So with so many ways characters can get access to weapon damage dice advancement (by emulating Monk or Warpriest class features), is there any point to taking more mundane exotic weapon choices such as minor statistical damage boosting choices such as Bastard Sword or Estoc as opposed to weapons that are identical to many other martial weapons but just have added effects?
Taking into account the fact classes that can't gain previously stated damage advancement, is there any other benefits beyond just a slight damage increase.
This is mostly statistical but before people shoot this down with "flavor justifies these choices" I'd like to know what angles one can play off of in terms of flavor that have substantial "oomph" beyond just "it's bigger, meaner, my dad had one, ect".
Not trying to be mean if you really like your flavor over mechanics but I'd like to know if there's enough mechanical advantages and flairs to make taking these weapons, maybe in tandem with the damage advancement, extra fulfilling.
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Well, its important to remember that in the case of say, fauchard or bastard sword or curve blade you're looking at 10 levels of advancement to reach parity and 15 levels to exceed it.
I'm also pretty sure that the pseudo size increasing abilities don't check against the sacred weapon dice but the weapons original dice. So if you're going for say, a large bastard sword in order to snake enlarge and lead blades for 4d8 dice per swing, or in a vital strike build to just dish out 12d8+modifiers at max BAB you're going to want the original weapon.
Basically the way I see it if it isn't less than d8's out of the gate I have to think long and hard about whether or not its worth it to seek out the damage die increase. Especially when you can pretty easily scrounge +2 damage or more off any feat you pick already. Its a great option for things like whips and starknives and daggers and fists but it really only brings them up to parity with most weapons.
This doesn't mean that there aren't a bunch of just plain bad exotic weapons tho.
Well, its important to remember that in the case of say, fauchard or bastard sword or curve blade you're looking at 10 levels of advancement to reach parity and 15 levels to exceed it.
I'm also pretty sure that the pseudo size increasing abilities don't check against the sacred weapon dice but the weapons original dice. So if you're going for say, a large bastard sword in order to snake enlarge and lead blades for 4d8 dice per swing, or in a vital strike build to just dish out 12d8+modifiers at max BAB you're going to want the original weapon.
Basically the way I see it if it isn't less than d8's out of the gate I have to think long and hard about whether or not its worth it to seek out the damage die increase. Especially when you can pretty easily scrounge +2 damage or more off any feat you pick already. Its a great option for things like whips and starknives and daggers and fists but it really only brings them up to parity with most weapons.
This doesn't mean that there aren't a bunch of just plain bad exotic weapons tho.
I see. Thank you for your wisdom and system insight. I'll keep notes on this.
I'm also pretty sure that the pseudo size increasing abilities don't check against the sacred weapon dice but the weapons original dice. So if you're going for say, a large bastard sword in order to snake enlarge and lead blades for 4d8 dice per swing, or in a vital strike build to just dish out 12d8+modifiers at max BAB you're going to want the original weapon.Basically the way I see it if it isn't less than d8's out of the gate I have to think long and hard about whether or not its worth it to seek out the damage die increase. Especially when you can pretty easily scrounge +2 damage or more off any feat you pick already. Its a great option for things like whips and starknives and daggers and fists but it really only brings them up to parity with most weapons.
Also I just saw the Impact weapon quality and now things make more sense to me.
I'm also pretty sure that the pseudo size increasing abilities don't check against the sacred weapon dice but the weapons original dice. So if you're going for say, a large bastard sword in order to snake enlarge and lead blades for 4d8 dice per swing, or in a vital strike build to just dish out 12d8+modifiers at max BAB you're going to want the original weapon.Basically the way I see it if it isn't less than d8's out of the gate I have to think long and hard about whether or not its worth it to seek out the damage die increase. Especially when you can pretty easily scrounge +2 damage or more off any feat you pick already. Its a great option for things like whips and starknives and daggers and fists but it really only brings them up to parity with most weapons.
Also I just saw the Impact weapon quality and now things make more sense to me.
Its also worth noting that it really doesn't take long for the static modifiers to vastly outweigh the dice of a weapon in damage potential.
Example:
Level 1 fighter with power attack and 17 strength
2handing a longsword 1d8+7 about 12 avg
Or a greatsword: 2d6+7 about 14 avg
1handing a longsword 1d8+5 about 10 avg
1handing a dagger 1d4+5 about 8 avg
This site has average damages broken down by damage die and crit range/multiplier. The difference between a longsword and greatsword is about 2 to 3 points
By level 4 he's picked up specialization and bumped that str to 18 too so
2handing longsword is now 1d8+14
A greatsword is: 2d6+14
But 1 handing a longsword 1d8+10
or 1 handing a dagger 1d4+10
The gap between 2handing and 1 handing is really the biggest damage modifier compared to dice size and the gap only widens as you level. Every point of passive bonus renders the die a little more meaningless and the value of crits and high crit multipliers increases since a die roll could only be 1 or 2 bonus points but you get the full +14 from passives.