What makes the quickrazor so great?

[Kaeso]

Hey all,

I've heard a lot of playgrounders especially Jaron K :P saying that the quickrazor is a great weapon combined with iajutsu focus and/or sneak attack, but I'm doubting that. I can see that the quickrazor is certainly a handy weapon: you can draw and sheath it every turn as a free action. Iajutsu focus is also pretty handy and could profit from the quickrazor but it requires your opponent to be flat-footed. Neither iajutsu focus nor the quickrazor make an opponent flat-footed so we are back at square one, next to the rogue, wondering how on Earth do we make our foe flat-footed. If this is true, then why does everybody love the quickrazor so much?

[Veyr]

Actually, it's more like Sudden Strike than Sneak Attack, since Sneak Attack can benefit from flanking.

The point is the Iaijutso Focus is damage that comes without class levels. This is incredibly convenient, especially for the Factotum who gets it as a class skill. It certainly has limitations, no doubt about that, but the opportunity cost (EWP for the Quickrazor, skill points in Iaijutso Focus) is very low. This is good.

[Greenish]

Once upon a time, there were beginnings of a list of ways to make the enemy flat-footed or deny them dex to AC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186283) (even though the latter doesn't allow IF alone).

Unsurprisingly, there were a handful of options. Confound the Big Folk might be my favourite due to the whole whisper gnome - quickrazor - IF - small synergy.

[Godskook]

See, you're taking 2/3rds of a combo and wondering why one part of that is 'great'.

Making an opponent flatfooted is *EASY* compared to finding a weapon that can be sheathed each round as a free action. Grease, for starters, forces it if they save unless they're one of the rare NPCs with ranks in balance.

Anyway, the combo goes like this:

Step 1: Maximize Iajutsu Focus for damage(Easy if you got the skill)

Step 2: Make foe flatfooted(Again, really easy)

Step 3: Find weapon that can be drawn repeatably, so that we can have a fully upgraded weapon while using combo. (Hard, as Quickrazor is our only option)

[HalfDragonCube]

Once upon a time, there were beginnings of a list of ways to make the enemy flat-footed or deny them dex to AC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186283) (even though the latter doesn't allow IF alone).

Unsurprisingly, there were a handful of options. Confound the Big Folk might be my favourite due to the whole whisper gnome - quickrazor - IF - small synergy.

Whisper gnome is quite good for most things apart from being Leeroy Jenkins, though this is as much due to the Silence SLA as the Str penalty.

[tyckspoon]

Hey all,

I've heard a lot of playgrounders especially Jaron K :P saying that the quickrazor is a great weapon combined with iajutsu focus and/or sneak attack, but I'm doubting that. I can see that the quickrazor is certainly a handy weapon: you can draw and sheath it every turn as a free action. Iajutsu focus is also pretty handy and could profit from the quickrazor but it requires your opponent to be flat-footed. Neither iajutsu focus nor the quickrazor make an opponent flat-footed so we are back at square one, next to the rogue, wondering how on Earth do we make our foe flat-footed. If this is true, then why does everybody love the quickrazor so much?

Because Iajutsu Focus also requires that you draw your weapon and strike the opponent. Given normal conditions this means that even if you have a flat-footed target you will only get one Iajutsu-boosted strike a turn, because there is no RAW mechanism for quick-sheathing your weapon- except for the Quickrazor, which automatically resheathes itself after you attack. That's why it gets recommended, because the alternative is a draw-and-drop strategy, which creates both a much sillier image and makes it near impossible to attack with a relevantly-enhanced weapon.

[Drako_Beoulve]

Sapphire Nightmare Blade Maneuver can make the opponent Flat-Footed

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Marbles, in the Arms and Equipment guide, force a Balance check from anyone fighting or moving while standing in a square covered by them. An opponent with less than five ranks in Balance will be considered flat-footed under those circumstances. They're 2sp for a 2 pound bag, so it's just a matter of getting the marbles on the ground in the opponent's space:

1. Quick-Draw
2. Use a single square of cloth folded around the marbles to hold them, instead of an actual bag, so it will fall open and spill them when dropped.
3. Put the pouch of marbles on your belt, readied as a weapon-like object similar to what you could do with a flask of acid or a tanglefoot bag.
4. Quick-Draw the pouch of marbles (free action), drop them into an adjacent square (free action), full attack your flat-footed opponent.

[Midnight_v]

Yeah but Saphire nighmare blade is a standard action strike so no more attacks after... well maybe you could raging/dancing mongoose after, now that I think about it. Don't know how much better thats going to turn out to be than just full attacking but... probbably pretty good.

