which of these two weapons?

[Mystic Muse]

I just got a masterwork falchion and was wonderinng. which would be better to have? my masterwork greatsword or masterwork falchion? or should I keep the falchion on hand in case my greatsword breaks? simple question is which is better? greatsword looks better on first glance but falchion costs 50% more than the greatsword.

just FYI level 3 paladin of freedom.

also how much would 13 masterwork cutlasses be worth? selling not buying.

[Glimbur]

Go with the greatsword. Sure, the falchion has a better crit range, but once you factor in undead, plants, constructs, etc you'll prefer the 2 higher average damage from the greatsword.

Well, each MW weapon is worth at least 300. So you should be able to get more than 300*13*0.5; or 1950 gold.

[Milskidasith]

Falchions are less damaging on average. All masterwork (single bladed) weapons are worth their base value + 300, and most weapons aren't worth much to begin with. So, to shop sell them, 150-200 gold each.

[AslanCross]

Better base damage is often better than a higher crit range, especially when you run afoul of undead and angry foliage.

[erikun]

I actually determined at what point the Keen Falchion out-damages the Keen Greatsword. A pretty simple formula, especially when higher AC makes the higher crit range better (because you'll crit more often per hit).

However - the higher level you are, the more you run into crit-immune stuff. Unless your party is packing Golem Strike, Undead Strike, and whatever other spells you need, the extra crit won't matter a bit.

Then again, when you're swinging around with +50 damage, the difference between Falchion/Greatsword doesn't matter too much either. Unless you're relying to enlarging the weapon.

[oxinabox]

if you had been i fighter with feats to waste.
Falchelon + imporved critical + power critical (+4 to confirm)
WOuld be fun.
I Saw that combo with full blade, and it critted so often, and crit rance is less onm fullbade than falchon.

[Darkfire]

higher AC makes the higher crit range better (because you'll crit more often per hit).

This is a fairly common misconception: a higher threat range is of no use against high AC opponents. You still need to beat the AC of the opponent on anything less than a natural 20 in order to threaten. If you're only hitting on a 20, your keen falchion is no better at scoring crits than any other weapon (1 in 400).

Against anything other than a high AC (or a crit immune) opponent, a high threat range will result in more critical hits.

[only1doug]

If you can afford the encumberance carry both.

Use the greatsword on Heavily armoured targets, Low HP, undead & constructs (+ other crit immune). (most of the time)

Use the Falchion for low AC, mid+ Hp targets. (not that common probably).

As others have said: There are a couple of issues with high crit range weapons; you need to be able to hit their AC to get a critical & the target needs to be vulnerable to crits for it to be worth it.

The other thing is that if you are facing low HP enemies (one hit kills) then go with the higher damage weapon.

So overall use the greatsword, keep the Falchion for backup.

[ericgrau]

After crits and improved crit/keen/keen edge/scabbard of keen edges the falchion does more damage on average. Especially when smiting. Before that day it does 1 less point of damage on average. Keep the falchion.

For example if you had 30 strength and a +3 weapon your base damage would average to 15+3+(5 or 7) = 23 (falchion) or 25 (greatsword). After crits that averages to 29.9 (falchion, +30%) or 30 (greatsword, +20%); about the same. At early levels 22 strength and a +1 weapon (8 less base damage) the falchion does about 1 damage less. About 1.5 less without keen/etc. At higher levels or when smiting and/or power attacking with "50 base damage" the falchion does about 3 damage more. Or if you make an ubercharger (not that I advocate this), the difference is much more.

So in short the falchion is probably slightly better overall, but really the difference is small (both when it's higher later on and especially when it's lower early on) so it's up to you.

Masterwork adds 300 gp to the price (150 gp to sell), so those cutlasses are worth over 15 * 150 gp = 2250 gp. Plus a little more for the cost of a regular cutlass; though the masterwork cost is usually most of the value.

[FMArthur]

Additionally, if you are getting any large static bonuses to your attacks, they also get multiplied in a critical (just not any extra dice); so it does eventually become worth pursuing high-critical weapons. But keep the greatsword for whenever you do happen to be fighting creatures against whom a critical is ineffective/insignificant (which should not be as common in a normal game as some seem to be indicating).

