There's plenty of threads singing the praises of the fauchard and falcata and wakizashi and so on and so forth, but what about those of us who don't have the feat to spend on EWP or go out of our way for weapon familiarity at first level?
From what little I've found, the Falchion seems like a pretty good contender as far as non-reach weapons go.
I think the Falchion ends up with the best DPS DPR at higher levels, but I'm a fan of the Bardiche (best non-eastern martial weapon with reach).
"Best" is going to be subjective.
Well, given all the glut of content that Pathfinder has become synonymous with, I'm sure there's at least a top 10 by now.
Weapons are only good for DPS. Your character picks up feats or magical items to do other things. Based on how crits work with DPS, if you aren't crit fishing, you aren't maximizing DPS. Falchion is the only 2handed 18-20 martial weapon. Therefore it is the best.
That being said, all the martial 2H weapons are fine. Every weapon works and some of them have really neat effects like the Bill giving +1 Shield AC while fighting defensively, Glaive-Guisarme -2 on enemy's ride checks when you hit enemies, or the Pckaxe's or Scythe's x4 crit multiplier.
Weapons are only good for DPS. Your character picks up feats or magical items to do other things. Based on how crits work with DPS, if you aren't crit fishing, you aren't maximizing DPS. Falchion is the only 2handed 18-20 martial weapon. Therefore it is the best.
Personally I think there's a little more to it than that, but let's assume that DPR is all that matters. A Crit gives you +100% damage (or more). An AoO also gives +100% damage. Being able to attack at all is probably the biggest factor. If it's all about the DPR then a Composite Longbow is the best.
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If you're counting all of the options available for it, the composite longbow probably is tops. It probably should have been an exotic weapon in the first place. The shortbow is more martial.
On a DM/campaign dependent level, lance.
+1
A scimitar has the best current dex to damage option for non-rogues and it's a solid 1H weapon too.
The starknife is not a good weapon natively but it comes with more options than any other. I think the only stat you can't add to its damage is constitution, though adding intelligence is a pain.
TWF with kukris or with shields is a viable build for some.
The nodachi is an excellent eastern weapon that is martial. Superior to falchion in performance and price. For reach I like bardiche, 1H scimitar, light kukri. And of course comp longbow for range.
This is for general purpose, special needs gets special choices.
Java Man took all of my answers except 1. As basic as it is, I find the greatsword is just unbeatable if you want to deal the most (on average) damage in 1 hit. Get a Large or Impact greatsword and vital strike for more D6s than players at the table.
Java Man took all of my answers except 1. As basic as it is, I find the greatsword is just unbeatable if you want to deal the most (on average) damage in 1 hit. Get a Large or Impact greatsword and vital strike for more D6s than players at the table.
The Falchion will do more damage on average once you get it to about 2d4+20 damage (vs the greatsword at 2d6+20) and get keen/improved critical.
A +1 Impact greatsword will do more damage on a regular hit, but a +2 keen falchion will have 4/20 critical threats that the greatsword doesn't, and will hit 1/20 times when the greatsword doesn't (and will confirm crits 1/20 more often than the greatsword). All those crits and the bonus hit will be times when the falchion does more damage than the greatsword.
Having said all of that, before about level 8 the greatsword is probably doing more damage on average (except in special circumstances like a Paladin's smite).
So back to the OP, the "Best" weapon also depends what level you're playing at. At level 1 a greatsword IS better than a falchion.
...but what about those of us who don't have the feat to spend on EWP or go out of our way for weapon familiarity at first level?Don't forget the 1500gp Opalescent White Pyramid ioun (cracked) for gaining martial proficiency in a weapon. (Note: said familiarity cannot be used as a feat prerequisite, and will/may shut off in antimagic fields, area dispels, etc.)
I think the Falchion ends up with the bestDPSDPR at higher levels, but I'm a fan of the Bardiche (best non-eastern martial weapon with reach).
I vote the bardiche as well; all of my 2hPA martials take one at 1st level. (If you have feats or class abilities that enable bracing a weapon as an immediate action, the bardiche is arguably the best weapon in the game for its ability to break an imminent enemy pounce.)
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Greatsword vs falchion: If you're not a high-level paladin, cavalier, or uber str build, you're probably not securing a high enough numeric damage bonus to justify the constant -2 damage drain using the falchion. That disparity escalates with size increases, Vital Strike, the Gorum divine fighting technique, etc. If you have a means to force AoOs and are frequently enlarged, then weapons with greater reach are demonstrably superior to 5' weapons.
There's plenty of threads singing the praises of the fauchard and falcata and wakizashi and so on and so forth, but what about those of us who don't have the feat to spend on EWP or go out of our way for weapon familiarity at first level?
depending on your level and/or build you can always slap Training on the weapon with the relevant EWP feat or be a gnome with the Master Tinker trait and be proficient with basically all weapons.
From what little I've found, the Falchion seems like a pretty good contender as far as non-reach weapons go.
