The Dwarfiest Dwarf with the Biggest Hammer

[Khatoblepas]

I've been looking through a lot of dwarf prestige classes, and a lot of them have... some surprising overlap. Namely, in using and throwing hammers. So I decided to put together a build that takes advantage of that.

Titan Bloodline Exiled DwarfDrMag320 Mystic RangerDrMag336 4/Warblade 1/Justice Hammer of MoradinDrMag329 1/People's ChampionWeb (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/cg/cg20011024a) 4/Hammer of Moradin 3/Exotic Weapon Master 1/Battlesmith 1/Bloodstorm Blade 5

1) Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Heavy Warhammer)MoF
B) Power Attack
Otyugh Hole) Iron Will
3) Cleave
6) ???
9) Point Blank Shot
12) ???
15) ???
18) ???

Warblade's Weapon Aptitude is used to replace Weapon Focus (warhammer) with Weapon Focus (heavy warhammer). This SHOULD still be Weapon Focus (warhammer) for HoM? Else we can burn a feat on it, as tragic as that is.

Gold Warhammer damage:
8d6 + 2x Str + 0.5x Str (+ 2x Str?) + Wis + 1d4
A gargantuan hammer is 6d6, and the gold material increases it by a damage dice size. Usually this isn't a big deal but the next damage size up is 8d6.

Next, the strength bonuses:



Hammer of Revolution: When the people’s champion wields a hammer two-handed, he adds double his Strength modifier to damage rolls.

This is a weirdly written ability - he just straight up adds damage, with no language about replacing his existing strength modifier. Either he adds his strength x2 again, or he gains x1 his strength modifier again.


Uncanny Blow: When wielding a one-handed exotic melee weapon in two hands, the character can focus the power of his attack so that he deals extra damage equal to his Strength bonus x2 instead of his Strength bonus x 1-1/2. If he has the Power Attack feat, he treats the weapon as twohanded for purposes of determining his bonus on damage rolls.

This one sets his default damage to x2 instead of adding a bonus, so I'm not sure how it interacts with Hammer of the Revolution.


Powerful Grip (Ex): At 3rd level, the hammer of Moradin gains a bonus equal to one-half his Strength bonus (rounded down) on damage rolls when wielding a warhammer in melee. Thus, his bonus on damage rolls with this weapon equals 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus when he wields it in one hand and twice his Strength bonus when he wields it in two hands.

This one adds a bonus of 0.5x his strength.


One with the Hammer (Ex): A battlesmith's long hours at the forge grant her a special bond with a hammer. When wielding a warhammer that she has crafted herself, a battlesmith adds her Wisdom bonus as a bonus to the damage dealt by the weapon.


I'm not sure what else we can do to increase our hammer abilties, but we sure do hit hard, and I can't think of much more dwarfy than a gigantic solid gold hammer. Any thoughts on how to finish the build, or improve it, or disagreements to the rules interpretations?

[noob]

I've been looking through a lot of dwarf prestige classes, and a lot of them have... some surprising overlap. Namely, in using and throwing hammers. So I decided to put together a build that takes advantage of that.

Titan Bloodline Exiled DwarfDrMag320 Mystic RangerDrMag336 4/Warblade 1/Justice Hammer of MoradinDrMag329 1/People's ChampionWeb (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/cg/cg20011024a) 4/Hammer of Moradin 3/Exotic Weapon Master 1/Battlesmith 1/Bloodstorm Blade 5

1) Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Heavy Warhammer)MoF
B) Power Attack
Otyugh Hole) Iron Will
3) Cleave
6) ???
9) Point Blank Shot
12) ???
15) ???
18) ???

Warblade's Weapon Aptitude is used to replace Weapon Focus (warhammer) with Weapon Focus (heavy warhammer). This SHOULD still be Weapon Focus (warhammer) for HoM? Else we can burn a feat on it, as tragic as that is.

Gold Warhammer damage:
8d6 + 2x Str + 0.5x Str (+ 2x Str?) + Wis + 1d4
A gargantuan hammer is 6d6, and the gold material increases it by a damage dice size. Usually this isn't a big deal but the next damage size up is 8d6.

Next, the strength bonuses:




This is a weirdly written ability - he just straight up adds damage, with no language about replacing his existing strength modifier. Either he adds his strength x2 again, or he gains x1 his strength modifier again.



This one sets his default damage to x2 instead of adding a bonus, so I'm not sure how it interacts with Hammer of the Revolution.



This one adds a bonus of 0.5x his strength.




