Greatsword enchantment

[HALFORCSTEVE]

I have a Large Greatsword wielding character that is lvl 4 right now I want to see about what enchantment should I go with. I am currently trying to build a devastating criting character. I would like to know what enchantment would you go with?

[Yuki Akuma]

...Keen?

Keen is pretty much the go-to enhancement for critting.

[OldTrees1]

I would be surprised you can afford the 8000gp for a +1 Keen sword at 4th level. (all weapons must become +1 before they can get named abilities) However for a crit build another good enchantment is Speed (although that is much more expensive)

[Zombulian]

I would be surprised you can afford the 8000gp for a +1 Keen sword at 4th level. (all weapons must become +1 before they can get named abilities) However for a crit build another good enchantment is Speed (although that is much more expensive)

Untrue. They only need to be masterwork.

Edit: I lied.
Went to fact check myself after posting, found the srd thing proving you right. Internet gave out. Nice.

[Deophaun]

Untrue. They only need to be masterwork.
Uh, no. It's very true.

A weapon with a special ability must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.

[OldTrees1]

Untrue. They only need to be masterwork.
I am skeptical but there might be an obscure exception to the general rule.
Citation please?

[Toliudar]

No, they really do need a +1 enhancement first.


A weapon with a special ability must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.

...and swordsaged.

[Chronos]

Collision is also good, though it's out of your budget at the moment.

[herrhauptmann]

I would take the luck feats out of Complete Scoundrel too.
Free rerolls, and one of them turns your fumbles into crits.

[Rebel7284]

If you want to optimize critical hits and have a feat to spare, there is always the Jovar for great critical range to begin with. Also, at later levels, the scabbard of keen edges outpaces having an actual keen weapon cost-wise.

As for good abilities, Spell Storing is always nice if you have a friendly wizard around. :)

[LTwerewolf]

If you're going to be a crit fisher, falchion or scythe are always fun. It's not as optimized for exact numbers as greatsword, but I find in actual play, they outperform.

[Raezeman]

Instead of getting the keen enchantment, try to find a buddy that is a bard, wizard or sorcerer with the level 3 spell 'Dolorous Blow' (spell compendium) to cast it on your weapon. It also doubles the crit range, but any threats are automatically confirmed. The spell lasts minutes per level, which is minimum 50 rounds i think. So for actual enchantment bonus on the greatsword: VORPAL (though this one is a lot more expensive, out of price range for a 4th level character for some time i'm afraid)

[OldTrees1]

Instead of getting the keen enchantment, try to find a buddy that is a bard, wizard or sorcerer with the level 3 spell 'Dolorous Blow' (spell compendium) to cast it on your weapon. It also doubles the crit range, but any threats are automatically confirmed. The spell lasts minutes per level, which is minimum 50 rounds i think. So for actual enchantment bonus on the greatsword: VORPAL (though this one is a lot more expensive, out of price range for a 4th level character for some time i'm afraid)

Vorpal only works on a natural 20. A crit build likes the other numbers too. Speed (extra attack) has more synergy with his build.

[Raezeman]

Vorpal only works on a natural 20. O really? Did not know that...

[TuggyNE]

O really? Did not know that...

It got nerfed by 3.5; 3.0 allowed it to trigger on all crits.

[Luciandevine]

I am a big fan of the crit fighter builds, and it's an archetype tat I build often. If your dm allows, I recommend the Flamberge (Quintessential Fighter) or the Great Falchion (Sandstorm). Both of these weapons are exotic, I believe, and thus require an extra feat to use, but it ends up being worth it for the 2d6 18-20/2 base stats. They'd be 3d6 damage in the hands of your large fighter.

As for weapon enchantments, I tend to go with a +5 Speed weapon. You can't always count on having a haste spell around, but you can easily take improved critical at level 8, making your threat range 15-20.

[RMS Oceanic]

I am a big fan of the crit fighter builds, and it's an archetype tat I build often. If your dm allows, I recommend the Flamberge (Quintessential Fighter) or the Great Falchion (Sandstorm). Both of these weapons are exotic, I believe, and thus require an extra feat to use, but it ends up being worth it for the 2d6 18-20/2 base stats. They'd be 3d6 damage in the hands of your large fighter.

