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    Rubik's Avatar

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    Default Re: MM3 Sand Blaster Exotic Weapon Optimization

    Quote Originally Posted by sovin_ndore View Post
    Shapesand does have issues with anyone being able to use the Wisdom checks; that may pose problems.
    I believe you need line of effect, like with most other things, and that wouldn't be available when it's loaded into the sand blaster, and there's just not time to do so while you're loading it into the thing.

    Quote Originally Posted by sovin_ndore View Post
    I am not familiar with Black Sand, where is that from?
    Sandstorm. It's a natural hazard that deals negative energy damage to anyone touching it. If you die from it, you turn into more black sand. An easy way to avoid this problem is the Tomb Tainted Soul feat, which makes you heal from negative energy damage. Or you could be undead, which ruins your Con score.

    You can also create it using a spell.

    Blood-seeking: A +1 special quality from Complete Warrior which allows the wielder of the sand blaster to ignore all cover, so long as the target is alive and the sand can flow around the obstruction. So that's both cover and concealment gone.

    Bloodfeeding: Normally, this +1 special quality from the BoVD isn't worth much. It stores one "blood point" for every enemy it damages (up to a maximum of 50), and you can expend five points to deal +1 damage. Since you have to dole out fifty successful hits before you can deal the maximum +10 damage, this is kind of bleh. But sand blasters deal AoE damage, so it's a lot easier to rack up the blood points pretty quickly. Furthermore, that +10 damage applies to every enemy damaged in the AoE, making it even better. Not spectacular, but it's a lot better than it would be on most swords.

    Consumptive: This one is a +2 special quality from the Planar Handbook. Normally it'd be quite meh, as it deals +1d6 negative energy damage, which is more than twice as bad as a regular energy damage ability (as +2 is well over twice as expensive as a +1). But when combined with black sand, this makes for a good AoE effect for groups who utilize undead extensively. Unleash the zombies and largely ignore their presence in your sand blaster's area, as the damage dealt by the weapon is basically subsumed by the negative energy damage. Is the effect worth it? Maybe.

    Cursespewing: A +1 quality from the BoVD. The non-scaling DC 15 Will save kinda sucks, but throwing out an AoE save-or-suck that grants a -4 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks is pretty great, especially given the penalties already enforced by the sand blaster itself, and most high level enemies won't have all three good saves, so it's likely to fail at least one of them against the weapon, the dazing, and this.

    Dessicating: It's a +2 special quality from Sandstorm. Normally, spending a +2 quality for +1d6 damage against a limited array of enemies is teh suck, but there aren't many ways to resist it, it fits with the theme of the weapon, and it deals additional damage to plants and elemental creatures with the [water] subtype, so if you go against those often, it might be worthwhile. It also carries potential risk of dehydration for those hit with it, depending on environmental conditions. Already in a hot and arid environment where water is scarce and dehydration is a threat? You might be able to convince your DM to inflict dehydration on anyone caught in your AoEs.

    Disarming: A +2 ability from the Arms & Equipment Guide. It explicitly allows you to disarm foes with a ranged weapon, which a sand blaster is. Have fun with your ranged AoE disarm.

    Domineering: This is a +2 quality from Player's Guide to Faerun. As with the cursespewing weapon quality, this requires a Will save (DC 16), which enforces the shaken condition. Unfortunately, it's a fear effect, which is [mind-affecting], but it's still okay. Cursespewing is better, though, despite a slightly lower DC.

    Exhausting and Strength sapping The former is a +1 special quality from Shining South, and the latter is a +2 from the BoVD. Unfortunately, Fort DCs 14 and 15 suck, but they do apply on every hit, and they enforce fatigue and exhaustion on the target, respectively, which are alright. You might be able to convince your DM to allow you to upgrade the former to the latter once you can afford it, as exhaustion is merely an upgraded form of fatigue. If not, wait until you can afford the strength sapping enhancement.

    Fierce: It's a +2 quality from the Arms & Equipment Guide. It allows you to reduce your AC by up to your Dex mod to add to damage. If you're willing to rely on heavy armor while still having a high Dex score, use miss chances heavily, have a supremely high AC already, have already dazed or disabled all of the enemies on the battlefield, or can otherwise tank or avoid being hit, +Dex to damage is pretty great when you're affecting lots of enemies per hit. If your damage is high enough, who cares if your AC is low? All your enemies will be dead by the time their turns come up.

