Best Non-Exotic One-Handed Melee Weapon

[White_Drake]

I suspect it will come down to mostly personal preference, but what is the best martial or simple weapon for a sword and board crusader/paladin? Also, I don't want board and board.

[LanSlyde]

I suspect it will come down to mostly personal preference, but what is the best martial or simple weapon for a sword and board crusader/paladin? Also, I don't want board and board.

Overall? I would go with ye olde Longsword.

[Aegis013]

Longsword or Scimitar (alternately Rapier) depending on your intentions.
Longsword is better in general, but Scimitar might work better if you're emphasizing crits.

[Cog]

Morningstar is pretty good; the same 1d8 as a longsword, but you trade in the slight increase in crit range for the ability to bypass two types of DR instead of just one.

[Scarlet-Devil]

Yup, longsword is the knightly standard. If you're feeling more medieval though, there's always battle axes and war hammers (all the same damage, but axes and hammers have triple damage criticals, and only score them on 20s). If you're a dwarf you should use a dwarven war axe (exotic, but dwarves are automatically proficient; 1d10 and x3 crit).

Like you said, it's largely personal preference, though some weapons will be better than others in specific circumstances (slashing vs piercing vs bludgeoning, combat maneuvers, and so on).

[J-H]

Longsword by a point, assuming you don't have Keen or Improved Critical.

http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/gaming/dnd/statistics/weapondamage/

[JaronK]

Lance, if you ride a mount.

JaronK

[Darth Stabber]

I kind of have to jump on the longsword bandwagon, with a morning star and dagger as backups (probably a reach polearm as well, yes I know you are primarily sword and board, but sometimes that extra 5' is just the thing). The longsword is the best all-arounder, but there are numerous reasons to pick another one. Crit-fishers obviously prefer scimitars, rapiers, and kukris. Just being a dwarf changes it to dwarven waraxe.

Just remember the importance of half decent backup weapons. Even a +1 special material dagger can be good enough to keep around.

My S&B'rs will usually have a silver and coldiron dagger to back up their adamantine main weapon, plus a ghost touch morning star and a polearm of some variety. By mid levels you can very reasonably afford to keep around a small collection of +1 niche weapons. My THWs will also have a number of nich weapons, because it's very hard to ensure that your main weapon is good for any task, and the price of a +1 or +2 weapon isn't a deterrent for very long. Adamantine and baatorian green steel are good choices for main weapons, with silver and coldiron being important to have around. If you can't get a true death crystal, having one of your backups be ghost touch is also important.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

In the low levels, a 1d8 weapon is definitely best since base weapon damage actually matters at that level. I'd go with a Battleaxe or Warhammer if martial, or a Morningstar if simple, due to x3 crits being often better than a 19-20/x2.

The Trident gets an honorable mention for Anchorman references alone.

In the mid to high levels, a higher threat range is definitely the better choice if you have Improved Crit or Keen, especially with a lot of bonus damage such as from Power Attack and/or (Charging) Smite. For that reason I'd go with a Scimitar.

If you don't really care about threat range and aren't going to be Power Attacking, go with a Spiked Gauntlet. You can still cast spells with that hand completely unhindered, you can't be disarmed of it, it's always unsheathed without looking too threatening, and it's just cool to punch your opponents to death.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Truncheon!

It's a sap, but 1-handed with a size higher damage die. Which means you can 2H it, power attack with it, etc.... Martial weapon, Book of Exalted Deeds.

The simple dagger synergizes with many things, including Shadow Blade feat and Master Thrower tricks, and has a very versatile set of parameters in return for the low base damage.

[Spuddles]

Kukri deserves a mention, if only for crit fishing with TWF. Not something I'd put on a sword & boarder, though.

[Fyermind]

Until one point of damage becomes insignificant, longsword. Once that point of damage isn't so meaningful, rapier. It is finesseable, and that extra chance of a critical will far outweigh the point of damage lost on average if you are hitting for more than 20 damage per hit.

The exact number you should switch at is based on the armor class you are targeting relative to your attack bonus, assuming there is no wasted damage on criticals (which there often is). 20 is the most it could possibly be (that is to say that would be the damage cap if you hit every time you attacked)

If you aren't interested in finesseable weapons, the scimitar and heavy pick are also roughly equal. I've noticed that high critical multipliers tend to waste more points of damage, but I may be wrong about that statistically speaking. There are also plenty of abilities that occur on any critical hit but don't scale with critical multipliers (such as the swashbuckler's late level abilities).

So I would rank those weapons as follows:
Rapier
Scimitar
Heavy Pick

[HunterOfJello]

Morningstar. It isn't the best damage and it doesn't have the best crit range, but it's easy to get proficiency in and it has 2 damage types at all times. No matter what other weapons you ever use, you should always keep a morningstar strapped to your side just in case.

[PEACH]

If you're good aligned and don't mind a weapon with a base price of 3k (and a base enhancement bonus of +1), sun swords from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft are nice. They're Bastard Swords that use Short Sword proficiency. However, it is a "legendary" weapon in the book, and has some associated rituals, but it's much nicer if you can advance it as per MIC rules (by that I mean slap new enhancements on at-cost).

