Scary Weapons

[Cardea]

I'm looking for what weapon in D&D 3.5 is the most terrifying and/or intimidating.

This isn't looking for some mechanical edge or some way to do fear stacking, this is me asking you what weapon do you think is the most brutally shocking, intimidating, frightening weapon you can think of with listed stats on a weapons table? Just plain unenchanted no embellishment no fancy detail weapon. A harpoon? A longspear? A spiked chain? A jovar? Which one fits your bill?

[AlanBruce]

If we are going by fluff alone, the spiked chain.

Heavy metal links with fist sized spikes running down the entire length. The thing swings like a whip in the hand of an expert and can not only rip your legs with such force as to knock you down, but in the hands of a trained warrior, you can be dropped flat on your back or face and then feel the monstrous scrape of spikes tearing down your flesh as the chains punish your allies several feet away.

It's a brutal weapon, make no mistake about it. Mostly because in the hands of someone that can wield it well (the right feats), it can neutralize more than half of your party, which alone should bring some morale penalties to the table as a single opponent dropped and bashed your friends in the span of six seconds.

[nintendoh]

Tigerskull club from frostburn. Its a skull on a stick with pointy bits.

[PaucaTerrorem]

I will always attest to the Heavy Flail as the ultimate **** off weapon. A giant spiked ball attached to a big ass stick by heavy links of steel. Total face smashing will ensue.

[Edenbeast]

Scary weapons, disregarding damage, but based on fluff, psychology, or just simply a weapon that looks painful. The ones that come to (my) mind:
The scythe, the weapon wielded by Death itself.
Heavy Flail looks brutal.
Greataxe, or something that make you look like an executioner.
A kama looks painful.. Same goes for the kukri. They remind me of the claws of dromaeosaurids.

[ben-zayb]

I'd go for Spiked Full-Plate & Gauntlet. That would be, a warrior, armored to the teeth that can easily shrug off your attacks, and then impale you with a tackle or a punch

[bekeleven]

Flail. Oversized. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xPV9JWWtOQ0#t=69)

[Vhaidara]

Sugliin. The big one in the middle. (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/Elemental402/img010.jpg)

[Tvtyrant]

Sugliin. The big one in the middle. (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/Elemental402/img010.jpg)

I came here to do this one. It is so big it takes a standard action to use.

[Âmesang]

Your opponent's own, severed limb.

"Stop hitting yourself!"

[LudicSavant]

Scariest weapon? The enchantment school of spells. I talk, you listen. Think what I want you to think. Do something unspeakable with your own hands. Now laugh about it. Haha! Aren't we having a jolly fun time?

Oh, metal bits? I thought you wanted scary weapons. Scar people for life and make them live in perpetual fear of it weapons. Metal bits, especially Exotic Weapon Proficiency metal bits, indicate that you're a rather pedestrian and likely underpowered sort of threat. You don't use those to intimidate powerful people in the D&D-verse, you use them to make people underestimate you or think you're quaint. "Oh look at the little man, he has a whip made of skulls. Isn't that adorable? I can make a tidal wave of skulls by waving my hand."

Want a good example of enchantment being scary? Just look at Jessica Jones. The scene in the police station, perhaps.

Of course, that assumes a broader definition of weapon than the OP might be intending.

[MisterKaws]

My guess would be an exalted monk's body, those guys can kill a succubus on her own kind of "fight".

The monk's entire body counts as a weapon, and exalted-focused monks tend to deal ridiculously high amounts of damage to evil creatures just by "touching" them.

[Cardea]

Thanks for the input, guys. I forgot about the sugliin.


Scariest weapon? The enchantment school of spells. I talk, you listen. Think what I want you to think. Do something unspeakable with your own hands. Now laugh about it. Haha! Aren't we having a jolly fun time?

Oh, metal bits? I thought you wanted scary weapons. Scar people for life and make them live in perpetual fear of it weapons. Metal bits, especially Exotic Weapon Proficiency metal bits, indicate that you're a rather pedestrian and likely underpowered sort of threat. You don't use those to intimidate powerful people in the D&D-verse, you use them to make people underestimate you or think you're quaint. "Oh look at the little man, he has a whip made of skulls. Isn't that adorable? I can make a tidal wave of skulls by waving my hand."

Want a good example of enchantment being scary? Just look at Jessica Jones. The scene in the police station, perhaps.
This is unhelpful, off-topic and, most of all, it is unwanted. While you might be attempting humor, this is simply mocking the topic on hand at best.

[Rubik]

Kender are pretty terrifying, especially when wielded by a frenzied berzerker.

For something more serious, a scythe can be horrifyingly bloody weapon. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYW2GmHB5xs)

Also, ripping out someone's throat with your teeth can be pretty damned brutal.

