Taking Exotic Wep. Prof. to use treasure?

[Hawk7915]

Hi all. I've been debating what feat to take on my Warforged Factotum for a week now and our next session is tomorrow. Here's the deal:

- Party of 4: Human Warlock, Human Paladin, Dwarf Swordsage, and myself, a Warforged Factotum and skillmonkey superstar. Party just hit level 6.

- One-shot campaign, about 66% percent over, homebrew setting but no houserules in effect. Most enemies are drow, undead, and demons.

- Previous feats taken: Mithral Body, Knowledge Devotion, Font of Inspiration. My Warforged uses knowledge inspiration to boost damage with either a Heavy Crossbow or a Morningstar + shield combo in combat.

- It's been a pretty low-wealth campaign so far, and our most significant treasure is a +2 Heavy Repeating Crossbow which the Warforged is holding onto in his Handy Haversack.

Basic question: should I invest in EWP: Repeating Crossbow at this level, or just take Font of Inspiration more? Note that retraining is not allowed, and I don't anticipate this character being played long enough for level 9 or higher. Basically, with only 4-5 encounters left in the campaign, which feat will provide more oomph?

Side question: It seems silly to do a thread for this; why don't we have a "Quick Build Advice" thread for short, sweet, questions like this ?

[Fenryr]

None else is gonna try to use it? Only you? Maybe it's worth it.

Is it possible to sell it for gold and share with everyone?

[awa]

repeating crossbow are a lousy weapon and a +2 weapon isn't that big a deal to begin with particularly becuase what happens when you find a +3 not repeating crossbow.

that said the specifics of your game might change that you said it was a one shot the game will be ending soon and the odds of finding a better weapon are low it might be a slightly better idea.
how magic are your other gear if their +1 then another +1 hit and dam is probably not worth a feat if +0 that's not a bad deal.

[Hawk7915]

None else is gonna try to use it? Only you? Maybe it's worth it.

Is it possible to sell it for gold and share with everyone?

Nope; Paladin took "Shaky", Swordsage can't use his maneuvers with a ranged weapon, and Warlock can pop off ranged touch attacks for 3d6 at will :). As for selling it? Possible...someday. This is our playgroup's first attempt at a weekly Skype game since one of us is in Wyoming, another in Idaho, another in Nebraska, and another in Texas. With the school year restarting soon, whether we continue after finishing this story is up in the air. Right now there are no merchants in our location, at least none that can fork over 4000+ GP for the weapon and have anything worth buying in return.

So it'd be a long term and potentially non-occuring plan.

repeating crossbow are a lousy weapon and a +2 weapon isn't that big a deal to begin with particularly becuase what happens when you find a +3 not repeating crossbow.

that said the specifics of your game might change that you said it was a one shot the game will be ending soon and the odds of finding a better weapon are low it might be a slightly better idea.
how magic are your other gear if their +1 then another +1 hit and dam is probably not worth a feat if +0 that's not a bad deal.

Most of my starting WBL was on Shax's Indispensible haversack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148101), +1 armor, a +1 shield, a cloak of resistance, and various wands, potions, skill-boosters, and gadgets. Both my current weapons are only masterwork.

[Darrin]

Basic question: should I invest in EWP: Repeating Crossbow at this level, or just take Font of Inspiration more?


Are you familiar with the Haberdash (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88633)?

I like taking EWP, even though its usually not very optimized, but I like to get at least one level of Warblade so I can switch it to whatever weapon might be handy.

However, if you can get your hands on a wand of master's touch (Spell Compendium), maybe put it in a wand chamber or wand sheath, you can probably skip EWP. Or cast it as an SLA. Swift action, gain proficiency with whatever item you're holding, lasts 1 minute/level.



Side question: It seems silly to do a thread for this; why don't we have a "Quick Build Advice" thread for short, sweet, questions like this ?

Mostly because it quickly devolves into "Why aren't you playing a Wizard 20/Druid 20/Warblade 20" etc.

[Fizban]

Personally? I'd tell your DM that requiring exotic proficiency for repeating crossbows is ridiculous and proceed to disregard the penalty while using it. There is no balance or fluff reason, other than "WoTC hates crossbows."

[Hawk7915]

Are you familiar with the Haberdash (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88633)?

I like taking EWP, even though its usually not very optimized, but I like to get at least one level of Warblade so I can switch it to whatever weapon might be handy.

However, if you can get your hands on a wand of master's touch (Spell Compendium), maybe put it in a wand chamber or wand sheath, you can probably skip EWP. Or cast it as an SLA. Swift action, gain proficiency with whatever item you're holding, lasts 1 minute/level.

This is super helpful, thank you! I've been preparing Heroics as my daily second level spell, but no first level spell has been particularly appealing thus far. If I can do Master's Touch at 1st level for the boss fights where I really need to go all Rambo, and save my 2nd level slot for better Heroics or Glitterdust or Invisibility, that offers a strong argument for snagging more Inspiration at this level, and is probably what I'll end up doing. It was the idea of blowing my 2nd level spell slot on proficiency for an hour that sorta turned my stomach.


Mostly because it quickly devolves into "Why aren't you playing a Wizard 20/Druid 20/Warblade 20" etc.

Fair enough, although that's a shame. You're probably absolutely right though.