Best bonded weapon?

[danzibr]

If anyone thinks of a better title based on what I'm about to say, please let me know.

In any case, classes like Samurai, Kensai, Psychic Weapon Master, PsyWar ACF, Soulknife, et cetera, all get a weapon that grows with them, many up to +10. However, most of them are, well, they could be better.

In particular, I really like the Psychic Weapon Master, but the serious loss of ML and the crap loads of feats make it less than desirable.

So my question is, what's a good way to get a bonded weapon? As for the kind of build it should go in... I'm open to suggestions. I'm thinking a sort of gish (why Psychic Weapon Master was so appealing at first), but just fighting is cool too. If I were to play this build in a campaign it wouldn't be high-power.

[HunterOfJello]

Warforged Artificer racial substitution alternate class feature: Craft Weapon Familiar is pretty excellent.

Once you start casting infusions on it, you'll see a much higher power output than any of the others since you'll gain the benefit on your warforge's slam natural attack as well as the weapon familiar's attacks.

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Bone Knights only get one upgrade to their bonecraft weapons, but they're definitely an amazing class anyway and using a bonecraft weapon is pretty badass.

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The natural weapons obtained from the magic of incarnum classes are also going to be superior to the classes you've previously mentioned.

Out of the ones you've mentioned already, the best I've heard of is the PsyWar ACF.

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Soulbows get some good bonuses from their weapons as they level up. Definitely a helluva lot better than soulknives.

[Flickerdart]

Why not combine them? Check out the link in my signature for getting a badass +26 bonded weapon.

[Gavinfoxx]

I like this!

http://web.archive.org/web/20080416115637/http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-456794

[danzibr]

Why not combine them?
Just to clarify, would that work as follows?

Let's choose level 20 to be simple, PsyWar 10, Psychic Weapon Master 10.

+5 weapon from ACF (nothing says you have to be level 20 PsyWar, right?)
Can pump +3 (ML 15 due to Psychic Weapon Master) from PP
+9 (or +10?) other abilities from Psychic Weapon Master

So a +5 weapon with either +12 or +13 worth of other abilities. Not game-breaking, but pretty cool.

[Flickerdart]

Just to clarify, would that work as follows?

Let's choose level 20 to be simple, PsyWar 10, Psychic Weapon Master 10.

+5 weapon from ACF (nothing says you have to be level 20 PsyWar, right?)
Can pump +3 (ML 15 due to Psychic Weapon Master) from PP
+9 (or +10?) other abilities from Psychic Weapon Master

So a +5 weapon with either +12 or +13 worth of other abilities. Not game-breaking, but pretty cool.
Nope.

ML20 is easy to get (Practiced Manifester and Ioun Stone, for instance) so that's a whole +5. And then Fiend of Possession cohort for another +6 worth of abilities. So yes, it is in fact a +26 weapon, a +5 weapon with +21 worth of shinies.

[danzibr]

Nope.

ML20 is easy to get (Practiced Manifester and Ioun Stone, for instance) so that's a whole +5. And then Fiend of Possession cohort for another +6 worth of abilities. So yes, it is in fact a +26 weapon, a +5 weapon with +21 worth of shinies.
Oh, I uhh, was just talking about the base PsyWar 10/Psionic Weapon Master 10. Cool.

EDIT: Yeah... I read the link in your sig. I don't think anyone I play with would be up for 17 negative levels. Not saying anything's wrong with your super cool method, but I don't think I'll be getting a +26 weapon pre-epic.

[Rubik]

Monk 1/psywar 1/ardent 5/illithid slayer 10/ghostbreaker 3 would be a good gish with a great weapon using the psywar ACF, so long as you took the Call Weaponry power for both manifesting classes. Have the PrCs advance ardent.

The best way is to do it is to make your Unarmed Strike your weapon of choice. Add in a necklace of natural weaponry for a fat +9 in bonus abilities that stack with the psywar ACF, and Tashalatora. See if you can add in the Ancestral Relic and Item Familiar feats, for gits and shiggles.

[Togath]

oa samurai or rokugan samurai could be useful, the oa samurai needs to only spend half the normal cost(if you pay with items), and the rokugan samurai can sacrifice xp(16k total over 18 levels if you enchant both, and only 8k over 18 levels if you only enchant one), in addition neither requires you to keep taking levels in samurai after the first level in order to keep improving the ability, so you could probably combine the samurai's ability with similar abilities of other classes.

[Flickerdart]

Oh, I uhh, was just talking about the base PsyWar 10/Psionic Weapon Master 10. Cool.

EDIT: Yeah... I read the link in your sig. I don't think anyone I play with would be up for 17 negative levels. Not saying anything's wrong with your super cool method, but I don't think I'll be getting a +26 weapon pre-epic.
You don't need 17. You need 3, since PsyWar 5/PWM 1 qualifies to start the trick.

[FMArthur]

A Soulknife with Tashalatora and Reshape Mind Blade (unarmed strike) is an odd class-based-weapon-progression thing. You progress unarmed damage and Mind Blade with Soulknife levels and your Mind Blade is shaped like your unarmed strike. If you're of the kalashtar race, you can take Atavist for the same dual progression, and due to wording, take Practiced Mind Blade for four levels of doubled-up Mind Blade progression (but after 5th level there's even less reason to use it than Soulknife levels). Hidden Talent (Expansion) and Fanged Ring crank up your damage dice by size, and as a kalashtar you have the PP to augment it (psionic classes have a manifester level by default even if the class doesn't normally use it for anything). Since your Mind Blade is still wielded as a normal weapon even though it's shaped like your goddamned fist, you could also benefit from Strongarm Bracers. Also, your Throw Mind Blade feature still works with it, and some effects meant exclusively for melee attacks have wording like "if you make a melee attack or an unarmed strike...", (such as Scorpion's Grasp from Sandstorm) so you can do other weird things by using it for ranged attacks as well.

The whole thing's highly abusive and very far from the intent of the rules in pretty much every aspect of it, but it's funny if nothing else and is a combination of two of the weakest classes in the game anyway.

[Flickerdart]

So...basically you do that Green Lantern thing where they, despite having the power to make anything with their rings, just make a bigger fist?

[FMArthur]

Yes. Exactly. Or you could be shooting out shadow projections of your whole body as attacks like Shadow from OMF 2097, since I guess it doesn't even need to be a fist.

Edit: Oh I suppose I should actually give a final result for that weapon.
At level 20 with Improved Natural Attack, Strongarm Bracers and augmented Expansion, your weapon would be a +5, 12d8 unarmed strike with Suppression (+2) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/weapons.htm#suppression) and either Collision (+2) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/weapons.htm#collision), or Vicious (+1) and Lucky (+1). It can be thrown with a 30ft range increment and you refresh the Lucky enhancement every time you create a new one.

I think you'd actually max the weapon at 16th with the doubled-up Atavist + Practiced Mind Blade progression and a Monk's Belt, so it wouldn't progress any higher from there. That'd be time to dip, I suppose.

[Anxe]

Occult Slayers also get a bonded weapon of some kind.