[3.5] Weapon Special Abilities

[Marriclay]

I was reading the Kensai class in complete warrior and it got me thinking - what would be the best choices for a weapon's special abilties? I have a Half-Gold Dragon character who focuses on his claws as his weapons, and I think I'm going to start taking Kensai levels in order to improve them and open up some interesting roleplaying (He's already devoted to one of the other characters, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch)

What would be good choices to enchant my claws with?

(Also, before someone complains about the underpowered template I have chosen to use, I'm using the Pathfinder version, which is much better)

[Keld Denar]

Wounding. The more attacks you make, the more Wounding becomes more and more effective. Other than that, Spellstoring is normally a really good one, for novaing, and Holy and Collision are both pretty good returns on investment.

[PId6]

I'm a big fan of the Dispelling -> Greater Dispelling. For a cost of +2, this gives you a huge advantage against casters that rely on buffs 3/day (though you'll still have to hit them first). Found in MIC.

[9mm]

as with most things it depends on what you want to do, so are you going lots of attacks, or a few really powerful ones?

[Glimbur]

Throwing and Returning!

...sorry. Whirling is cheaper than getting the feats to do whirlwind attack, but it's situational, so I would probably skip it. Collision is nice because it's just more damage, not more damage of an element which could be resisted.

[Marriclay]

as with most things it depends on what you want to do, so are you going lots of attacks, or a few really powerful ones?

Hopefully, both, but I'm focusing on getting my number of attacks up right now. I'm working on getting rapidstrike.

[Hague]

Definitely Collision. Brilliant Energy is OK, but it really hamstrings you against undead but you never have to worry about AC again. Wounding works good, but again, many things are immune to criticals. Psychokinetic is a good fallback as the force damage it deals is hard to resist (damage is meh, though)

I'd say Blurstrike if you were were a ninja or rogue.

Bodyfeeder will let you Coup de Grace enemies for instant temporary hps and even more with the occasional critical.

Brutal Surge will give you lots of free bull rush attempts if your Con is very high.

Desiccating is the best of the 'damage type' effects as most creatures require water. Since the damage it deals is by thirst, it allows you to make quick work of most regenerating creatures, whom cannot heal this damage as it does so by removing water, one of the key ways of killing a regenerating creature. It also lets you hurt plants, which can be a difficult type to deal with by other means.

If you're a psychic warrior, Mindfeeder lets you get free temporary PP with a Coup de Grace too.

If you're a ranger, Hunting is a great one, who doesn't want an extra 4 damage against all of your favored foes?

Illusion Bane is cheap at +1 and lets you ignore miss chances from illusions and do a high bonus dispel against them.

Warning is an awesome one that grants you a +5 insight bonus on initiative checks for a paltry +1.

Though, I'd have to say Defending is probably the best if you're going for maximizing your enhancement bonus. You can optionally give yourself +10 AC bonus.

[mabriss lethe]

If you qualify, martial discipline weapons are often overlooked, especially in conjunction with collision.
for example, a +1 shadowhand collision weapon has a total bonus of +4, but in the hands of an initiator in a shadowhand stance (or using a SH maneuver) That's a total of +4 to attack and +6 to damage. (the bonus granted by the martial discipline ability is also untyped so it will stack with things like greater magic weapon, for more fun)

[herrhauptmann]

Smoking from Lords of Darkness.
Stinking cloud effect in your square (meh), and 20% miss chance.