    Impedance: A +3 special quality from the Planar Handbook. Any spellcaster hit by the weapon must make a Spellcraft, Intelligence, or Charisma check (whichever is highest) equal to 15 + the level of the spell or spell-like ability in order to cast (failure means the effect fizzles and the spell or use/day is lost). While most casters will have a high Spellcraft check, many spellcasting monsters do not. Expensive, but potentially valuable.

    Magebane: A +1 special quality from Complete Arcane. Deals an additional +2d6+2 damage against spellcasters. Better than putting it on most melee weapons, because, while many casters have defenses against melee attacks, it's fairly difficult to gain immunity to a sand blaster's attacks unless you know it's coming.

    Marrowcrushing and Wounding: The former is a +3 quality from the BoVD, and the latter is a +2 quality from the DMG. Each deals +1 point of Con damage when they successfully deal damage. Wounding is limited to those affected by critical hits, while marrowcrushing is not. +2 Con damage with every hit to a group of enemies is pretty nice, though the combined +5 cost is really steep.

    Morphing: A +1 weapon quality from Underdark. While this is normally fairly useful, as it allows you to swap your weapon around at will, it's potentially even more useful on a sand blaster, as it allows you to add special weapon qualities you normally couldn't. Just morph it into something that qualifies, enhance it with the special qualities you want, and morph it back. Will your DM hit you with something heavy? Probably. But that's not my problem.

    Phasing: A +2 weapon quality from Dragon Magazine #330. It can only be applied to ammo, which means it's best added to some shapesand so you can reconstitute it, but it passes through any cover up to 5' thick, including solid walls. Good for preemptive attacks when you know there are hostiles on the other side of a door. Normally, you'd have to deal with miss chances, but since those don't apply to a sand blaster...

    Ravenous: A +2 weapon quality from Champions of Ruin. It deals +2d6 damage on any creature hit more than once in the round by that weapon. Since the sand blaster is not a melee weapon, it's not limited to use by Evil creatures. (Yes, I know that's probably not the intent, but that's how it's written, so...) Only really useful if you can reload as a free action using the aptitude enhancement and Rapid Reload feat, but it's pretty nice for hitting multiple creatures multiple times in a round, especially since the damage is the same as the sand blaster's (which is untyped).

    Rusting: A +1 weapon quality from Shining South. Any metal shield or armor exposed to the sand blaster's AoE loses 1 point of AC bonus if it fails a DC 16 Fort save, and completely falls apart when it reaches 0 AC. If you don't mind sundering your loot, this isn't too bad, especially against mooks wearing ratty metal armor you wouldn't want to sell anyway.

    Silent Strike: A +1 weapon quality from Dragon Magazine #330. Anyone hit by the weapon must make a DC 15 Will save or be hit with the Silence spell for 4 rounds, which is really nice against spellcasters. Also, if you play your cards right, you can hit yourself and your allies (hit them over the head with the tube, maybe? Or use in conjunction with the morphing property.) and purposefully flub your save to get a Silence effect at will.

    Smoking: A +1 weapon quality from Lords of Darkness. At will, fill your space with smoke that gives you cover and nauseates anyone coming into your space, but you can see and breathe normally. Good for giving you concealment from ranged weapons while you repeatedly sand blast anyone who comes in range.

    Souldrinking: A +4 weapon enhancement from the BoVD that deals a negative level on anything it hits. You don't get the benefits from critting with the sand blaster, but spreading multiple negative levels around like a mofo to large groups of enemies should make up for that shortcoming rather handily.

    Sparkling: A +2 weapon quality from the Miniatures Handbook. It outlines everything it hits with the effects of a Faerie Fire spell, which is great if you suspect hiding or invisible foes, for foes affected by several effects which grant miss chances, and you manage to catch them in the sand blaster's AoE.

    Sure striking: A +1 weapon quality from Player's Guide to Faerūn, Races of Faerūn, and the Arms and Equipment Guide. Overcomes all alignment-based DR. And since the base damage output for the sand blaster is something that can't really be upgraded easily, and alignment-based DR is fairly common, this is a reasonable thing to add to your shapesand ammo, if nothing else.

    Weakening: A +3 weapon quality from Shining South. It deals 1 point of Str damage on a successful hit, which heals up 10 minutes later. Multiple hits stack, but the opponent's Str score can't fall below 1.

    Oil chambers and wand chambers: These are both cheap weapon enhancements from Dungeonscape. The former are useful for applying an oil's or potion's effect to everything caught in the sand blaster's AoE, while the latter can be used to cast the Accuracy spell from a wand, or the Strength of My Enemy power from a dorje, both of which are extremely useful.
    Last edited by Rubik; 2015-11-10 at 06:06 AM.