As for weapon enchantments, I tend to go with a +5 Speed weapon. You can't always count on having a haste spell around, but you can easily take improved critical at level 8, making your threat range 15-20.

Unless you're a full fighter and have feats to burn, it's usually better to buy the Keen enhancement than take Improved Critical, since they do the same thing and don't stack with each other.

[Kelb_Panthera]

You might consider going into weapon master from OA and SaF. I understand it's available online as the psychic weapon master as well. 7th level ability: gain the benefit of improved critical or your threat range increases by two if you already have improved critical. If you're a fighter anyway, it's the quickest way I know of to get a 13-20 crit range, though on a greatsword you're stuck with a 15-20.

Edit: on-topic you might consider the energy bursts later on. Psychokinetic burst would be the first pick, obviously.

[Crake]

Screw all that, get a scythe, take levels of cleric and paladin (or blackguard if that's your preference) and cast bless/corrupt weapon and surge of fortune for an automatic crit/confirm. Combine with power attack for fun shenanigans.

[Zombulian]

Screw all that, get a scythe, take levels of cleric and paladin (or blackguard if that's your preference) and cast bless/corrupt weapon and surge of fortune for an automatic crit/confirm. Combine with power attack for fun shenanigans.

Well you could do all of what you just said, and also get one of those nice 15-20 weapons and just have it made of Kaorti Resin.

[Chronos]

Quoth Rebel7284:

Also, at later levels, the scabbard of keen edges outpaces having an actual keen weapon cost-wise.
I see this suggested a lot, but the scabbard requires an action to activate, and a fight has to go pretty long before that's worth it.

[danzibr]

Instead of getting the keen enchantment, try to find a buddy that is a bard, wizard or sorcerer with the level 3 spell 'Dolorous Blow' (spell compendium) to cast it on your weapon. It also doubles the crit range, but any threats are automatically confirmed. The spell lasts minutes per level, which is minimum 50 rounds i think. So for actual enchantment bonus on the greatsword: VORPAL (though this one is a lot more expensive, out of price range for a 4th level character for some time i'm afraid)
Dang, that's nice.

I'm having ideas for a melee Bard...

[Raezeman]

Dang, that's nice.

I'm having ideas for a melee Bard...

It is a basis for my battle sorcerer / abjurant champion build. Wielding falchion 2-handed with power attack. Adding some arcane strike and buffing spells, quickened true strike from time to time...

[Luciandevine]

Unless you're a full fighter and have feats to burn, it's usually better to buy the Keen enhancement than take Improved Critical, since they do the same thing and don't stack with each other.

I generally go pure fighter for builds like this. Since I'm a fighter to start with, I'm already basically accepting my role in the party. So if the rest of the party has the spells, skills, and everything else the party needs, just stack pure offensive power and hope that you don't screw up the non-combat situations, lol.

[Red Fel]

I seem to remember some math-y people running the numbers and determining that crit-dependent enhancements simply aren't as productive, numerically speaking, as enhancements which grant consistent bonus damage, such as Flaming Burst.

Admittedly, if your build is designed around crits, that's one thing (at least until you start running into crit-immune enemies), but if it's not, I think your WBL would be better spent on enhancements other than Keen/Vorpal.

[Luciandevine]

I would agree with you, except that most higher level things have resistances to most, if not all of the elements. Fire resist 5 would render a flaming weapon enchantment near useless, and a flaming burst only useful on critical hits.

My build, the one I originally made, but was never allowed to use, was a v3.5 Fighter into Living Blade into Wrecker. I know multiple prestige classes aren't normally allowed, but he said all books were open, and I went for it, lol.

So anyway, Fighter with the Massive feat with an item that could cast Enlarge Person on him, wielding a Flamberge (2d6 18-20X2). Massive increased the damage to 3d6. Enlarge Person made it 4d6. Wrecker let him wield a weapon one size category bigger, which made it 6d6. Featherlight weapon enchantment from Quintessential Fighter 2 made it 8d6. I believe I took Monkey Grip, which made it 12d6.

Anyway, what I'm getting at, is that when you combine these options with: Improved Critical, making it 15-20X2, Greater Critical, from Quint Fighter 2 jumped the crit mod to 3, Exotic Weapon Mastery made it X4, and Living blade made it a X5, you end up with a very Huge character wielding a ridiculously over-sized weapon that strikes for a lot of normal damage and unreal critical hits, pending DM approval of course.

