Shameless post

[the clumsy bard]

As the title says... this is a shameless post

Recently my dm has awarded me a weapon of up to + 9 ablility

It can be any weapon and has an enhancement of up to + 9 (bonuses and abilities etc)

My problem is I just can't decide and would like to know what you would do given this situation? (keeping in mind I am playing a martial character from tome of battle in 3.5)


Also a little self serving (sorry)

[Diarmuid]

More information on your character, the others in the party, and your normal strategies will help narrow this down greatly.

[lsfreak]

What's your level, and what's your build type? 2-handed charger? Sword-and-board? AoO retaliation? Volley archer?

My default for a generic melee build of some kind is a keen collision bodyfeeder falchion, but it depends on how many enemies show up that are crit-immune (which is common at high levels). You're going to want to get a Discipline enhancement on it of whatever discipline's aura you have active most often for the constant +3 attack bonus.

[the clumsy bard]

warblade 11 / eternal blade 7 / swordsage 1 / crusader 2

I use a lot of AOO

We fight a lot of undead in the game, but also of note is that I have the weapon crystal from magic compendium that allows me to critical etc on undead.

Our dm throws a lot of crazy stuff at us as well, so its hard to say what is useful in terms of exact types we fight.

I wield weapons in 2 hands and have the following feats applying to combat


ironheart aura, stormguard warrior, close quarters fighting, combat reflexes, improved initiative, hold the line, robilar’s gambit, power attack, defensive sweep,

[Diarmuid]

Do you mean you wield a 2-handed weapon or you wield a weapon in each hand. Your lack of Two Weap Fighting/Imp/Grtr imply a 2-hander, but just want to make sure.

[Synapse]

Well, aptitude and whatever 18-20 range of your choice and the lightning maces feat is a good start. I presume you also have blood in the water? It's cheesy...but it's a shameless post.

[Keld Denar]

Sounds like you spend a lot of time in Thicket of Blades, if you are an AoO machine.

I'd get a +1 Transmuting (+2) Collision (+2) Wounding (+2) Devoted Spirit (+1) Whirling (+1) weapon.

Transmuting means that after the first hit on any foe, you overcome their DR. This is good. Collision is a solid +5 damage that multiplies on a hit. Wounding is situationally the STRONGEST weapon enhancement, due to the fact that Con damage translates to more HP damage the bigger things are, although somethings are flat out immune to it. Devoted Spirit gives you a +3 to hit when in a Devoted Spirit stance, which Thicket of Blades is. This stacks with your GMW Enhancement bonus. Finally, assuming you have decent reach, Whirling is useful for the handful of times when you actually can use a Whirlwind Attack without blowing 4 terrible feats on it.

Alternatively, swap Whirling for Vicious. Vicious is the best damage/+ enhancement out there, although it damages you back. Make things dead before they make you dead.

[the clumsy bard]

1 weapon in 2 hands

[Jota]

The weapon should have a +5 enhancement bonus, with the remaining +4 for you to play with. Devoted Spirit is a sound choice. If most of or a lot of your strikes/boost come from a particular school, that one would be as well. Other than that, extra damage.

[Marnath]

The weapon should have a +5 enhancement bonus, with the remaining +4 for you to play with. Devoted Spirit is a sound choice. If most of or a lot of your strikes/boost come from a particular school, that one would be as well. Other than that, extra damage.

It should have a +1, and have your buddy cast greater magic weapon. You do have a cleric right?

[Tytalus]

Given that it's epic, I'd definitely go for a +6 with something extra.

[MachineWraith]

Given that it's epic, I'd definitely go for a +6 with something extra.

+9 isn't epic, unless you're talking straight enhancement bonus, and personally, I'd much rather take the aforementioned route of Greater Magic Weapon and some spiffy extra effects.

[Lord Bingo]

I can't determine all the qualities I think you should take but you definitely must have the Martial Discipline Weapon effect from Tome of Battle. It is a +1 ability and it will grant you +3 to hit when you use related maneuvers/stances.
Also I would go for a Keen Adamantine weapon with a good threat range. I'd go for Wounding too.

[Lev]

If he's going to allow +9 I'd take Impacting a few times on a scimitar or something and add crit trigger effects.

[Tytalus]

+9 isn't epic, unless you're talking straight enhancement bonus, and personally, I'd much rather take the aforementioned route of Greater Magic Weapon and some spiffy extra effects.

Huh?

He's a level 21 character, an as such epic. He'll run into monsters with epic DR sooner or later.

Even if he has access to GMW (he didn't indicate it), that doesn't do jack for overcoming epic DR.

An enhancement bonus of +6 is therefore a prudent choice. It also makes the weapon much more valuable (as an epic item) if he is to sell it at some point.

Of course, he has access to the Stone Dragon discipline, so he has some means of overcoming DR already. Still, I'd go for the epic weapon - if that's an option at all.

[BobVosh]

If you are fighting a lot of undead, getting ghost touched and the upgrade one that lets you crit undead in the MiC isn't terrible. Also vicious isn't going to help much there.

Transmuting is always amazing.

[the clumsy bard]

in terms of the damage reduction

eternal blade's second level ability is guided strike, which allows the user to overcome damage reduction for the rest of the turn as a swift action.

The dm hasn't officially said I can't make it epic, so I will take any and all suggestions up til I find out (waiting on an email)

On another note, thank you so much for all the responses so far... and to come

Its very helpful

The greater magic weapon isn't likely to happen from the cleric, but should be easy to come by from my cohort.

[BobVosh]

The greater magic weapon isn't likely to happen from the cleric, but should be easy to come by from my cohort.

It is a lower level spell for wizards anyway.

[dsmiles]

What kind of weapon?

Blunt? Go with impact.
Slashing/Piercing? Go with keen.

You can never go wrong with more criticals.

Maybe throw a couple of bursts on there?
How about enfeebling?

[mootoall]

I like a Smoking weapon. +1 Enchantment for a 20% miss chance.

[olelia]

Straight +9 weapon and sell it for 800k?

[Nanoblack]

Just jam as many elemental burst enchantments into one weapon as possible. I did this to a musket once and each crit became a nifty little nuke. This is in addition to all of the extra D6's you get on non-crits.

[Andion Isurand]

If you want to overcome epic DR, I'd use the Bane Weapon spell (Clr 4, Sor/Wiz 4) from Dragon #279 (pg. 47) in the "Revenge of the Spider Queen" article.... and give the weapon at least a +4 enhancement bonus so that it increases to +6 against the creature type you specify when the spell is cast.