuffed in a bag of holding until the next visit to the 'pre-owned' magic weapons dealer.
Now in some cases, this could be attributed to the weapons often being unusual sizes, being exotic weapons or the like that very few characters are likely to be able to use without penalty.
But even when the module hands out perfectly reasonable stuff (e.g. a +1 cutlass) our party ended up turning it down because variously;
- "I can't use martial weapons"
- "I'm small and can't use medium weapons"
- "I want finesse-able weapons"
- "I've got weapon focus and/or dex to damage in something else"
Even a vanilla human fighter is likely to end up with weapon specialization.
So I was wondering - what would be the best class/archetype/multi-class for a melee character who wanted to have the most chance of being able to use whatever weapon turned up in the treasure?
So not having any feats or abilities tied to a specific weapon or weapon group, able to use the widest possible range of weapons (e.g. marital & monk weapons). Are there any ways to get flexible access to exotic weapon proficiency and swap it around depending on what you find?
Suggestions greatly welcomed.
A regular old power attacking barbarian will be pretty divorced from using a particular weapon since they don't tend to select feats like Weapon Focus.
Dip a level of brawler and you can switch to exotic weapon proficiency as you like! Or even most combat manoeuvres. This is on top of gaining d6 unarmed damage, free improved unarmed combat feat, better saves, and brawlers cunning. You don't lose BAB or hit points and your brawler levels count as fighter levels.
Now you would delay your other class abilities for one round and maybe lose 1 point of favoured class bonus but otherwise your gravy!
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Barbarians can casually use any weapon that can be wielded in two hands. Ditto Bloodrager. Ditto many builds of Paladin. Note: 'Can be wielded in two hands' includes basically all non-light weapons (well, barring rapier).
Slayer has no weapon specific stuff in-class, though they are vaguely encourage to grab Weapon Focus, I suppose. They can do fine with whatever weapon. Fighting-style can vary it a bit...but not all that much, really. Ditto Ranger.
For exotic weapons, yeah, Brawler's pretty much how you do that, but it's situational.
Really, retraining is the most simple option. Retraining whole class levels and such can get a bit strange, but "I'm gonna put some time and effort into learning to use this weapon" makes total sense.
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Semi-related note, but for me even if I technically could use the drop weapon I still don't want to. Weapon type is a big part of a character's aesthetic for me, I don't want my Shoanti barbarian to drop her Earth Breaker for a longsword.
A dream of mine is there to be Advanced Armor Training and have there be a quick swap/weapon slots feature. That'd be amazing.
Another problem is that some weapons are worse than others. In Mummy's mask they players find a +1 leather armor, But that is just strictly worse than using the chain shirts they already had.
Same thing happens with weapons. A masterwork greatsword is just better in almost every case than a longsword wielded in two hands.
Another way to get a little flexibility is the Ancestral Weapon Mastery feat. An Elf (or Half-elf with the Weapon Familiarity alternate racial trait) who has proficiency with all martial weapons is proficient with longbows, shortbows, rapiers, longswords, Elven branch spears, and Elven curve blades. Other races don't get as many options.
Ancestral Weapon Mastery basically gives you a transferable version of Weapon Focus. If you take feats which require Weapon Focus but aren't weapon specific themselves, then you can move them between these weapons with 10 minutes of prep. Dazzling Display and Shatter Defenses work well because they work with any weapon for which you have Weapon Focus. Feats which make you choose a specific weapon, like Weapon Specialization, won't transfer when you switch Weapon Focus.
This set of weapons isn't as numerous as most Fighter Weapon Groups, but it has a much more diverse set of weapons. It's a nice choice for a Dex build since all but longswords are either ranged or finesseable weapons. This approach can layer well with the Elven Battle Style chain of feats.
Or maybe the GM could tailor some of the loot to suit the preferences of the particular PCs at the table, like they should (IMO)...
Besides, for every Gandalf that jumps on the chance to obtain Glamdring, there is an Aragorn that will fight with their chosen weapon while broken instead of using a replacement.
But Aragorn had a fully formed Andúril from the time he left Rivendell...
Besides, for every Gandalf that jumps on the chance to obtain Glamdring, there is an Aragorn that will fight with their chosen weapon while broken instead of using a replacement.
Before Narsil was reforged, didn't Aragorn use another sword? Its been several decades since I read the books.
Sensate fighter. Trades out weapon training for a flat bonus to attack rolls and bonuses to sense related saves. Very solid, flavorful, and fun.
A strength magus can use any non-exotic one-handed or light melee weapon very effectively. Concentrate feats on boosting those shocking grasps or generic melee feats.
A medium who focuses on the champion spirit can use almost any melee weapon (including exotics) after resting. Effectively? Well, they'll be best with 2H weapons.
Or maybe the GM could tailor some of the loot to suit the preferences of the particular PCs at the table, like they should (IMO)...
Generally yes - certainly trying to avoid the situation where its all exotic / outsize / flat out rubbish weapons. We used to joke that the authors of Runelords were engaging in module optimization 'right, rules say we must set x thousand gp of treasure, how can we do that in a way to make it least useful to the party?'
