[3.5 only] Increasing base weapon multiplier mundanely

[Talhvain]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here and I am in need of some help.

I have a character who is looking to maximize his damage on critical hits. While I have plenty of information on how to increase the range I am lacking on ways to increase the multiplier. Due to a calling by my DM so long as it is built into the base weapon and is not a class ability or enchantment I can increase the critical multiplier of any weapon and still make use of the Dragondoom feat. So I need ways to alter the weapon to increase the multiplier as much as I can.

What I have so far is just the lacquered steel, increasing it by 1. I plan to make use of a weapon with the highest multiplier already, so most likely a scythe or executioners blade (1d12 S, x4), unless someone knows of a official weapon that is a x5 already.

Thank you for your attention.

[ExLibrisMortis]

What's your source for lacquered steel? It sounds like it might be homebrew, but I can't find it, though I did find laminated steel, which is definitely third-party.

Increasing critical multiplier is difficult. Hida Defender 1 is your best bet; it increases the critical multipler of any weapon for which you have weapon focus by 1 (combine with warblade 1 to swap WF around, and for Blood in the Water). If your DM requires you to apply the bonus to a battleaxe, warhammer, or greatclub, you can use a kaorti resin battleaxe for a x4 multiplier.

Other classes that can increase your multiplier are more limited. There's the Psychic Weapon Master, which can only do it a few times a day (regular 3.0 Weapon Master too, but that got updated to 3.5 into something completely different). Deepwood Sniper can do it twice, but only for ranged weapons. Master Thrower can do it, but only for thrown weapons. There's a spell that lets you auto-crit with your next bow attack (hunter's mercy), so if you play a Hida Defender/Deepwood Sniper, that could let you autocrit at x6 damage.

[PhantasyPen]

I'm currently working on a critical hit handbook (progress is slow because of college) and funny enough, the critical multiplier section is the one I'm working on right now! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23370478&postcount=5) Laminated steel (AEG's Mercenaries) is probably the easiest mundane way I can think of to increase the multiplier, but there is kaorti resin weapons and anything else mentioned in the handbook.

[Saintheart]

Pretty much all the above are right. Since you're interested in dragondoom in particular I'm guessing you're really focused on killing dragon-ish things. Bow of the Mighty Dragonhunter, whilst it's a magic item, sounds like it might fit the bill best: it's a +2 Mighty Composite longbow, but its multiplier is x5 against dragon type creatures.

If you're going scythe, though, kaorti resin is probably your best bet - though note it's still soaking you a feat since you need EWP in the specific kaorti resin weapon you're using.

EDIT: That said, I would carefully consider whether Dragondoom is actually worth it depending on how big your critical threat range is. That option soaks you two decidedly mediocre feats and only counts when you're fighting dragons, which, unless your DM really enjoys handing out treasure and XP, is comparatively rare.

In the suggestions thread for PhantasyPen's handbook we actually did some math on the expected extra damage given particular threat ranges and critical multipliers:




