vorpal

[person29]

Alright so it probably isnt the best way to spend +5 worth of gold on a weapon, and probably isn't the most optimized way to make a melee character, but...

What are some of the best ways (feats, classes, etc) to get the most out of a vorpal blade?

Thanks

[Greenish]

Get as many attacks as you can, obviously. Aptitude Lightning Mace'd Kukris aren't cheap, but it's one of the better methods of gaining a large but finite amount of attacks.

[tyckspoon]

Surge of Fortune, Cleric.. 4, IIRC, in the Spell Compendium. Can be discharged to let you count a roll as a natural 20. That's the only thing I know of that works especially with Vorpal, because Vorpal's 'when you roll a 20' clause means other crit optimization doesn't really matter to it.

Other than that, you might want to get Power Critical and other effects that help improve your crit roll, and then just optimize for lots'o'attacks so you get more chances at rolling those magic 20s.

[stemfish]

Well, Vorpal takes effect when you roll a natural 20, so you simply want as many attacks as possible. If you aren't a fighter, get hold of Divine Power for an increase in BAB trying to get a few more attacks. Also look at some of the luck items that allow you to role a d20 again, trying for that almighty natural 20 killing move. Also get Combat Reflex with a Size/Reach increase and have anther party member send the pour soul flying through your threatened area for a few more roles.

And while you can likely find a better buy for the +5 bonus, having a 5% chance per hit to kill is pretty insane if you have the money to burn or if the DM gave you a Vorpal weapon. The one time I went and bought a Vorpal sword it was hilarious, mostly because of my ability to cut off the head of Undead and then play hackeysack with it mid battle :smallamused:

[Re'ozul]

Luck feat wise you have:

Better lucky than Good
- treat a nat-1 as a nat-20 once per day

Third times the charm
- if you have the luck domain gain one more use of the reroll ability per day.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Get as many attacks as you can, obviously. Aptitude Lightning Mace'd Kukris aren't cheap, but it's one of the better methods of gaining a large but finite amount of attacks.


Luck feat wise you have:

Better lucky than Good
- treat a nat-1 as a nat-20 once per day

These combined.

[Emperor Ing]

Well i'm not 100% sure if this would work, Thri-kreen quadruple-wield vorpal weapons with full BAB (and the Pounce ability from Lion Totem ACF or Pouncing Charge maneuver for versatility) gives you a good 16 chances to snag that 20. Obviously there's ways to increase that, but that's a good base to start on.

Of course, it's dependent on your GM's willingness to let you quadruple-wield vorpal weapons.

[TroubleBrewing]

Invest in a keen weapon, or grab the Improved Critical: Scimitar feat. If you can get your DM to approve 3.0 material, there's a class out of BoVD that improves your critical range. As long as he's approving 3.0 material, there's a weapon with a starting critical range of (I think) 15-20. Some kind of claw-like weapon. It might be slashing, if not, then it's useless for Vorpal.

Invest in Luck feats that allow you to re-roll threat confirmation rolls. I think I recall a feat that allows you to expend a luck re-roll to treat a natural 1 as a natural 20.

Don't fight any Undead, Oozes, Plants, Constructs, Deathless, creatures without discernible anatomy, Hydras, Ettins, anything with Regeneration that you can't beat, or anything I've forgotten that either isn't affected by critical hits or doesn't need it's head to live.

That's about it, really. Optimizing a Vorpal weapon is easy, but like you said... it's not exactly an optimal strategy.

[SurlySeraph]

Hm. Thri-Kreen Warblade 16. He has IL 17 (his HD give him +1), and can retrain an earlier maneuver to a 9th-level one when he takes that last level, so all's good.

Maneuvers: Raging Mongoose, Time Stands Still, rest don't matter.
Attacks: 4 BAB, 9 Greater Multiweapon Fighting, 1 Haste, 4 Raging Mongoose, doubled by Time Stands Still. That's 36 32 attacks. He can do that every other round. Buying 4 vorpal weapons is annoying, but acceptable.