[LudicSavant]

Apparently the OP only wants things with stats on a weapon table, in which case kenders, teeth, severed limbs, and Monks don't count.

Personally, I don't think the weapon matters half as much as how it's used, as well as the audience and context. For instance, the scythe's death association thing is very culture-specific. To others, it's just a farmer's tool.

So to intimidate, you have to know the audience or you have to be able to do something intimidating with the weapon (even if it's just carrying it in an intimidating way). Alternatively, a tool where simply visualizing its intended function causes one to wince; some torture devices come to mind but nothing's jumping into my head for things on the D&D weapon table.

[Rubik]

Apparently the OP only wants things with stats on a weapon table, in which case kenders, teeth, severed limbs, and Monks don't count.Bite attacks are definitely a thing.

And I do believe there's a feat that allows you to use other creatures as weapons.

[LudicSavant]

Bite attacks are definitely a thing.

And I do believe there's a feat that allows you to use other creatures as weapons.

Yeah, but it's not on a weapons table, AFAIK.

I mean he already got upset at me for mentioning spells and those can produce wieldable weapons like a Blade of Pain and Fear (which is a 3 foot long weapon made of gnashing teeth that literally causes you to make saving throws against fear if you get hit by one).

Edit: What about alchemical weapons? Fire and smoke and noise are intimidating. It was part of the point of guns. Acid sneak attacks make people's faces melt. Alchemist's fire makes you on fire. Noxious smokesticks make it so that you're disoriented and can't see.

I've had a few scenes where creative use of alchemical weapons straight up caused the other side to freak out.

[Cardea]

Yeah, but it's not on a weapons table, AFAIK.

I mean he already got upset at me for mentioning spells and those can produce wieldable weapons like a Blade of Pain and Fear (which is a 3 foot long weapon made of gnashing teeth that literally causes you to make saving throws against fear if you get hit by one).

Edit: What about alchemical weapons? Fire and smoke and noise are intimidating. It was part of the point of guns. Acid sneak attacks make people's faces melt. Alchemist's fire makes you on fire. Noxious smokesticks make it so that you're disoriented and can't see.

I've had a few scenes where creative use of alchemical weapons straight up caused the other side to freak out.
I was more upset over the fact that your post came off as mocking what I was looking for. As said in PM, I do apologize for my rudeness, as I did not see your contribution as wanting to be helpful.

And you were not citing things like Blade of Pain and Fear, just the illusion school in general, with the only specific example being "a tidal wave of skulls".

My only hesitation with alchemical weapons is that they're more or less charge based and only scary for a limited time, up until I run out of charges.

[LudicSavant]

only specific example

Specific: Dominate Person. Suggestion. Modify Memory. Mindrape. Lots of Compulsions.

Using these tools traumatizes people.

[MisterKaws]

Specific: Dominate Person. Suggestion. Modify Memory. Mindrape. Lots of Compulsions.

Using these tools traumatizes people.

I think a monk killing people by wiggling his thing at them would give far more traumas to people than those spells.

[Rubik]

I think a monk killing people by wiggling his thing at them would give far more traumas to people than those spells.Porn is a thing, you know.

"Shake your money-maker!"

It takes the phrase "screw you" to a whole new level.

[PraxisVetli]

I'm looking for what weapon in D&D 3.5 is the most terrifying and/or intimidating.

This isn't looking for some mechanical edge or some way to do fear stacking, this is me asking you what weapon do you think is the most brutally shocking, intimidating, frightening weapon you can think of with listed stats on a weapons table? Just plain unenchanted no embellishment no fancy detail weapon. A harpoon? A longspear? A spiked chain? A jovar? Which one fits your bill?

I wouldn't say it's the scariest, but there's something to be said about the raw brutality of a spiked club. The bigger and rustier the better.

[Dusk Raven]

Yeah, but it's not on a weapons table, AFAIK.

I think it's less about tables and more about things you can physically hit enemies with. Also, to briefly comment on your first post - anyone who looks at a person wielding a weapon, and writes them off as "pedestrian" no matter the weapon, has not had me as a DM... but, let them think their martial foes are not a threat. Their confidence will not save them...

...Ahem. Anyway, it's hard for me to say what's most intimidating - I don't know what it is, but mostly, visual things are... not enough to scare me. Sometimes you just have to appeal to my other senses, though... like my sense of pain. There are some weapons that I can't even bear to select for my character because I cringe every time I imagine them used. These tend to be more vicious weapons like the morningstar and flails. Spiked weapons like that, that deal damage by more means than just the spikes, really intimidate me, as do serrated weapons and anything that promises to rupture flesh in multiple ways.