[Sliver]

This is a fairly common misconception: a higher threat range is of no use against high AC opponents. You still need to beat the AC of the opponent on anything less than a natural 20 in order to threaten. If you're only hitting on a 20, your keen falchion is no better at scoring crits than any other weapon (1 in 400).

Against anything other than a high AC (or a crit immune) opponent, a high threat range will result in more critical hits.

I donno, if you are up against something that you need to roll a 15+ to hit and your crit range is 17-20, more then 50% of your hits threaten a crit..
So you will crit more often per hit against higher AC then lower.. (if you need more then 1 on your roll then with a 17-20 crit threat you threat about 21% of your hits, while if you need 15+, you threat 66.6% of your hits)..

[woodenbandman]

It honestly doesn't matter. It's an average of like 2 damage per hit. As a meleeist, (say a standard barbarian), you get 1 1/2x STR to damage, plus power attack. Say you power attack for 3 reliably enough to hit most of the time. Thats + 6 right there.

An Orc will have a +6 strength advantage on the halfling, which is a net +2 (small size) to hit and +3 or 4 to damage. So the difference between a halfling barbarian and an Orc barbarian with each wielding greatswords is about 6 points. Really not that big of a deal. If you include the fact that the orc power attacks for 2 more each swing, +10 damage. But only 2 of that damage is from the choice of weapon.

So in summary, to quote Conan the Barbarian: "Steel is not strong, Flesh is! What is steel, compared to the hand that wields it?"

[Gralamin]

I donno, if you are up against something that you need to roll a 15+ to hit and your crit range is 17-20, more then 50% of your hits threaten a crit..
So you will crit more often per hit against higher AC then lower.. (if you need more then 1 on your roll then with a 17-20 crit threat you threat about 21% of your hits, while if you need 15+, you threat 66.6% of your hits)..

Lets follow this example, just to show you that it doesn't work that way.

If, when you hit you deal X damage, and when you crit, you deal 2X damage, and you need a 15 or higher to hit, and a 17-20 crit range.
-> Then if you hit, you either have a 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.
If Its any of these 6 you will deal at least X damage. If it's 17 or up, you need to roll to confirm. You need to once again roll 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 to deal 2X.

In other words, your damage is about: 0.1*X+0.2*(0.3*2X)+0.2*(0.7*X) = 0.1X+0.12X+0.014X = 0.234X.

Next, same situation, except you need a 11 or higher to hit. Your damage is about: 0.3*X+0.2*(0.5*2X)+0.2*(0.5*X) = 0.3X+0.2X+0.01X = 0.51X.

So what does this show? Percentage of hits that are crits is much less important then your chance to hit, and how easy it is to confirm.

One more example, The first situation with +4 to confirm.
0.1*X+0.2*(0.5*2X)+0.2*(0.5*X) = 0.1X+0.2X+0.01X = 0.31X
So +4 to confirm, in this case raises damage by about 8%, but +4 to hit raises damage by about 28%.

[Mystic Muse]

1. is improved trip good for a paladin? I was thinking of taking the wolf totem barbarian variant and get improved trip at second level for it.

2. what's the best gestalt/regular way for a Paladin to have a little variation in their attacks.

3. should I instead of using wolf totem barbarian or Hellreaver (the PRC I was considering taking) use a class from ToB/BoNS?

4. what's a good class to use with a gestalt paladin? (for future reference)

[Mr.Moron]

2. what's the best gestalt/regular way for a Paladin to have a little variation in their attacks.

Ask if you can use the prestige paladin variant . You can base your casting off a cleric, and get a lot more options. It's better than default paladin, but that's good thing. It's not a huge power raise if standard clerics are in play. It's really a good way to do paladin.

3. should I instead of using wolf totem barbarian or Hellreaver (the PRC I was considering taking) use a class from ToB/BoNS?

Crusader works as a great paladin substitute. Go with it if you aren't allowed prestige paladin. Standard paladin is honestly pretty pathetic.