[Grendus]

Greater Invisibility can render any enemy without Blindsense, See Invisible, or True Seeing flatfooted against your attack. Grease can render any enemy without ranks in Balance flatfooted against your attack. Glitterdust inflicts blindness, Evards Japanese Tentacles inflicts Grappled... there are plenty of spells that open enemies up to Iajutsu Focus damage. Coincidentally, most of those spells are on the wizard list, which Factotems get access to, and for the ones that aren't, you can UMD a wand or scroll if you really want it. Factotems are what makes Iajutsu Focus great, most of the other classes that even get it on their class list are barely viable.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Greater Invisibility can render any enemy without Blindsense, See Invisible, or True Seeing flatfooted against your attack. Grease can render any enemy without ranks in Balance flatfooted against your attack. Glitterdust inflicts blindness, Evards Japanese Tentacles inflicts Grappled... there are plenty of spells that open enemies up to Iajutsu Focus damage. Coincidentally, most of those spells are on the wizard list, which Factotems get access to, and for the ones that aren't, you can UMD a wand or scroll if you really want it. Factotems are what makes Iajutsu Focus great, most of the other classes that even get it on their class list are barely viable.

Of all those things you mentioned, none but Grease will actually enable you to use Iaijutsu Focus.

Invisibility (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#invisible) allows you to ignore an opponent's Dex bonus to AC, but it does not render them flat-footed.

Blindness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#blinded) causes an opponent to lose his Dex bonus to AC, but again he is not flat-footed.

Grappled (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#grappling) opponents also lose their Dex bonus to AC against attacks from outside the grapple, but again that does not make them flat-footed.

Denied Dex to AC =/= Flat-Footed. Iaijutsu Focus only works when they're actually Flat-Footed, whether or not they get their Dex bonus to AC is completely irrelevant.

[Midnight_v]

Of all those things you mentioned, none but Grease will actually enable you to use Iaijutsu Focus.

Invisibility (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#invisible) allows you to ignore an opponent's Dex bonus to AC, but it does not render them flat-footed.

Blindness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#blinded) causes an opponent to lose his Dex bonus to AC, but again he is not flat-footed.

Grappled (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#grappling) opponents also lose their Dex bonus to AC against attacks from outside the grapple, but again that does not make them flat-footed.

Denied Dex to AC =/= Flat-Footed. Iaijutsu Focus only works when they're actually Flat-Footed, whether or not they get their Dex bonus to AC is completely irrelevant.
Points to you for attention to detail sir.
I'm think thing the Nightmare blade is the best way, but the fact that you can use invisibility as a factotum is pretty good as well, can they get G/invisibility? I don't recall off hand. . .

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

(Greater) Invisibility is irrelevant, it does not enable Iaijutsu Focus because it does not make opponents flat-footed. Just to be clear, denying an opponent his Dex bonus to AC is not good enough, the condition you place on him or the ability you activate must contain the words Flat-Footed in order for you to use Iaijutsu Focus.

A Factotum can get Grease, and cast it beneath an opponent, and use Iaijutsu Focus if that opponent doesn't have at least 5 ranks in Balance. It takes a standard action to cast Grease though, and that bag-of-marbles trick doesn't take away any of your actions during combat.

[Midnight_v]

(Greater) Invisibility is irrelevant, it does not enable Iaijutsu Focus because it does not make opponents flat-footed.
Right you mentioned that, being invisible does increase the likely hood of catching opponents unawares however and thus "flatfooted., which is why its relavant.
There's more to be considered than just Iaijustsu, there's sneak and sudden strike also in the equation.

[JaronK]

The Quickrazor is just one part of the combo... you need the rest. You also need a high IF score of course. IF is great in that it works on everything right of the box... undead, oozes, objects, constructs, plants, elementals, and all that other stuff that's usually immune to sneak attack. But it's harder to trigger than Sneak Attack, so you need to figure out how to flat foot things. Here's a few options.

1) Win initiative/get surprise rounds. If you sneak up on someone and attack them, you get a free hit. If you beat them in initiative, you get a round of flat footedness that way too. This is great for Factotums, who get Int to Hide/Move Silently and Int to initiative. Handy.

2) Force Balance checks. Anyone with less than 5 ranks of Balance (read: over 99% of monsters out there) is flat footed while balancing, so Grease and Marbles are great cheap ways to flat foot anyone. Grease is just a first level spell, while marbles cost 2sp. No worries.

3) Weapon mods. Blurstrike is a great enchantment that flat foots opponents for 10 attacks per day, and it works when you wanted it, so if you haven't killed your opponent quickly enough you can finish the job with this. There's also a once use at a time alchemical thing in Complete Scoundrel that lets you flat foot opponents the first time you attack them.

4) Feats: Flick of the Wrist isn't bad, but Quickdraw is useless with a Quickrazor, so it's only half decent.

5) Sapphire Nightmare Blade: I like an Unarmed Swordsage 2 dip in my Factotum builds anyway, and this maneuver is solid.

And note that Whispergnomes can get Quickrazor proficiency free (see Complete Warrior's rules on racial weapons). Plus, the Quickrazor leaves your hands free for casting.

So yeah, there's lots of reasons why it's a solid weapon. It's only appropriate for stealth and casting builds though... obviously chargers would be better off with a Lance or Guisarme or something.

JaronK