Fighter or barbarian for Sharktooth staff

[SalverioN]

Hi there. I would like some tips for a exotic weapon warrior! I saw this Sharktooth staff in Savage Spieces and I though I should try it in a new campaign I'm about to start. Level 8 and Grayhawk (if I spell it right).
I'm in the dillema going for a Human barbarian with:
Exotic Weapon Prof- Weapon Focus- Improved Unarmed strike -> Improved Grapple
Or go for a Fighter with kinda more options for feats but I'm not pretty sure which ones yet.
Thanks in advance for your time.

[Greenish]

Have you considered Psychic Warrior? Bonus feats, and much better at grappling than either of the mentioned classes.

[SalverioN]

Have you considered Psychic Warrior? Bonus feats, and much better at grappling than either of the mentioned classes.

I've got zero experience in psychic powers (how they work etc) and as far as I know so does my dm. I haven't look at the class or any similar psion cause of this. How much better is this class?

[FMArthur]

It's basically a Fighter with medium BAB and a wide assortment of self-targetted melee buff spells, with some direct damage spells and positioning/utility stuff thrown in as well. It gains bonus feats at 1, 2, and every 3 levels thereafter.

It uses psionics, which is normal spellcasting simplified to cast all levels of spells from a character's one Power Point score instead of a chart of knowns and usables like normal. You can never spend more power points than your manifestor level (your psionic class's level). That's pretty much it.

[SalverioN]

It's basically a Fighter with medium BAB and a wide assortment of self-targetted melee buff spells, with some direct damage spells and positioning/utility stuff thrown in as well. It gains bonus feats at 1, 2, and every 3 levels thereafter.

So I get 4 feats (the above probably) for the character and 2 bonus from the class obviously something for my psychic powers, and a spell list? Sounds actually too good not to have a drawback? Is there any disadvantage in this class other than the usual like "lower life than this class" or "fewer skill points than this one"?

[Greenish]

Well, psywarr only has medium BAB, but the powers compensate for that. Their power points are a bit low too, and require economic use on lower levels.

Still, all in all, they're a very solid class, no great drawbacks. Tier 3, and pretty high up there, too.

[FMArthur]

It only has 3/4 BAB and a d8 hit die. It is just a stronger class, though. That really can't be helped when Fighter is the point of comparison.

Fighter gains feats one every two levels after second as opposed to the Psywar's one every three, but the difference doesn't start to add up until later, and it unfortunately doesn't add up to much.

[SalverioN]

Ok one more question. I've also looked warblade and his stances/manuevers and I saw
Crushing Weight of The Mountain:
While you are in this stance, you gain the ability to constrict for 2d6 points of
damage + 1-1/2 times your Str bonus (if any). You can constrict an opponent
that you grapple by making a successful grapple check.

In this case with Sharktooth staff's grapple ability what exactly happens?

[FMArthur]

You constrict them and the light around you and your target appears to glitch out a bit, leaving nobody with any clear understanding of what actually happened just then.

[AslanCross]

As far as I can tell, creatures with both Constrict and natural weapons can only choose to use one or the other while grappling per attack. I'd think the same applies to Crushing Weight of the Mountain and the sharktooth staff (or any other weapon you can use while grappling; in this case it's usually only a light weapon but the sharktooth staff bypasses that). If you have a full attack you can use Constrict and your staff in any combination for as many attacks as you get per turn, with the iterative BAB penalty applying to the grapple check.

[Retech]

Constrict is usually just bonus damage added on after you make the successful grapple check to start or hold the grapple. Then you can stack on the natural weapon onto that.

[SalverioN]

So let me get this straight.
I attack with Sharktooth staff, deal the weapon's 2d6+* damage, initiate a grapple check, "Simon says I succeed" and I deal 2d6+1-1/2 STR constriction dmg from Crushing Weight of the Mountain and I do 2d6+* + 2d6+1-1/2 STR without an attack (weapon description) roll each round I hold my target grappled.

[marcielle]

Hope this helps but psionics just work like MP system magic from most videogames in fantasy settings. You have a fixed amount of points to spend on any power you like and you can use them in any order or just 1 repeatedly so long as you have points to use that power. And yeah, ANYTHING is better than full fighter. Between warblades manouvers and Psychic warriors ability to make himself gargantuan( you WILL wanna start as half-giant/ goliath if you are gonna go psy-grappler) its a pretty close call for grappling ability. However, I think Warblade is a better class overall. Just cos all the martial manouvers combined with their replenishment method make em the best meeleers.

[SalverioN]

I'm going for warblade cause I liked his manuevers/stances and he helps with the grapple for the sharktooth staff, not in grappling everything like psionic by changing your size but when you grapple someone at your size it really hurts.

Also another question. I've seen manuevers that need a Jump check to deal extra dmg. Can you combine them with the Leap Attack feat or is this feat ONLY for charge?

[Greenish]

Also another question. I've seen manuevers that need a Jump check to deal extra dmg. Can you combine them with the Leap Attack feat or is this feat ONLY for charge?The feat description of Leap Attack says you have to charge. It says that thrice.

[SalverioN]

The feat description of Leap Attack says you have to charge. It says that thrice.

yeah i wanted to confirm that because it also said "if you jump 10+ ft horizontal..." and I was currious... :P

[Retech]

Correct. Isn't constriction great? :smallcool:

[Thurbane]

Not sure it's entirely relevant to this particular build, but if you've got the skill points, a dip in Master of Masks (CS) lets you get a Gladiator mask - proficiency with all martial & exotic weapons. Combine this with a weapon with the Morphing property, and you can have whatever exotic weapon the situation calls for (within the limits of Morphing, of course).

[SalverioN]

Not sure it's entirely relevant to this particular build, but if you've got the skill points, a dip in Master of Masks (CS) lets you get a Gladiator mask - proficiency with all martial & exotic weapons. Combine this with a weapon with the Morphing property, and you can have whatever exotic weapon the situation calls for (within the limits of Morphing, of course).


Where can I find this Morphing weapon property?

[Thurbane]

Where can I find this Morphing weapon property?
Magic Item Compendium.