When it comes to equipping armies slings are amazing weapons, since they do ok damage and are completely free they are the ranged equivalent of clubs and quarterstaves. If you don't mind spending money then crossbows and morningstars are some of the best simple weapons you can get. morningstars are nice because they specifically deal both bludgeoning and piercing damage.
When it comes to martial weapons it really depends on your build.
Are you str based or does the weapon need to be finessable?
Are you melee or ranged?
Are you one handed melee or two handed melee?
Are you crit fishing, vital striking or power attacking?
answering these questions will lead you very different answers.
The last few builds I keep landing on using the hornbow and the butcher axe. Alternatively, I have a gnome fire mage that walks around with a heavy repeating crossbow and a bastard sword as backup weapons since they are decent even when you have no strength score to speak of.
Don't forget the 1500gp Opalescent White Pyramid ioun (cracked) for gaining martial proficiency in a weapon. (Note: said familiarity cannot be used as a feat prerequisite, and will/may shut off in antimagic fields, area dispels, etc.)
It can't? Since when?
I prefer the greatsword over the falchion for several reasons. Like others have said, it does more damage in the early levels. Most importantly though, I hate rolling d4 dice. Not satisfying at all.
Haha! Best reason to switch weapons ^_^
Don't forget the 1500gp Opalescent White Pyramid ioun (cracked) for gaining martial proficiency in a weapon. (Note: said familiarity cannot be used as a feat prerequisite, and will/may shut off in antimagic fields, area dispels, etc.)It can't? Since when?
Non-permanent effects cannot be used to satisfy prerequisites in RAW campaings (such as PFS). Iouns don't confer a permanent effect (such as belts and headbands worn 24hrs do).
Whatever goes, goes, of course, in home games. YMMV.
Non-permanent effects cannot be used to satisfy prerequisites in RAW campaings (such as PFS).
According to what written rule? The feat rules say this about prereqs: "Some feats have prerequisites. Your character must have the indicated ability score, class feature, feat, skill, base attack bonus, or other quality designated in order to select or use that feat. A character can gain a feat at the same level at which he gains the prerequisite.
A character can’t use a feat if he loses a prerequisite, but he does not lose the feat itself. If, at a later time, he regains the lost prerequisite, he immediately regains full use of the feat that prerequisite enables."If you're orbited by the ioun stone, you do "have the quality designated".
Well I'm not gonna argue how PFS is ruled, but is it even against RAW to use non-permanent effects to qualify?
The brawler can use their flexed feats to qualify, and that's really temporary. Same with the Fly skill, where it states that temporary effects allows you to place ranks in the skill.
That's what I was about to say, but then I found this post. Which is about temporary ability scores, but it's good enough for me. I guess Brawlers/Fly are exceptions to the rule, then.
You could however take EWP and Weapon Focus, then retrain EWP to something else. Then whenever you're using the Ioun Stone, you'd benefit from Weapon Focus.
That feels like unnecessary work to circumvent a dumb rule, though.
The brawler can use their flexed feats to qualify, and that's really temporary.
A brawler can use a flex feat to qualify for another flex feat he's taking concurrently, because that's the special sauce of that class.
-- What he doesn't get to do is claim, "Since I have X, Y, and Z feats available at the snap of my fingers, that means I qualify for Uber Chewface prestige-class which needs them all!"
For gnomes and any magus with ptoficiency, the Gnome flickmace is just great (1-handed reach 1d8 20/x2 B). Im really surprised people don't talk about it more.
Maybe I'm missing something, as I often am, but when I looked this weapon up, it doesn't appear to have an 18-20 crit range.
PFS Legal Gnome flick-mace
Source Gnomes of Golarion pg. 22
Statistics
Cost 20 gp Weight 10 lbs.
Damage 1d6 (small), 1d8 (medium); Critical x2; Range —; Type B; Special reach, trip
Category One-Handed; Proficiency Exotic
Description
The description for this item was cut from Gnomes of Golarion. - Nethys
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For gnomes and any magus with ptoficiency, the Gnome flickmace is just great (1-handed reach 1d8 20/x2 B). Im really surprised people don't talk about it more.Maybe I'm missing something, as I often am, but when I looked this weapon up, it doesn't appear to have an 18-20 crit range.
You just misread what Temperans wrote. I highlighted the bit that looks like 18-20, it could have had a comma to make it easier to read.
Picking the weapon is sometimes the hardest part of character making. For example, most of the characters I make are Dex based. Several of them have a level or two in either Rogue or Swashbuckler. For those classes, a Rapier is usually the best choice in melee weapon. But I hate the idea of all of my characters using the exact same weapon. I ended up giving one of them a Cutlass just because it wasn't a Rapier, even though they're identical mechanically aside from damage type. And even then the Cutlass was considered piercing once Slashing Grace was taken.
-- What he doesn't get to do is claim, "Since I have X, Y, and Z feats available at the snap of my fingers, that means I qualify for Uber Chewface prestige-class which needs them all!"
I'd say that he does, but would lose any benefit of the class the moment he doesn't have the feats.
Kind of how an ex-paladin wouldn't still benefit from a prestige class that requires spellcasting.