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View Full Version : [WoL] I'd like an opinion on this weapon of Legacy



Kilo-Graham
2017-11-23, 01:57 PM
Hello everyone, this is my first time posting although not the first time I used the help from you all :smallsmile: So already many thanks for the info I found here ! :smallwink:

So here it is, one of the 3.5 games I'm currently playing in has seen our small 3-man party devellop into a very resistant vampire, a spellcaster who is very good at mind-controlling monsters and NPCs alike and me :smalltongue:. I am playing a standard Disciple of Dispater build and right now the DM told me I was less of a threat than any of the other two and since he plans on buffing enemy monsters to make them more of a challenge to the others, he would not mind if I improved a bit :smalleek:. We are all level 8 right now.

One thing both me and the DM wanted to try out was growing weapons, so I showed him the weapon of legacy book and he said "why not ?" :smallamused:. We've made something together and wanted to have an opinion on it since wherever we looked, people were saying most of the time WoL were not worth it (as in personal costs too high).:smallfrown:

This currently is a set of twin +1 Scimitars (medium size for my tieffling).:smallsmile:


all penalty values are cumulatives.


Level
BAB penalty
Reflex saves penalty[
hit points penalty[
Special Ability


5



Menu A : Deflection(+1)


6
-1


Protection from good (permanent) (= Menu A)


7

-1
-2
Menu A : Intelligent Legacy, Minor


8


-2



9

-1




10


-2
Menu C : Fly


11






12
-1


+1 aptitude scimitars (= Menu E)


13



Menu D : Haste


14


-2



15

-1




16


-2
Menu F : Enervation / Blur


17



Menu G : Planeshift


18
-1


Menu G : Heal Self


19



Menu G : +1 Aptitude Prismatic Burst Scimitar (Main weapon)


20

-1

Menu G : +1 Aptitude Consumptive Burst Scimitar (Secondary weapon)



So here are my questions :

1) Will this really beef me up ? or is it just going to make me useless ?:smalleek:

2) What should I choose between Blur and Enervation for level 16 ?:smallconfused: (knowing that DM told me my weapons could activate by themselves the Enervation/Fly/Planeshift/Heal effects without using my standard actions since they are intelligent) :smallbiggrin:

Thanks a lot !

TLDR : I need to beef up, is this weapon of legacy worth it ?

DeTess
2017-11-23, 02:59 PM
I'm not too familiar with the disciple of dispater, so I might get some things wrong.

First of all, why exactly are you taking aptitude for the weapon? You probably wouldn't be using other weapons if you've got a weapon of legacy,, so it seems like a waste unless your DM doesn't allow you to retrain any weapon X() skills.

The abilities you've picked are interesting, and fly in particular is rather useful if you can't get it from another source. I assume you've already gotten improved critical? Otherwise you should get keen on that weapon somehow, or pick it up before you reach the latter levels.

All that having been said, I do have one other nitpick that hasn't much to do with power, and that is that this weapon seems to lack some kind of theme. It just does cool stuff(tm), but it doesn't seem like there's a unifying theme as with the printed weapons of legacy.

Also, what's the special ability you're taking penalties to?

Kilo-Graham
2017-11-23, 03:16 PM
First of all, why exactly are you taking aptitude for the weapon? You probably wouldn't be using other weapons if you've got a weapon of legacy,, so it seems like a waste unless your DM doesn't allow you to retrain any weapon X() skills.

This is because of a feat called Lightning Mace that normally works with only light maces, I've checked with DM and he ruled Aptitude Scimitars would allow the use of the feat (which is neat because of the Disciple of Dispater's high threat zone) :smallbiggrin:



I assume you've already gotten improved critical? Otherwise you should get keen on that weapon somehow, or pick it up before you reach the latter levels.


I plan to take it at the next level :smallwink:



All that having been said, I do have one other nitpick that hasn't much to do with power, and that is that this weapon seems to lack some kind of theme. It just does cool stuff(tm), but it doesn't seem like there's a unifying theme as with the printed weapons of legacy.


Yeah... that's true, I guess we were more looking at the power and forgot the true goal of Weapons of Legacy... :smallfrown: I'll see to arrange that :smallwink:



Also, what's the special ability you're taking penalties to?

oops, my bad I did not check that before posting, it actually is a Hit point penalty, and the special abilities are the column on the far right. I'll edit that.

Rabidmuskrat
2017-11-24, 07:11 AM
I feel this just needs to be said as a disclaimer on these, but Weapons of Legacy suck. If you dont add something OUTSIDE the things on the list (like some special ability unobtainable by any other means) then the costs far outweigh the gains you get from the item.

Consider that item you made. Sure you get fly and haste and planeshift, but most of what you get is nothing to get excited about. What you sacrifice however...

-3 BAB
-4 Reflex Save
-10 Hitpoints


BAB is irreplacable. There is nothing that boosts it, and while you might be able to still obtain sufficiently high attack bonuses to hit your target, you could get those bonuses ANYWAY without the item. Also, note this weapon will never be a +5 so that is one source of bonuses that you lose outright. Also, that penalty applies to ranged touch attacks while any bonuses the weapon gives do not.
-4 Reflex save is the equivalent of 4 levels for a class that has a GOOD reflex save. People pay top gold pieces for items that boost saves because, surprise surprise, twinned, empowered, intensified fireballs HURT.
The 10 hitpoints is the least of your worries. But note that you've lost 6 hp by the time you hit lvl 10. At that point you have roughly 60 - 100 hp, depending on constitution, class and luck of the roll. That doesnt seem like a lot, but it goes off the top, for every encounter you ever face, before anyone has even taken an action. Not big, but not insignificant either (1/10 to 1/20 of your hp, approximately).

Finally, look at when you pay the penalties and when you get the bonuses. Until you hit level 10 your bonuses are junk and will actually fall behind your ordinary +2 weapon using teammates. And for that you pay -2 reflex and -1 BAB. That trend continues. You get 70% of your good stuff at level 16 or later, but pay 70% of your penalties at level 15 or lower.

This weapon is going to make you hate your character in low to mid-levels and may even out at later levels. Maybe. All in all, I may consider using the weapon on a character of mine if the DM was willing to scrap all of the penalties. And this is not a slight to you or your weapon building abilities, you did the absolute best you could. But weapons of legacy are crap.

To make it work, you gotta throw out the rulebook. For example, the DM in our one game gave our wizard a pendant that gave him 2 spontanious evocation spell slots of the highest level spell he could cast (that grows as you level), but in exchange eats 1 spell slot of EVERY level you can cast. Since Evocation was one of our Wizard's forbidden school, that turned out quite handy and while it was extremely powerful, it never felt broken. That kind of creativity is what makes a legacy item work. Also, it sometimes by itself cast spells to save our asses when we got in too deep, but it always exacted a price after (like NO more spellcasting for the wizard today).