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herrhauptmann
2009-06-27, 06:02 PM
The mercurial greatsword? I know it was introduced in Sword and Fist, and I'd swear it was included in a 3.5 book somewhere. But I can't seem to find it.

Yes, I'm aiming for a very cheesy combination using the mercurial greatsword (not dual wielding either).

Badgercloak
2009-06-27, 09:43 PM
The 3rd edition Arms and Equipment guide.

herrhauptmann
2009-06-28, 12:11 AM
Well, here it goes.
Large sized Mercurial greatsword 3d6 x4 (use 3.5 rules for larger weapons, and coulda sworn it was 19-20x3). 1200gold
Make it gold or platinum (magic of faerun) 4d6 x4 +9000gold.

Skill trick: Find the gap. Find the weak point? The one where you make a spot check vs enemies AC, next attack is touch attack.
EWP: Mercurial Greatsword

Strongarm bracers, stacked with reciprocal bracers (take a crit or SA, next attack is crit threat) ~10k
Keen scabbard
Greater Truedeath crystal
Belt of Battle

+3 weapon. (Could just have party member cast Greater Magic weapon, or put it in an item 3/day. But this method doesn't rely on any more prepwork than the crystal)
Balanced Enhancement +2 (or feat in MoF to allow oversized weapons).
Magebane +1.
Sacred Burst +2
Screaming Burst +2

If you are using rules that allow you to gain crits when using spells with attack rolls, this is great.
1)Take a crit from a lich.
2)Spot check vs his AC. Succeed and your next attack is a touch attack
3)Activate belt of battle for 3 charges
4) Full attack vs enemies touch AC. On each hit, activate the reciprocal bracers to make them crit threats. Should have no trouble confirming your crits vs touch AC.
5) Damage: (4d6+5)x4 + 2d6magebane + 3d10 positive energy + 3d8 sonic +1d6 truedeath crystal= 116 points of damage per crit
Before adding in anything for strength, weapon spec, or power attack. And if you know you'll be doing this, you better be power attacking for close to full. So minimum of 2:1, but can get 3:1 or 4:1 PA depending on build.

**************
Well, that's the item combo. What's everyone think? Any gross rule violations or addition problems?

Sinfire Titan
2009-06-28, 02:30 AM
Find the Gap is a feat, not a skill trick. It also takes a Standard action to use. Wand of Wraithstrike is better.

Kosjsjach
2009-06-28, 02:48 AM
You're right, Find the Gap is not a skill trick, but "Spot the Weak Point" is. Requires 12 ranks in Spot; Spot check vs enemy's AC, next attack is touch. Not bad at all.

EDIT: it should be noted that, like all skill tricks (unless otherwise noted), "Spot the Weak Point" is only usable once per encounter. Since you'll most likely want to use it more often than that, you're probably going to want to look into other solutions (like, as mentioned above, Wraithstrike).

Irreverent Fool
2009-06-28, 04:09 AM
Emerald Razor from ToB allows you to make an attack as a touch attack every other round without having to take any special action aside from an attack (if you're a warblade.)

obnoxious
sig

Eldariel
2009-06-28, 04:37 AM
Find the Gap is a spell. Level 3 Ranger (and Assassin & Paladin) Divination-spell to be precise. For 1 round/level, your first attack each round is Touch.

It's a great spell, but mostly obsoleted by Wraithstrike. Yet another reason to either ban Wraithstrike or limit it to the first attack you do in a round.

Sinfire Titan
2009-06-28, 04:45 AM
Find the Gap is a spell. Level 3 Ranger (and Assassin & Paladin) Divination-spell to be precise. For 1 round/level, your first attack each round is Touch.

It's a great spell, but mostly obsoleted by Wraithstrike. Yet another reason to either ban Wraithstrike or limit it to the first attack you do in a round.

There's a difference between the two. One lasts for 1 round/level, while the other is 1 round regardless of CL. The only thing that can affect the duration and make it superior to Find the Gap is DMM: Persist, and the problem arises when you use DMM to do this (otherwise, a Persistent Wraithstrike is an 8th level spell, which is actually fairly reasonable for an 8th level spell slot IMO).


The main problems with Wraithstrike are 1) Easily Persisted well below the actual cost of a Persistent Wraithstrike and 2) Wands make it abusable for anyone who can hit a DC 20 UMD check as a Swift action and not fail 50% of the time. Other than that, the spell itself isn't much of a problem.

Eldariel
2009-06-28, 04:55 AM
The main problems with Wraithstrike are 1) Easily Persisted well below the actual cost of a Persistent Wraithstrike and 2) Wands make it abusable for anyone who can hit a DC 20 UMD check as a Swift action and not fail 50% of the time. Other than that, the spell itself isn't much of a problem.

I tend to disagree here; I'd say swift action "make whole turn worth of autohits" for level 2 is too good. Sure, Persisting it is even bigger stupidity and Wanding it leads to other classes being able to enjoy the benefits, but its very existence as a 2nd level spell is bad; a caster hybrid has level 2 slots to spare.

If it were a 4th level spell or so, it'd be notably more fair simply because Wanding it would cost a ton and it'd actually be of a level close to what Quickened True Strike takes. Really, I don't especially see the need for the spell with True Strike existing so my instinct would be to squash it like a bug.


Notice that Find the Gap is a 3rd level spell for characters that get 3rd level spells around level ~10 and even then only ever applies to the first attack each turn, instead of making your entire full attack hit. Sure, one casting lasts longer, but as you need to spend a standard action casting it, that's small help.

Really, allowing Wraithstrike is just another thing that pretty much screams "don't bother playing if you aren't at least a Gish". Much like Polymorph, it makes a caster type better than melee at melee's shtick. That, IMHO, is a good reason to ban spells. Well, that and the fact that it really makes touch attacks cheap.

Deep Impact at least costs you Psionic Focus and only applies to one attack, Brilliant Energy is heavily limited in what it can affect, Find the Gap is round/level standard action spell and only works for 1 attack per turn, etc. There simply isn't another trivially easy, early available way to get multiple touch attacks in a full attack with small resource expenditure.