I'm not sure what else we can do to increase our hammer abilties, but we sure do hit hard, and I can't think of much more dwarfy than a gigantic solid gold hammer. Any thoughts on how to finish the build, or improve it, or disagreements to the rules interpretations?
Do you plan to mostly hit in melee or throw hammers?
If you are going to do the latter there is feats for the equivalent of power attack with thrown weapons.

[Anthrowhale]

There is an interaction between (greater) mighty wallop and heavy weapons which you might want to consider. (greater) mighty wallop uses the damage scaling charts, maxing out at 8d6. Heavy weapons change the damage dice for _each_ die. Hence, a heavy colossal warhammer does either 6d8 (~=27, 1d8 advanced to colossal provides 6d6, heavy changes each die to d8) or 8d6 (~=28, 1d8 heavy is 2d6 advanced to colossal is 8d6). If, on the other hand, you use a colossal Maul, you do 12d6 (~42) damage (1d10 advanced to colossal is 6d8, heavy changes each die to 2d6). This exceeds the damage that a heavy colossal goliath greathammer does (8d8 ~=36) even though it's a one-handed weapon.

[noob]

You also need a belt of dwarvenkind, an ever-full mug of ale and a bunch of other magical items like that.

[Gruftzwerg]

May I ask how you are wielding the gargantuan hammer? I only see Titanic Bloodline, what am I missing here?

____

If you are looking for other optimized builds have a look at my Hammerdin build in my signature. It's a ranged ubercharger build that will make "60ft line" full attacks (@lvl20). Finally the dwarfiest dwarf should also be able to "Drink-Like-A-Demon" imho!

[noob]

May I ask how you are wielding the gargantuan hammer? I only see Titanic Bloodline, what am I missing here?


The titanic bloodline gives that ability:

Oversized Weapon (Ex)
A titan wields a great, two-handed warhammer (big enough for Gargantuan creatures) without penalty.
Hence why he must wield specifically a warhammer and not anything else.

[Biggus]

The titanic bloodline gives that ability:

Hence why he must wield specifically a warhammer and not anything else.

That's a pretty dodgy interpretation, in general "oversized weapon" means "one size category larger than yourself" and it's fairly obvious that's the intended meaning with the Titan. If this is pure TO fair enough, but if this character is actually intended to be played I wouldn't expect to get away with that.

[ShurikVch]

For "dwarven" PrC:
Dwarven Thane (Dragon #299) - straight from the Warcraft III
Deepstone Sentinel (Tome of Battle) and Ironsoul Forgemaster (Magic of Incarnum) are popular too
Finally, if you would take the Stoneblessed PrC with "Dwarf" option - it would make you literally twice the Dwarf! :smallsmile: (On that, may also take the Stocky feat from Dragon #324)

On "hammer" options:
The old Weapon Master PrC (Sword and Fist) allow Whirlwind as a standard action

[Blackhawk748]

That's a pretty dodgy interpretation, in general "oversized weapon" means "one size category larger than yourself" and it's fairly obvious that's the intended meaning with the Titan. If this is pure TO fair enough, but if this character is actually intended to be played I wouldn't expect to get away with that.

I'd allow it because it's hilarious. Also it's a giant hammer, of the rest of the party is putting in similar effort I really wouldn't mind

[Crazysaneman]

I don't really have anything to add to the crunch, but the image of:

A 3 foot tall dwarf wielding a telephone pole with a solid gold dumptruck on the end...

Is friggin adorable.

[noob]

That's a pretty dodgy interpretation, in general "oversized weapon" means "one size category larger than yourself" and it's fairly obvious that's the intended meaning with the Titan. If this is pure TO fair enough, but if this character is actually intended to be played I wouldn't expect to get away with that.

The issue(the source of the overpowered interpretation) comes from the following fact: titans shape-shift in smaller shapes and explicitly gets to keep that ability.


Change Shape (Su)
A titan can assume the form of any Small or Medium humanoid. The titan retains its oversized weapon special attack regardless of form.
The ability the titan keeps is extremely specific on the fact it is a gargantuan war-hammer.

Oversized Weapon (Ex)
A titan wields a great, two-handed warhammer (big enough for Gargantuan creatures) without penalty.
So it is rather clear that titans are intended to have a really big hammer and to keep the same hammer even while shapeshifting.
My conclusion is that if the titan bloodline gives the ability of the titan that it should be a gargantuan warhammer independently of the size of the inheritor just like how it is independent from the size of the titan when the titan have the ability.

[aglondier]

Since everything is pretty much interchangeable...pathfinder has the Dwarven Longhammer. 2d6 damage plus reach...

[Thurbane]

Here's an excellent guide to all things hammer related: A Ballad for John Henry: Options for Players and DMs using the Warhammer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?609676)