Oh, also worth noting, that I could have been a Goliath instead of a human to make the damage 16d6 15-20X5, but I held back.

[Chronos]

I know multiple prestige classes aren't normally allowed,
I don't know that. Does anyone else know that?

Oh, and I don't know about the other things you mentioned, but Monkey Grip doesn't stack with most other ways of increasing your effective size.

[Spore]

I remember your character being a Barbarian. If you can have the Furious enchantment from PF (or the D&D one with +2 Str/Con). Pf works like that: +1 Furious weapons counts as +1 outside of Rage, inside of rage, it counts as +3 a weapon. It costs like a +2 weapon.

[Yuki Akuma]

I don't know that. Does anyone else know that?

I didn't know that.

(Because it's not true.)

[Feilith]

Vicious is a personal favorite of mine on a greatsword, nothing much feels better than a handful of d6s blowing your foes into oblivion, and for almost every mook and even some bosses you'll be dropping people with every swing. It's not crit focused, but greatswords aren't the best for crit builds.

[Luciandevine]

My friends and I always pictured prestige classes as a relative career of sorts. So most times we picked only 1. We later amended our house rules to accommodate one 10 level prestige class and one 5 level. Our games rarely got above level 20. So multiple 10 level prestige classes never came up.

[Luciandevine]

As for Monkey Grip, it is entirely possible that I am mistaken and didn't take it in that build. That was a long time ago, and we've since moved on to Pathfinder, but I still reminisce about that character, which I got to make but never play.

[Luciandevine]

Vicious is a personal favorite of mine on a greatsword, nothing much feels better than a handful of d6s blowing your foes into oblivion, and for almost every mook and even some bosses you'll be dropping people with every swing. It's not crit focused, but greatswords aren't the best for crit builds.

I can't help but agree with you there. Vicious is an enjoyable one to use, and the drawback of the 1d6 damage to yourself hasn't been my undoing yet!

[HALFORCSTEVE]

I was just going to ask if the 1d6 damage was an issue in battle and if it should be a turn off and if using cleave and I'm taking on multiples that 1d6 could add up.

[Luciandevine]

In theory, it can add up, but if you're doing enough damage to drop the average enemy with an attack or two, it shouldn't be enough to make too big of a difference. On a similar note, you also have to compare the 1d6 you're doing to yourself versus the damage the enemy might do to you if they get to hit you.

[OldTrees1]

My friends and I always pictured prestige classes as a relative career of sorts. So most times we picked only 1. We later amended our house rules to accommodate one 10 level prestige class and one 5 level. Our games rarely got above level 20. So multiple 10 level prestige classes never came up.

Sidenote: I would recommend relaxing this houserule in the case of multiple prestige classes that depict the same career. (Paladin 5 => Platinum Knight 2 => Vassal of Bahamut 10 for example)

[lsfreak]

Sidenote: I would recommend relaxing this houserule in the case of multiple prestige classes that depict the same career. (Paladin 5 => Platinum Knight 2 => Vassal of Bahamut 10 for example)

...not to mention most prestige classes can be fluffed to be of the same career. As I've used for an example in the past, cleric 3/church inquisitor 1/ordained champion 2/sacred exorcist 1/ruby knight vindicator 2 is level 10, has six different classes, and except for the last levels of RKV needs no refluffing to work. It's just a paladin. Less extreme, but similar, are things like illusionist/master specialist/dread witch/nightmare spinner/archmage, or rogue/assassin/shadowdancer/telflammar shadowlord.

EDIT: Woops, forgot the on-topic part. Really I think the best overall enhancement for damage, whether crit or not, is Collision. Unless I'm after something specific, like a kukri critfisher or a skirmish archer, it's the first thing I go after.

[Fooliscious]

There was a math crunch post a few weeks ago that showed Vicious being the best bang for your buck, followed by dancing(not counting holy/unholy).

As for absurd crit damage, collision would be the way to go I think, it's damage stacks with the enhancement damage and gets multiplied.

[Chronos]

Vicious is certainly best just judging by how much damage you do to the opponent, but it's hard to quantify the value of how much damage it does to you. It also doesn't particularly synergize with crits, since the extra damage is in dice, which aren't multiplied.