On a less physical and more logic-based sense, I'd probably find esoteric but effective weapons like the spiked chain intimidating as well. It takes skill to use a spiked chain, so anyone who wields a spiked chain and is alive must be fought with caution.

[ekarney]

Sugliin. The big one in the middle. (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/Elemental402/img010.jpg)

I also came here to do this one.

The wounds that thing would leave are horrifying, and when you consider it's usual wielders such as Neanderthals it becomes wet pants inducing.

[Inevitability]

I came here to do this one. It is so big it takes a standard action to use.

I think you mean full-round action.

But yes. A full round to swing it, and you have to take a feat to make iterative attacks with it? That thing is horrifying. Not bad for a bunch of antlers strapped to a stick. :smalltongue:

[Vhaidara]

But yes. A full round to swing it, and you have to take a feat to make iterative attacks with it? That thing is horrifying. Not bad for a bunch of antlers strapped to a stick. :smalltongue:

And, I forget, is it an exotic as well? Which would mean a 2 feat investment to use it properly?

[Dusk Raven]

Sugliin. The big one in the middle. (http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/Elemental402/img010.jpg)

Um. Am I the only one who thinks this thing looks incredibly fragile? I have never had the misfortune to be gored by deer or moose, so I'm not going to risk underestimating them, but those antlers don't look like they're held on too well. And if nothing else, a heavy blow from a metal weapon would probably destroy it.

Is there something I'm missing? Is there any reason you'd want to use it? I've never seen a weapon that required a full round action to use, at least nothing man-portable. I'm kinda imagining something like the Great Knife from Silent Hill 2 in that it takes about 3 seconds to swing. Except it doesn't have nearly as much weight or damage as the GK.

[ZamielVanWeber]

How about the Minotaur Greathammer. What is it? A big, freaking, hammer. This thing is big enough at medium to crush a skull in one swing. Nasty piece of work.

[Shackel]

Here's an unorthodox one: the monk's unarmed strike. It's bad enough when you've been stabbed through the gut by an enemy longsword, or a knight crushes you with a morningstar.

But 9/10, you're at least in a place you can expect it to happen. The monk looks like anyone. Can be anyone. They don't need daggers, or greatswords or axes. They can kill you in a single blow. Not a mass of metal or wood, but human flesh is capable of inflicting the same mortal wounds as a greatclub or worse.

If I were a commoner who saw an even middling level monk in action, I would be frightened to tears by any stranger who lifts their hand in an even remotely knowledgeable way. After all, how can you look at a thrown punch or kick the same again when you see what likely looks like some average guy cleave a man clean in half with it?

[Spore]

A blacksmith's hammer. This guy has enough power and endurance to form steel, to make it bend to his will. And not only that but the result isn't just a bent metal item but it is a tool or a weapon. What it lacks in grace and tactical advantage it adds in sheer awe towards smiths.

On a similar note: Any misused tool. Someone was so angry or so desperate to use farming tools, kitchen utensils, child's toys as weapons. Be it a kitchen knife (that is NOT a dagger by any means), some angry hunter killing his wife with a fire hook, or a farmer defending himself with a sickle against a territorial bear.

Anything that can attack the eyes. No really, loss of sight and piercing the eyes is a very scary thought.

[Âmesang]

That reminds me, one of these days I need to stat out the hoe of destruction from "Ultima VII: The Black Gate."

[Rubik]

That reminds me, one of these days I need to stat out the hoe of destruction from "Ultima VII: The Black Gate."We already have a succubus paladin. What more could you want?

[Azoth]

To me there is something unnerving about someone armed with only a smile and a dagger. That would give me more pause and hesitation than any monster with a huge freaking weapon.

[Lagren]

To me there is something unnerving about someone armed with only a smile and a dagger. That would give me more pause and hesitation than any monster with a huge freaking weapon.

Personally, I would argue that someone armed with a smile and a scalpel is significantly more unnerving.

[ILM]

The harpoon from Stormwrack is a mean, barbed spear that lodges into the target and cripples it (Ref save with a DC scaling with damage dealt, or slowed). By holding on to the rope, the attacker can basically pull the target around by its wound. If the target is desperate enough to try and pull it out, it takes a full-round action and the barbs deal the initial damage again as they mangle the flesh on their way out.

[Jeff the Green]

Was the macuahuitl statted up? Because that's what'd get my vote: a piece of wood with chunks of obsidian lodged in it to make a kind of serrated sword. Alternatively, the sharktooth staff is similar, if less terrifying for having its drawing look like it's made from rotting driftwood.

[TIPOT]

Executioner's mace's are pretty funky looking. They're a combination of an axe and a morning star and are found in a dungeon magazine.