Threat Range
x2
x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
x8


20
+5%
+10%
+15%
+20%
+25%
+30%
+35%


19-20
+10%
+20%
+30%
+40%
+50%
+60%
+70%


18-20
+15%
+30%
+45%
+60%
+75%
+90%
+105%


17-20
+20%
+40%
+60%
+80%
+100%
+120%
+140%



16-20
+25%
+50%
+75%
+100%
+125%
+150%
+175%



15-20
+30%
+60%
+90%
+120%
+150%
+180%
+210%



14-20
+35%
+70%
+105%
+140%
+175%
+210%
+245%


13-20
+40%
+80%
+120%
+160%
+200%
+240%
+280%


12-20
+45%
+90%
+135%
+180%
+225%
+270%
+315%


11-20
+50%
+100%
+150%
+200%
+250%
+300%
+350%


10-20
+55%
+110%
+165%
+220%
+275%
+330%
+385%


9-20
+60%
+120%
+180%
+240%
+300%
+360%
+420%


8-20
+65%
+130%
+195%
+260%
+325%
+390%
+455%


7-20
+70%
+140%
+210%
+280%
+350%
+420%
+490%


6-20
+75%
+150%
+225%
+300%
+375%
+450%
+525%


5-20
+80%
+160%
+240%
+320%
+400%
+480%
+560%


4-20
+85%
+170%
+255%
+340%
+425%
+510%
+595%


3-20
+90%
+180%
+270%
+360%
+450%
+540%
+630%


2-20
+95%
+190%
+285%
+380%
+475%
+570%
+665%



But the thing to remember is that these percentages apply if you're actually making the critical hit -- and if you're fighting the type of creature that attracts the increased crit multiplier. If your weapon's threat range is 20, then in the boost from x4 to x7 you're only doing an extra 15% expected damage on critical hits, which are necessarily only going to happen 5% of the time since you have to roll 20 to get that multiplier. Not that impressive. The moment your threat range increases, though, it's another story. Indeed you get precisely the same benefit in terms of increased expected damage by doubling a scythe's native threat range as you do raising its multiplier to x7: +15% expected damage on a critical hit.

Also note your DM may be a royal jerk in that Dragondoom's table only specifies bonus crit multipliers up to the point where the base weapon has a multiplier of x4. If you get your crit multiplier to x5 he might say "well, Dragondoom doesn't give you any bonuses because it's not mentioned on the table."* If you have Dragondoom and you've got a weapon that natively does x4 -- as scythes do -- then I'd spend more time on raising your threat range than pushing your crit multiplier any further. Indeed those three feats could be used on other stuff like Improved Critical or building a Targeteer critfisher if you wanted to go ranged, and it'd synergise nicely with a short dip into Deepwood Sniper. Or just go all out and being a boring Disciple of Dispater. You might not be able to kill dragons quite so quickly, but you'll be far more communist about killing everything in sight equally fast.

* And if he does say it increases your mutiplier to the expected x9, it's actually no different: a scythe with a native threat range of 20 does an expected +20% damage when it has a multiplier of x5. At x9, the expected damage is +40%. Once again, if you double the native threat range of such a weapon from 20 to 19-20, you're still getting the same benefit as if you raised it from x5 to x9 -- increased expected damage of +40%.

EDIT THE SECOND: Does this only holds at very low threat ranges and where the weapon only criticals on a 20? Not necessarily: if your weapon's native threat range is 19-20 and you keen that weapon, you find the expected damage is still the same as if you raised a default 19-20 weapon's critical multiplier from x4 to x7. This also holds if the weapon has a native threat range of 18-20 and is keened. Unless I am missing something, it only starts to make sense to take something like Dragondoom where you cannot get the weapon's critical threat range combined with keen any higher than 15-20 or so. (And of course if you can get both Dragondoom and increased critical threat range, that will change things a bit as well.)

[Talhvain]

What's your source for lacquered steel? It sounds like it might be homebrew, but I can't find it, though I did find laminated steel, which is definitely third-party.


Other classes that can increase your multiplier are more limited.

Ah yes, it is laminated. My apologies, I remembered it incorrectly. It is something that we have used in the past, and certain third party books are allowed, I simply need to run which party it is by the DM before utilizing the material.

And on the topic of classes, I appreciate the mention however I did state that I needed augmentations that were not class abilities or enchantments.


Since you're interested in dragondoom in particular I'm guessing you're really focused on killing dragon-ish things.

If you're going scythe, though, kaorti resin is probably your best bet - though note it's still soaking you a feat since you need EWP in the specific kaorti resin weapon you're using.

That said, I would carefully consider whether Dragondoom is actually worth it depending on how big your critical threat range is.

Also note your DM may be a royal jerk in that Dragondoom's table only specifies bonus crit multipliers up to the point where the base weapon has a multiplier of x4.

