Optimizing Disarm

[Magic Myrmidon]

A character that I've recently made is based on disarm. He uses spiked gauntlets primarily, so he always has something to fight with, but whenever possible, he tries to steal his opponent's weapons to use for himself.

Unfortunately, there were more penalties than I thought when I try to do this. So basically, are there enchantments, class features, magic items, or anything to make grabbing an opponent's weapon a viable feature?

[Keld Denar]

Disarming with gauntlets, or unarmed, is actually at a pretty significant disadvantage. Light weapons suffer a -4 penalty when disarming, and if your foe is using a 2handed weapon, gains a +4 against you. Thats an 8 point delta most of the time. Imp Disarm makes up for another +4, but the d20 is still a really large die with a lot of room for variance.

Since disarm is an opposed attack roll, anything that increases attack rolls is good. Things like Law Devotion and Bardic Inspire Courage offer very large bonuses to hit, as does increasing your Str (or Dex if you are a finesser).

If you can afford a decent Cha, there are a couple of Marshall auras that would help. The +1 Attack bonus is a good start, and offsets the loss of BAB from dipping Marshall. Then there is the Art of War minor aura, which adds your Cha on all tactical maneuvers (like trip, disarm, sunder, etc).

I think there is a disarming weapon property in the MIC, although simply adding +enhancement bonuses to your weapon will also increase its ability to disarm. Use Greater Magic Weapon if at all possible.

[Quirp]

There is a weapon style feat (crescent moon I think) that allows you to make a free disarm attack if you hit with a dagger and a sword in the same round. Aptitude weapons might help to make this actually useful.

[JonestheSpy]

Disarming is the only thing Sai are good for, though it only makes sense if you already have a reason to be using a light weapon, like two-weapon fighting.

One of my houserules to make monks not suck is that they don't take the -4 penalty if attacking unarmed to disarm.

[Mongoose87]

This is one of the few things I truly like about PF's CMB/CMD system. There's no penalties/bonuses according to weapon size. The gauntlet disarm-er is very viable.

[DeltaEmil]

Tome of Battle has the maneuver "Disarming Strike" from the Iron Heart School, which you could get for a feat. It lets you combine a normal attack with a disarming attempt that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, nor is there a risk that you might be disarmed yourself.

[Person_Man]

Flindbar: Monster Manual III: +2 to Disarm, and when you threaten a crit (19-20 or 17-20 with any Impact/Keen effect) you get a free Disarm attempt before you roll to confirm the crit. It's an exotic weapon though, so you need to spend a feat (or a class level on Master of Masks, or 12 class levels on Binder) to use it without penalty.

Snatch Weapon: Champions of Ruin. If you succeed in disarming an opponent and you have a free hand, you can grab the weapon yourself instead of letting it fall. If you can wield that weapon in one hand, you can immediately make a single attack with it, though you suffer the usual penalties for a second attack with an off-hand weapon. Requires Improved Disarm (which in turn requires Combat Expertise unless you're a Denying Stance Monk 6 variant from Unearthed Arcana).

Also, anything that increases your size improves your opposed Disarm check, as do a few magical enhancements.

So Unarmed Swordsage 20, specializing in TWF. Make a full attack augmented by whatever manuevers/stances you want, and when you crit you get a free Disarm, and if you succeed you get an extra attack.

But note that tons of enemies don't use weapons. Tons of enemies that use weapons carry backup weapons. And after you Disarm the first enemy and smack him with his own weapon (which is probably less effective then your magic weapon), you have to drop it if you want to Disarm a different enemy (letting unarmed enemies have a chance to pick it up), or waste a Move Action to Sheath it. I would never waste feats on this combo unless I knew for a fact that most of my encounters were going to be urban and/or gladiatorial.

[Forged Fury]

Snatch Weapon: Champions of Ruin. If you succeed in disarming an opponent and you have a free hand, you can grab the weapon yourself instead of letting it fall.

FYI to the OP: You don't need a feat to do that particular part if you attempt the disarm unarmed. Taking the extra attack afterwards does require a feat.