They're certainly mildly overpowered, but only at the point where you can justify spending 2k extra on (essentially) a very slight boost in your damage and a sword that glows with undead around. You might also be able to convince a DM that you can use the sunsword as both a short sword or bastard sword for maneuvers, and if you have a very generous DM, you might be able to convince him that it can also work as a light weapon.

But even without those, you're essentially spending 2k over the normal price of a +1 bastard sword to get a good-only one that glows when undead are around and can be wielded if you can wield a short sword.

[Spuddles]

Morningstar. It isn't the best damage and it doesn't have the best crit range, but it's easy to get proficiency in and it has 2 damage types at all times. No matter what other weapons you ever use, you should always keep a morningstar strapped to your side just in case.

This is especially true at low levels when the DR on skeletons negates a ton of your damage.

[TuggyNE]

If you're good aligned and don't mind a weapon with a base price of 3k (and a base enhancement bonus of +1), sun swords from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft are nice. They're Bastard Swords that use Short Sword proficiency. However, it is a "legendary" weapon in the book, and has some associated rituals, but it's much nicer if you can advance it as per MIC rules (by that I mean slap new enhancements on at-cost).

They're certainly mildly overpowered, but only at the point where you can justify spending 2k extra on (essentially) a very slight boost in your damage and a sword that glows with undead around. You might also be able to convince a DM that you can use the sunsword as both a short sword or bastard sword for maneuvers, and if you have a very generous DM, you might be able to convince him that it can also work as a light weapon.

But even without those, you're essentially spending 2k over the normal price of a +1 bastard sword to get a good-only one that glows when undead are around and can be wielded if you can wield a short sword.

Similar, but vastly more expensive, are the regular Sun Blades in Core: 50kgp for a +2/+4 bastard sword wieldable as a shortsword with 1/day daylight and extra crit multiplier against undead etc.

[Darrin]

Similar, but vastly more expensive, are the regular Sun Blades in Core: 50kgp for a +2/+4 bastard sword wieldable as a shortsword with 1/day daylight and extra crit multiplier against undead etc.

There's a cheaper version in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: lesser/unawakened sunsword +1, 3000 GP. Counts as a one-handed bastard sword, and if you can wield shortswords, you're considered proficient.

[Andreaz]

Longsword by a point, assuming you don't have Keen or Improved Critical.

http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/gaming/dnd/statistics/weapondamage/I'd be a bit more detailed about it. This has been discussed in length, but long story short: If you can rely on your crits, the scimitar beats the longsword after you get a nontrivial damage bonus. Something around 40 points I think.

[Darth Stabber]

I'd be a bit more detailed about it. This has been discussed in length, but long story short: If you can rely on your crits, the scimitar beats the longsword after you get a nontrivial damage bonus. Something around 40 points I think.

And if you are already relying on crits, you can get some decent abilities that trigger on crits. Blood in the water, burst qualities, telling blow, and several others do some nice things with crits if you are willing to grab a scabbard of keen edge, the keen ability, or improved critical on your rapier/scimitar/kukri. That being said, you can get more reliable results out of using things that don't rely on crits. A +1 psychokinetic collision longsword and devoting your build resources to reliable damage will net more damage +1 keen x-burst scimitar even before counting in likely energy resistance, unless you devote feats or class abilities to crit fishing, which you could have instead just spent on general damage and recieved a probable better result.

[PEACH]

There's a cheaper version in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft: lesser/unawakened sunsword +1, 3000 GP. Counts as a one-handed bastard sword, and if you can wield shortswords, you're considered proficient.

You just responded to his post about Sun Blades by mentioning Sun Swords, when his post was about Sun Blades in response to me bringing up Sun Swords.

This is going to be a cyclical and confusing discussion.

[White_Drake]

Okay, I'm looking at either the longsword or the scimitar. The scimitar is tempting, because I like critical hits. Also, the character in question would worship Bahamut, and I seem to recall something in the Draconomicon saying that scimitars can be used symbolically as claws, so the fluff fits. However, my d8s are easily my luckiest dice, so I am torn.
Thanks to everybody for their prompt and informative responses.

[herrhauptmann]

Wouldn't a spiked/razored gauntlet better mimic a set of claws?

A big question, how much of the loot in this game will be randomly determined? If the answer is most or all, stick with longsword. It has probably the biggest chance of appearing in random loot tables.

[TuggyNE]

You just responded to his post about Sun Blades by mentioning Sun Swords, when his post was about Sun Blades in response to me bringing up Sun Swords.

This is going to be a cyclical and confusing discussion.

Has anyone mentioned recursion yet? :smalltongue:

[Ravens_cry]

This is especially true at low levels when the DR on skeletons negates a ton of your damage.
Especially if you are sword and boarding and have lower starting damage.

[Darrin]

Has anyone mentioned recursion yet? :smalltongue:

It's not so much recursion as I completely and utterly failed to notice PEACH's post and tuggyne quoting it. Sorry about that.