Exotic Weapons, what's the point?

[tedcahill2]

With the exception of a few weapons, like the spiked chain, it seems like most people agree that the usual +1 average damage that most exotic weapons give isn't worth the feat.

1) What weapons are worth the feat?
2) Does anyone know of any attempts have been made to make the feat worth the investment for other weapons?
2a) If no to question 2, let's make one.
3) What should exotic weapons do?
a) increase damage
b) provide bonuses to specific maneuvers or fighting styles (i.e. trip disarm bonuses)
c) provide unique features (10ft threaten of spiked chain, rapid firing of repeating crossbow)

Let's discuss.

[Rebel7284]

Kaorti Resin can be fun. :)

[Deeds]

The feat does what it says in the name: knowledge and use of a strange weapon. If the feat is TOO good you'll start seeing more double bladed swords while long swords would become the exotic weapon.

I do think that the monk weapons from PH1 should be improved. Increasing damage dice, crit ratio, or adding a reach weapon with flurry would be great for monks.

/inb4 inevitable wizard vs fighter discussion

[Jack_McSnatch]

I usually do it for suboptimal reasons, honestly. To give the character a distinctive weapon, or a fighting style that reflects their personality. One time my DM even had us on a murder mystery, where the murderer was using my exact style and weapon.

[Grod_The_Giant]

1. The Spiked Chain is a classic. Gnomish Quickrazors are good for certain builds. Elven Courtblades, maybe? (They're finessable two-handed weapons with good crit ranges; work well for Dex-based melee types). Kaorti Resin, as mentioned. I'm sure there are more. (Etherblades?)

2. I don't think so. The problem is that it's been applied very inconsistently. Some weapons (say, a Bastard Sword) are exotic because they're better than their martial counterparts; others (say, a sai) are "exotic" because they're not conventional Western fantasy. Obviously the first step would be to move all of those to the correct place on the simple/martial tables. After that... you could pump up the feat so it applies to, oh, more weapons, or so that it has an added benefit, but I think you're generally better off bumping the weapons themselves.

3. I think "C" is the right option here. Or at least a mix of B and C-- new options are almost universally better than bigger numbers. Exotic Weapons should ideally open new builds. Quickrazors, for instance, give you stealth options and make Iajutsu Focus a lot more reliable; a Courtblade opens up non Str-based power attack. So the best bet would be to rewrite iconic exotic weapons along those lines. A Bastard Sword, say, could maybe be wielded in one hand while still counting as a two-handed weapon for damage and Power Attack-- that would make shields a lot more useful, say. That sort of thing.

[flappeercraft]

Well, you can always take the -4 on the attack roll instead of taking the feat