Vorpral vs. paralyzer

[Uhtred_Stark]

A couple questions on vorprals (assume in the hands of a twf chain fighter)

Can they one shot kill red named on a 20?

For max dps capability against mobs what would be the preference, a vorpral or a paralyzer?

When paired with a greensteel dps sword, which is better to use in off hand, vorpral or paralyzer?

And a THF question - on a vorpral greataxe, do glancing blows have a vorpral chance?

[GunboatDiplomat]

A couple questions on vorprals (assume in the hands of a twf chain fighter)

Can they one shot kill red named on a 20? Neither vorpals nor paralysers work on red names. They do on orange names though.

For max dps capability against mobs what would be the preference, a vorpral or a paralyzer? Neither are good dps. For quicker killing though use vorpals. However if you're a bit squishy it can sometimes be nice to have a vorpal in one hand a para in the other.

When paired with a greensteel dps sword, which is better to use in off hand, vorpral or paralyzer? Usually its better to go full dps or full vorpal in both hands depending on the situation.

And a THF question - on a vorpral greataxe, do glancing blows have a vorpral chance? Yes but you have to take either wf/kensai enhancements and/or thf weapon feats

Answers in red.

[TheBlueFox]

Vorpals cannot kill most Red named, if not all red named final bosses, as they have an innate deathward. I am unsure if sub bosses are red or orange named. Orange named are okay though and can be killed this way.

For max dps, a vorpal in one hand and a paralyzer in the other is probably your best bet. Either that or 2 vorpals since MOST trash mobs aside from undead can be vorpaled, but then again, undead cant be paralyzed either.

when being paired with a greensteel weapon, you will probably want a vorpal, since by then you're most likely at the point where you will kill something without the need to paralyze it, but can still speed things up with vorpal.

as for THF greataxe, I have no idea if vorpal is passed through glancing blows, even with the THF enhancement line.

[Kaervas]

A couple questions on vorprals (assume in the hands of a twf chain fighter)

Vorpal.

Can they one shot kill red named on a 20?

No, red named are immune.

For max dps capability against mobs what would be the preference, a vorpral or a paralyzer?

Neither are really DPS, the vorpal causes instant kills on a lucky roll and the paralyzer mitigates incoming damage rather than causing you to deal more.
If you simply want more kills, then the vorpal wins out by a mile unless you are made of tissue paper and would die fighting unparalyzed mobs (in which case you have something bigger to worry about than low DPS).

If you are using vorpals, you want 2 of them so you can get as many vorpal attacks as possible (a 20 roll with the non vorpal hand would be such a waste if you had one vorpal and one other weapon).
Once you roll a 20, all damage you've done up to that point on the mob is wasted since it dies outright regardless of current HP.

Paralyzing weapons lose effectiveness at high levels because everything vulnerable will require a 1 to fail the save, and they will almost certainly break the paralysis effect in a few seconds when they get their recurring save.
The paralysis effect also does not cause autocrits.
It's nice during the early life of the effect (RR8/non-RR 10 to around non-RR 14-16 or so) but after that point it isn't really worth it.
You are better off using weighted 5%, as those do cause autocrits. Restricted to bludgeoning only though.

When paired with a greensteel dps sword, which is better to use in off hand, vorpral or paralyzer?

Ideally you want another greensteel or some other DPS weapon like a Holy Burst of PG or appropriate Burst of Greater Bane, for the reasons above.

If you really must choose between the two, I'd go for the vorpal, but you really shouldn't hold either of them ALL the time in your offhand as there are many creatures that both effects don't work against, meaning your offhand is underperforming vastly in those situations.
Scour the brokers for a holy burst or similar, and use that most of the time (though even that isn't truly all purpose).

And a THF question - on a vorpral greataxe, do glancing blows have a vorpral chance?

Don't know about this. I see that there are feats and enhancements which allow weapon special effects to proc on glancing blows, but I don't know if this applies to vorpal.

[Uhtred_Stark]

So GS with GS and vorp with vorp. Thanks for the elaborations and ideas.

[Uhtred_Stark]

I tested out the dual vorpal (bastard sword and dwarven axe) weild on Running with the Devils last night. Outstanding results. Even though I am not proficient in either weapon, it seriously reduced the time it took to kill those light ball guys. Then I realized, I guess it doesn't matter if you're proficient in a vorpal or not, all you're looking to do is roll a natural 20. A haste boosted twf attack chain lays out a ton of rolls in 20 seconds. Which makes me really wonder about the THF vorpal, because if it doesn't 'roll' on glancing blows then twf would have a big edge in vorpal ability.

[blitzschlag]

I tested out the dual vorpal (bastard sword and dwarven axe) weild on Running with the Devils last night. Outstanding results. Even though I am not proficient in either weapon, it seriously reduced the time it took to kill those light ball guys. Then I realized, I guess it doesn't matter if you're proficient in a vorpal or not, all you're looking to do is roll a natural 20. A haste boosted twf attack chain lays out a ton of rolls in 20 seconds. Which makes me really wonder about the THF vorpal, because if it doesn't 'roll' on glancing blows then twf would have a big edge in vorpal ability.

well, as large groups of mobs become more and more rare in high end content (unless you go collect half the dungeon to shred/burn em) its always good to dish out as many attacks as possible when you wanna vorpal something. best way to do this is to use 2 vorpal weapons. but you should keep in mind that just equipping a offhand weapon gives you just one extra attack per attack-chain (with the offhand). this might still be better than using a vorpal 2hander. keep also in mind that each 20 has to be confirmed with a 2nd confirmation attackroll to severe the head of the foe. so each decrease to hit (not proficient with weapon, no 2wf chain, etc...) might cost you your dearly awaited roll of a natural 20.

[Zombiekenny]

keep also in mind that each 20 has to be confirmed with a 2nd confirmation attackroll to severe the head of the foe. so each decrease to hit (not proficient with weapon, no 2wf chain, etc...) might cost you your dearly awaited roll of a natural 20.

For this reason a bloodstone is awesome with vorpal weapons. It makes it that much more unlikely that you will fail to confirm.