I am in fact intending to play a dragon slayer, and will have maxed my favored enemy bonus to do so as efficiently as possible.

As far as the kaorti resin is concerned, I have been unable to determine how this would affect a weapon that is already a x4 multiplier. The article referencing the substance merely states that any piercing or slashing weapon made of the resin has a x4 multiplier, not what would happen if the resin was applied to something that already had one. I will also have proficiency in 4 exotic weapons of my choosing, so no worries in that regard.

I have several mundane augmentations that will increase my threat range, and both the keen enchantment and Favored Critical which explicitly stacks with keen. As well, by the time we are facing our true chosen foe I will receive an extra +1 on the threat range when charging, which I will be building up this character to do fairly frequently. This character will threaten a critical hit fairly regularly if he survives more than 3 sessions.

I have already spoken with my DM and we are in agreement on the math behind the Dragondoom feat and that it extends to critical multipliers beyond x4.

I have read in various places about mercurial weapons. Where would one find the rules for augmenting a weapon to be mercurial?

[Saintheart]

Ah yes, it is laminated. My apologies, I remembered it incorrectly. It is something that we have used in the past, and certain third party books are allowed, I simply need to run which party it is by the DM before utilizing the material.

And on the topic of classes, I appreciate the mention however I did state that I needed augmentations that were not class abilities or enchantments.



I am in fact intending to play a dragon slayer, and will have maxed my favored enemy bonus to do so as efficiently as possible.

As far as the kaorti resin is concerned, I have been unable to determine how this would affect a weapon that is already a x4 multiplier. The article referencing the substance merely states that any piercing or slashing weapon made of the resin has a x4 multiplier, not what would happen if the resin was applied to something that already had one. I will also have proficiency in 4 exotic weapons of my choosing, so no worries in that regard.

I have several mundane augmentations that will increase my threat range, and both the keen enchantment and Favored Critical which explicitly stacks with keen. As well, by the time we are facing our true chosen foe I will receive an extra +1 on the threat range when charging, which I will be building up this character to do fairly frequently. This character will threaten a critical hit fairly regularly if he survives more than 3 sessions.

I have already spoken with my DM and we are in agreement on the math behind the Dragondoom feat and that it extends to critical multipliers beyond x4.

I have read in various places about mercurial weapons. Where would one find the rules for augmenting a weapon to be mercurial?

Mercurial weapons are apparently in the Arms & Equipment Guide. Supposedly they're pretty subpar, but take a look.

As far as kaorti resin goes - I'd call it a matter for DM adjudication. As you say, it just pumps to x4, it doesn't raise the multiplier as such.

Since you're looking at Dragonslaying -- if it's permitted, maybe have a look at Dragon #296 and the Vengeance Sworn PrC and see if there's anything there that interests you. The capstone ability on it is that the critical threat range is doubled against dragons, and that it explicitly stacks with Improved Critical and keen, and there's a smattering of other anti-dragon stuff scattered through it. Requires what looks like a Ranger/Barbarian multiclass to qualify for it, or some sort of Rage feature tacked on, but it might suit what you're looking for as well.

[Talhvain]

Mercurial weapons are apparently in the Arms & Equipment Guide. Supposedly they're pretty subpar, but take a look.

As far as kaorti resin goes - I'd call it a matter for DM adjudication. As you say, it just pumps to x4, it doesn't raise the multiplier as such.

Since you're looking at Dragonslaying -- if it's permitted, maybe have a look at Dragon #296 and the Vengeance Sworn PrC and see if there's anything there that interests you.

I will look at the Guide and see if I can determine the formula for the modification. Due to the apparent construction of these weapons it may be possible to combine the laminated steel with them. I do not believe that a mercurial kaorti weapon is possible.

The prestige class is interesting I admit, and my character will be a mix of ranger and barbarian. However the class does not fit the concept and is quite detrimental to my current plans. So I will not be making use of it. Thank you for the recommendation however.