Here is one.
http://static3.paizo.com/image/product/catalog/TSR/TSR82135_500.jpeg

[atemu1234]

Executioner's mace's are pretty funky looking. They're a combination of an axe and a morning star and are found in a dungeon magazine.

Here is one.
http://static3.paizo.com/image/product/catalog/TSR/TSR82135_500.jpeg

Wow. That appears completely impractical.

[Chambers]

Came here to post about the Executioners Mace, glad to see that's covered. Aside from that one, I'll vote for any kind of weapon made from a body part of a scary Monster. Could be a dragontooth dagger, could be a mindflayer tentacle whip. Says more about the person wielding it than them just having a big Sword.

[Triskavanski]

Some of my favorite ones are hidden blades. Granted its not frightening until you start releasing a few.

How about a Plasma rifle? While it doesn't have a cost, there is something like it in the DMG.

I often make snipers with a great crossbow

[Fouredged Sword]

My favored weapon, both from a fluff and crunch side, is the scythe. You have a huge hooked blade curving off a long polearm used to slice sections off whatever you swing it at.

On a crunch side, Scythes are swingy damage wise. Fighting someone who is wielding a scythe means you are always one bad roll away from a huge amount of damage coming your way.

[Dusk Raven]

Executioner's mace's are pretty funky looking. They're a combination of an axe and a morning star and are found in a dungeon magazine.

Here is one.
http://static3.paizo.com/image/product/catalog/TSR/TSR82135_500.jpeg

Not sure that's a combination of anything, it's just a two-handed morningstar. Which still triggers my innate empathy/squeamishness, but still. Also, that doesn't seem like something a decent executioner would use.


How about a Plasma rifle? While it doesn't have a cost, there is something like it in the DMG.

One of the video games I've played had in its database exactly what happens to you when a load of plasma hits you. It's... not pretty. So yeah, I can see that.


My favored weapon, both from a fluff and crunch side, is the scythe. You have a huge hooked blade curving off a long polearm used to slice sections off whatever you swing it at.

On a crunch side, Scythes are swingy damage wise. Fighting someone who is wielding a scythe means you are always one bad roll away from a huge amount of damage coming your way.

Scythes... frankly, scythes are designed for farming, not combat, and from the looks of things in 3.5's Player's Handbook and Pathfinder's Core Rulebook, scythes are indeed the farming tools, and would thus be extremely awkward in combat. So awkward that it's better to take the blade off and reattach it so it's pointing straight out, making an improvised glaive. It is possible to make a "battle-scythe" but that requires several changes to the design, as well as a rather esoteric fighting style.

And yeah, scythes do have a rare x4 critical, for some reason, but that doesn't really help much given its low rate...

[Cirrylius]

My favored weapon, both from a fluff and crunch side, is the scythe. You have a huge hooked blade curving off a long polearm used to slice sections off whatever you swing it at.


I had a wizard who carried an odd, short, curved staff with two adjacent handles on one side and a widened top. When he thought combat was imminent, he'd bang one end on the ground, pull the handles apart, and the switchblade scythe would spring out as the handle extended. The inspiration came from The Frighteners:smallbiggrin:

[Fouredged Sword]

And yeah, scythes do have a rare x4 critical, for some reason, but that doesn't really help much given its low rate...

Yeah, it's not for players, it's for enemies. My players always treat that high strength scythe fighter that confronts them with a good deal of caution. I throw them around as guards to farms and such. A nice mix of pitchforks (tridents), scythes, spears and slings.

Or you can do the whole halfling cleric crit fisher build and have crits at 1, 19, 20 and whenever you really need them.

[Âmesang]

Reminds me of a scythe "staff" I made for a worm-that-walks, once:

WINTER'S CHILL
This +5 cold iron frost scythe is cool to the touch and appears to be wreathed in an icy mist. Along with its aforementioned abilities the scythe sheathes the wielder in cold, granting him fire resistance 30. The weapon also doubles as a staff, allowing use of the following spells:
Circle of death (heightened to 8th level) (3 charges)
Ice storm (1 charge)
Otiluke's freezing sphere (heightened to 8th level) (1 charge)After all charges are used up from the staff, it remains a +5 cold iron scythe with no special abilities.
Strong necromancy; CL 15th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Staff, Heighten Spell, circle of death, ice storm, Otiluke's freezing sphere; Price 208,336 gp; Cost 108,336 gp + 8,320 XP; Weight 10 lb.

EDIT: Bleah, I think I've grossly underpriced it by misreading/misinterpreting the rules on crafting staffs, so the price should probably be 268,336 gp (an epic weapon), unless you take away the fire resistance. Even removing the cold iron aspect should then give it an "even" 200,336 gp price tag, heh.)