Feats for a character using two different kind of weapons?


Advice


In one of the campaigns I'm currently playing, I decided, for roleplay reasons, to make a character who use two different kind of weapons: his fists and a scythe.
He's using the Phantom Blade archetype of the spiritualist, which allows him to switch from one to the other with a swift action (by manifesting/harboring the scythe).

That's quite fun to play, but naturaly I find myself in front of a little problem: most feats melee characters usualy take improve only one kind of weapon (Weapon Focus/Weapon Specialisation, etc), which is not truly what I want... so I seek good feats I could take that would benefit both his unarmed attacks and his armed attacks.

I took the Power Attack feat first... and now... I just truly hesitate on the next feats.
What would you take for a character using two different weapons?


Hmm, unarmed and scythe don't have much in common. They are both melee weapons, that's pretty much it. Hence you are mostly stuck with options that work for any melee (or martial) attack. A few examples:

Attack bonus
Furious Focus to build on your Power Attack, but I'd wait until level 6 for it

Damage (maybe take just one, since they all want your swift action)
Draconic Heritage (chromatic) for +1d6 elemental damage, but only Cha+3 times/day (so nothing for a PC with dumped Cha)
Weapon Evoker Mastery for another 1d4 elemental damage, if your weapon already deals it (GM might object, since "phantom blade is not a real weapon")
Caster's Champion is basically Arcane Strike for non-arcane characters, but works only 3/day and you need an allied arcane caster within 30 feet

Unarmed strikes are good at neutralizing foes (Stunning Fist, Paralyzing Strike etc.), and you have even a good Wis score to support this - but not much else. Now a neutralized foe could be coup de graced, something where a scythe excels (automatic x4 crit). Dastardly Finish does allow to coup de grace stunned foes, but requires 5d6 sneak attack.


Shamefully, there are few class features or other abilities that encourage a "master of arms" character that uses many different kinds of weapons instead of specializing in one. Such a character wouldn't suffer the usual "this looted weapon is nice but doesn't fit half my feats" issues.


SheepishEidolon wrote:

Hmm, unarmed and scythe don't have much in common. They are both melee weapons, that's pretty much it. Hence you are mostly stuck with options that work for any melee (or martial) attack. A few examples:

Attack bonus
Furious Focus to build on your Power Attack, but I'd wait until level 6 for it

Damage (maybe take just one, since they all want your swift action)
Draconic Heritage (chromatic) for +1d6 elemental damage, but only Cha+3 times/day (so nothing for a PC with dumped Cha)
Weapon Evoker Mastery for another 1d4 elemental damage, if your weapon already deals it (GM might object, since "phantom blade is not a real weapon")
Caster's Champion is basically Arcane Strike for non-arcane characters, but works only 3/day and you need an allied arcane caster within 30 feet

Unarmed strikes are good at neutralizing foes (Stunning Fist, Paralyzing Strike etc.), and you have even a good Wis score to support this - but not much else. Now a neutralized foe could be coup de graced, something where a scythe excels (automatic x4 crit). Dastardly Finish does allow to coup de grace stunned foes, but requires 5d6 sneak attack.

Sadly...

Furious Focus: do not work with unarmed attacks
Draconic Heritage: my character has 8 CHA
Weapon Evoker Master: I cannot have elemental damage on my attack without spending ectoplasmic pool point, which would be awfuly costy to make that feat work

Paralyzing Strike is truly a fun idea... but BAB+14 makes it a level 19 feat on a Spiritualist.

blahpers wrote:
Shamefully, there are few class features or other abilities that encourage a "master of arms" character that uses many different kinds of weapons instead of specializing in one. Such a character wouldn't suffer the usual "this looted weapon is nice but doesn't fit half my feats" issues.

Martialists being such one-trick ponies is hardest issue I have with them... The fact it's so hard to find good feats for that build make me realize it again. :(


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I'm not sure how strong the melee chassis of the spiritualist is, but could you afford to just feats in other things? Save s, skills, initiative, etc.


Combat expertise and that whole feat tree.


Captain Morgan wrote:
I'm not sure how strong the melee chassis of the spiritualist is, but could you afford to just feats in other things? Save s, skills, initiative, etc.

It has the melee chassis of the Magus, in fact.

It's not bad, but it needs a bit of help to make it better.


dunelord3001 wrote:
Combat expertise and that whole feat tree.

What exactly can be considerer as useful in that tree for a magus-like character?


If you are playing a less than optimized character you might need to up your AC so you don't die. Some of the other feats might be good for you too, but mainly don't die.

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