There are certainly ways to get more attacks than that, but this one is fully playable with a similar strategy at lower levels, and won't get as many books thrown at you as most ways of getting silly numbers of attacks.

Getting Vorpal on a Necklace of Natural Attacks and using Rapidstrike, with Psychic Warrior or the Feral template to get claws, is another approach. Doing something in the same vein but with tons of natural weapons gets too expensive to be practical, unless you go into Kensai or your DM lets you put Vorpal on an Amulet of Mighty Fists. In that case, some kind of Anthropomorphic Giant Squid Totemist build could be pretty scary.

[tyckspoon]

Invest in a keen weapon, or grab the Improved Critical: Scimitar feat. If you can get your DM to approve 3.0 material, there's a class out of BoVD that improves your critical range. As long as he's approving 3.0 material, there's a weapon with a starting critical range of (I think) 15-20. Some kind of claw-like weapon. It might be slashing, if not, then it's useless for Vorpal.


Vorpal specifically only works on a roll of 20. You want to be optimizing for # of attacks and reroll/roll-replacement effects, not crit range.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Vorpal specifically only works on a roll of 20. You want to be optimizing for # of attacks and reroll/roll-replacement effects, not crit range.

Yeah, it's only on a 20.

[TroubleBrewing]

Wow... Yeah, major fail on my part. Holy cow.

Shows how often spend money on Vorpal.

Pelor, that was embarrassing.

[tyckspoon]

Hm. Thri-Kreen Warblade 16. He has IL 17 (his HD give him +1), and can retrain an earlier maneuver to a 9th-level one when he takes that last level, so all's good.

Maneuvers: Raging Mongoose, Time Stands Still, rest don't matter.
Attacks: 4 BAB, 9 Greater Multiweapon Fighting, 1 Haste, 4 Raging Mongoose, doubled by Time Stands Still. That's 36 attacks. He can do that every other round. Buying 4 vorpal weapons is annoying, but acceptable.


In practical applications of this tactic, you may wish to reserve your Swift for a Sudden Leap, Quicksilver Motion, or other means of repositioning yourself, so you can spend the rest of the burst on another opponent after the first guy falls dead from the damage or suffers a sudden lack of vital extremities.

[MeeposFire]

Hm. Thri-Kreen Warblade 16. He has IL 17 (his HD give him +1), and can retrain an earlier maneuver to a 9th-level one when he takes that last level, so all's good.

Maneuvers: Raging Mongoose, Time Stands Still, rest don't matter.
Attacks: 4 BAB, 9 Greater Multiweapon Fighting, 1 Haste, 4 Raging Mongoose, doubled by Time Stands Still. That's 36 attacks. He can do that every other round. Buying 4 vorpal weapons is annoying, but acceptable.



I count 4+9+1=14x2TSS=28+4=32. Time stands still allows you to make two full attacks but raging mongoose does not add 4 attacks to a full attack it allows you to make 4 additional attacks as a swift action. This hurts your number of attacks this time but remember this makes it more useful overall since you can use it like you would the snap kick feat (make an attack or strike as a standard action and use a swift action to use raging mongoose for the extra four attacks. Makes those rounds where you have to move much better).

[SurlySeraph]

Yep, counting fail on my part.

I'm not sure which of us is correct on how Raging Mongoose works, but don't feel like looking it up.

Oh, and I forgot Necklace of Natural Attacks + Snap Kick.


In practical applications of this tactic, you may wish to reserve your Swift for a Sudden Leap, Quicksilver Motion, or other means of repositioning yourself, so you can spend the rest of the burst on another opponent after the first guy falls dead from the damage or suffers a sudden lack of vital extremities.

Bah, you expect a Warblade to be responsible for his own movement? That's what Dimension Door and other teleport spells are for! Really, Wizards have no role in this game but to serve as taxis for the fighters. :smalltongue:

[TroubleBrewing]

Really, Wizards have no role in this game but to serve as taxis for the fighters.

But they've got a familiar.

Such a powerful class feature.