[Mystic Muse]

unfortunately I changed my paladin to a paladin of freedom so the prestigious paladin won't work

[ZeroNumerous]

unfortunately I changed my paladin to a paladin of freedom so the prestigious paladin won't work

Uh.. Prestige paladin is just a PrC. You take cleric as your base class then go into PrC Paladin.

[Mystic Muse]

Uh.. Prestige paladin is just a PrC. You take cleric as your base class then go into PrC Paladin.

okay. still won't work then since I'm not a cleric.

[Mr.Moron]

unfortunately I changed my paladin to a paladin of freedom so the prestigious paladin won't work

Prestige Paladin is fairly easy to adept to Paladin of Freedom really, just change it to "Chaotic Good".

If you've already got the Paladin of Freedom levels in place, and can't change them. Just start taking Crusader levels and accept them as a loss. If you DM will let you go on a rebuilding quest later (PHBII) you can replace some of them.

Standard Paladin/Freedom just isn't a path worth pursuing very far if you have other options available.

[Mongoose87]

Addressing the gestalt question: Sorcerer makes too much sense. Nothing like adding your primary spellcasting attribute to your saves.

[ZeroNumerous]

okay. still won't work then since I'm not a cleric.

Yes, but you become a paladin via PrC Paladin.

[Mystic Muse]

but I'm ALREADY a Paladin. and a chaotic good one.

[Mr.Moron]

but I'm ALREADY a Paladin. and a chaotic good one.

You said ToB was available. Start taking Crusader levels, it's all the same flavor as paladin.

[ZeroNumerous]

but I'm ALREADY a Paladin. and a chaotic good one.

See, you should have specified that you're working with levels already in Paladin.

1: Improved Trip is only good if you're a tripper. If you aren't aiming for trpping then there's no point in it.

2: ToB or Magic. Unless you mean: "Other ways to attack" then I'd consider Magic of Incarnum as well.

3: Couldn't hurt. Paladin's so top loaded that you don't need anything from it after 6th level.

4: CHA user of any sort, really. Sorc, Dread Necro, Favored Soul, whatever.

[erikun]

Holy Liberator from Complete Divine? It's basically a CG Paladin prestige class, and your Paladin levels stack with Holy Liberator levels for most of his abilities. See if you can talk your DM into allowing stuff like Smite Evil stacking with both, and freely multiclassing between the two.

I once had a Paladin/Kensai who enchanted the sacred sword he got from his deity. I think Kensai may allow multiclassing with Paladin once you hit level 10, but don't recall for sure.

Other than that, Paladin 5/Cleric 15 isn't bad, although it's not too great. Crusader and Sorcerer were mentioned before as alternative options, although I'm not sure if Crusader benefits from high Charisma. Favored Soul (Complete Divine) is another caster which benefits from high Charisma and high Wisdom, but is a lot like the Paladin/Cleric.

Tripping - Improved Trip is good if you have the feats to support it. Generally, that's Power Attack/Improved Trip, Spiked Chain Proficiency, and Combat Reflexes. Most Paladins don't have such a high Dex to take advantage of Combat Reflexes, but it's certainly possible if you want to. It'll be quite a feat investment.

Gestalt - Paladin is kind of a limited class with narrow focus, so it benefits from other classes greatly but doesn't really synergize well.

Paladin//Fighter gives you a bunch of feats for combat options, but not much new outside of combat.
Paladin//Crusader is similar, with more combat options but not too much beyond that.
Paladin//Cleric (and variants) will allow you to buff yourself and allies, then tear into opponents. Not much different from a standard Cleric with a few abilities, though.
Paladin//Sorcerer ends up like a Sorcerer with a Sacred Grace bonus. Paladin//Bard is interesting for party buffing, if you're going CG Paladin again.

[Mongoose87]

Things

Crusaders get their CHA to Will, but not if you have Divine Grace.

[AslanCross]

I'd gestalt Crusader so you can have more variety, control, and tanking ability.

[Mystic Muse]

is it a good feat for a paladin of freedom? it sounds good on paper but it might suck in practice.

[9mm]

most would recomend a scabbard of keen edges over it, but it really comes down to money, and wether your game house rules staking keen/improved crit.

[Mystic Muse]

okay then second question. what does keen do?