Improving Weapon-Specific Feats 3.P

[rollforeigninit]

I was mulling over the various weapon-specific feats. In general they seem to be considered sub-opt. Why is this? How would you fix this? I have a few ideas or ways this could be fixed or improved. I'd like opinions on any-or all of them.

Idea 1- Scaling- I've noticed some weirdness in how some feats work. Pathfinder did improve it's skill-related feats by making them at least scale somewhat. I was wondering if something similar might make Weapon-specific feats. Nothing too drastic, but maybe if Weapon Focus gave a +1 at 1st level & +2 at 10th level or something like that. Weapon Specialization might do something similar. Improved Critical is in a different vein & presents different problems. It's still weapon-specific but is apart from most trees of feats. Whereas Spec requires focus, Crit is just.... there. (This does BEG the question of "WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DID THEY CHOP UP FEATS LIKE THEY DID? WHAT DID MUNDANES DO?!?!?!?!?" But that's another thread.)

Idea 2- Actual Progress- In this one I'm specifically thinking about Weapon Focus but the concept may spark other ideas which I welcome. It's prettymuch universally reviled. What if it actually moved BAB up by one for the weapon in question? Would it be that bad? Swordsages, Psywars, Melee Clerics, Gishes (LOVE the word, always have.:smallsmile:) and many others rejoice for you can get the coveted +16 without having to sacrifice babies on the altar of Prc's.

Idea 3- Breadth- this one is simple. How many times does the Longsword based fighter find a Shortsword or a Bastard Sword (or BOTH- Glares at his paladin's Sunblade from way back in second edition.:smallmad:) that he'd love to use except he wields the wrong weapon. So he has to sell it. If he applied weapon-specific feats to weapon groups it might be less of an issue. Just use the Weapon Groups from the Fighter Class Ability.

If I've overlooked something, let me know. I know this might just ROCKET the mundanes right past all the T1 brokenness, but I'm willing to risk the sublime game balance that exists as of now in the name of exploring things.

[mikau013]

The other problem with feats like wpn focus for me is that it doesn't do anything for your back up weapons, like if you need a bow. That is why I usually houserule weapon focus to apply to all weapons and turn into a +2 to hit at lvl 10.

[Marnath]

Well, the weapon group variant would make it more versatile, but it still needs improvement power wise.

[limejuicepowder]

I don't think power is the only problem either. I think the real problem is feats are almost always boring. Players don't generally rejoice over getting a new feat (unless it leads some something else, like a PrC), but class abilities define entire builds. Adding some numbers on to stuff is just lame, even if the numbers are bigger.

I think "feats" should specifically refer to tactical feats; things that let you perform special actions and use new tactics. I think feats should be exactly that: a feat! Something tangible that an observer would notice, not "oh, he swings so hard, but with so little accuracy, he must be power attacking...."

I know I'm just complaining about the system as a whole, and the total lack of love mundanes got, but the OP made me think of it.

[Seerow]

I've played with lots of different fixes to these feats, from scaling the numeric benefit, to applying them to weapon groups. There's two different ways I've come up with and tried, that I really liked:


1) Rather than a specific weapon, focus on a weapon fighting style. You don't specialize in the great sword, you specialize in two handed weapons. You don't get focused on a dagger, you specialize in two weapon fighting. You don't specialize with the Spiked Chain, you specialize in reach weapon fighting. Etc. You basically get rid of the focus chains altogether, and make a feat chain for each fighting style that is the same length. I liked this method because the specialization does feel meaningful. On the other hand, with my implementation at least one specialization was all but mandatory for almost any mundane combat PC, and so ends up feeling like something different from the optional fighter-only perk Weapon Specialization was.


2) An alternative I've tried more recently was tied in with my weapon upgrade system. Basically there were a whole bunch of properties, and when you got masterwork quality gear, you could choose to add any of the qualities, as opposed to a flat +1 to hit. Well tying in with this, I let the weapon focus line grant bonus slots with the chosen weapon type being wielded, that could be changed as a swift action. This was really cool because on the fly the Fighter could decide to make his weapon into a tripping weapon, and give it a bonus to trip, and then turn around and change it into bonus damage, and then later gain extra reach with it. I felt it really exemplified a perfect mastery of the weapon, learning to use it in ways that other fighters would find impossible, and fun/active in being able to change it to suit your needs at any given time.