I think there's less onus on the GM to do this when the party have specialized themselves into a very narrow & niche list of weapons they want. E.g. Paul the Paladin uses sword and shield generally but can happily make good use of any one handed medium sized marital weapon. Oliver the Optimized will only take a small elven curveblade. Is it fair that Paul probably sees more options cropping up than Oliver?
But regardless of the answer to that this is a very specific concept to create a character who can make good use of any weapon that comes up without it being placed for them at all. May even look to give them disarm or improved steal...
Thank you folks posting here for all the suggestions so far!
Dip a level of brawler and you can switch to exotic weapon proficiency as you like!
Now I get it. Martial Flexibility lets you temporarily duplicate a Combat Feat and both Martial and Exotic Weapon Proficiency are Combat Feats. That's really amazing! And not just because it's an example of a Martial getting something nice. ;)
I really don't know why brawler isn't made more of. Want to sunder - flex improved sunder; caught in the dark or an invisible attacker - flex blind fight, and on and on.
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A dream of mine is there to be Advanced Armor Training and have there be a quick swap/weapon slots feature. That'd be amazing.
I dream of a switch-hitter archetype for Fighter types who deliberately switch up their weapons in the middle of a combat (using drop and Quick Draw) to get some sort of 'surprise! I'm not left-handed either!' bonus against a foe that they've previously hit with a different weapon.
I really don't know why brawler isn't made more of. Want to sunder - flex improved sunder; caught in the dark or an invisible attacker - flex blind fight, and on and on.
Flexible feats are nice, though in the end it's really tempting to just treat them as bonus feats to progress a build much faster. Warsighted Oracle works really well for using a single round to cast Divine Favor and grab maximum flex-feats.
Your better off taking root feats for your permanent choices like power attack, combat expertise etc. I still love the ability and keep it free from being a relied upon pre-requisite. One flexible fear is worth so much more than a standard one.
I really don't know why brawler isn't made more of. Want to sunder - flex improved sunder; caught in the dark or an invisible attacker - flex blind fight, and on and on.
The Brawler's relationship with Combat Maneuvers frustrates the hell out of me.
Hooray! You can pick up the entirety of a maneuver feat chain on the fly, picking whichever maneuver best suits an encounter just like a wizard selecting spells to target the vulnerable saving throw. Buuuut you still have to select a specific maneuver to scale with Maneuver Training. I really don't know why they didn't just ape the Lore Warden's ability for that, the Brawler just being generally good at all maneuvers should be the ideal.
Quick Draw and Throw Anything. You can draw a variety of melee weapons, then throw them willy-nilly. Maybe Two-Weapon Fighting?
Your better off taking root feats for your permanent choices like power attack, combat expertise etc.
Sometimes there are more "permanent choices" than feats available - particularly when you're trying to take multiple BAB-requirement feats as soon as possible. On a character trying to do something like run style feats without sacrificing more normal picks, free extra feats are incredibly useful - even if they're being used to grab feats that will eventually be taken as normal feats (so that new high-BAB feats can be grabbed instead...).
Well I would use the ability to gain more options instead of trying to gain abilities that weren't designed for characters of your level. Using the martial flexibility to gain early access to feats instead of... you know...being "Martially flexible" is asking to be disappointed.
Well I would use the ability to gain more options instead of trying to gain abilities that weren't designed for characters of your level. Using the martial flexibility to gain early access to feats instead of... you know...being "Martially flexible" is asking to be disappointed.
"Disappointing" isn't the adjective I'd usually associate with being able to bring a build together very early.
No productive downtime, you have to spend all day in saddle or on foot recapturing lost halflings who were taken by orcs.
When your DM's stingy on loot, resort to item crafting?
"If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours' worth of work. This time is not spent in one continuous period, but rather during lunch, morning preparation, and during watches at night."
So, it may be very slow progress, but your item crafter can craft while adventuring.
This might not be exactly what you asked for, but I have a house-rule that helps somewhat with this problem:
Weapon Focus/Weapon Specialization feats apply to weapon groups (per the Fighter's description) instead of single weapons.
I've personally always felt that Weapon Focus' punitive side effect of limiting (in practice) which weapons the character uses goes against the spirit of the adventuring. I want my players to feel like they have some options, especially when they find a neat weapon that they could use but would otherwise opt not to because of a Weapon Focus feat.
I don't think it is overpowered at all. I actually think it is an elegant patch to an otherwise limiting feat.
Zuursvater's Deific Obedience (Sentinel) seems pretty good for this concept. Proficiency and Weapon Focus with everything.
I don't know why this isn't a Fighter ability.
...Wow, this is hilarious. The Deific Obedience benefits default to the Evangelist, so you can only get this benefit by going into the Sentinel prestige class.
Basically all of the Sentinel's benefits are designed to work exclusively with the deity's favored weapon. So you're getting an ability that makes you proficient with all weapons... on a chassis that locks you into using the greatsword and nothing but the greatsword. GG Paizo.