A "Wield Oversized Weapon Feat" Suggestion Thread

[AZgreentea]

Before everyone gets up in arms, Yes. Yes I have read the other threads and I am confident that my suggestion addresses what I understand is the main concern about the feat in DPS heavy DDO. Please dont just post how its a horrible idea before you hear me out.

I am by no means a PnP expert, but I read all of the threads I could find online and in DDO, and I feel I am aware of what the 3.5 feat is supposed to do. Most of that is not relevant to DDO, since weapon size is not related or restricted by race size. Because DDO takes elements of 3.5 (and with Half Elves 4.0) and modifies them to be relevant to live action, I thought I would do some relevance and balancing to this feat.

Wield Over Sized Weapon: When using a shield, you gain the ability to wield a two handed weapon in your primary hand as a one handed weapon. This incurs a -2 penalty to hit.

As you can see, you will not be able to dual wield two two-handed weapons. You must be using a shield in your offhand to use a two handed wep in your primary. That, I think, addresses people's primary concerns in the other threads. My idea is meant to help S&B viability, and add a third melee DPS option to the game.

The "improved" version of this feat is wont be needed, unless you want to raise the penalty and then reduce it later with the improved version. The penalty can always be adjusted, its not set in stone for me. I feel some penalty should remain, though.

I was inspired to this idea when I learned that Orcish Melee Damage and Greater Weapon Aptitude (WF or HO versions) do not apply to Bastard Swords (and seemingly never will). That basically means that Bastard Swords can never be as powerful as a true two handed weapon, despite the loss of an additional feat. Still, my love for S&B has not waned, and I think this feat would be a means of making the style viable.

This shouldnt be overpowered, as AC is not a reliable defense endgame. Shields have useful attributes, but certainly nothing game breaking. It is limited to only one weapon; no dual wielding two two-handed weps. Lastly, you would be loosing a feat to gain the use of those shield attributes, which should balance nicely.

I would love to have the Shield Bash proc as an offhand attack, but this would be my second favorite path to viability. My only issue with this feat is a concern that my dainty S&B Half-Orc will have Popeye arms.

Ok, now you can beat me about the head and shoulders for the suggestion. Sorry if I stepped on any toes with this suggestion, but there was no suggestion thread dedicated to this exact concept that I could find.

[k1ngp1n]

Monkey Grip
[General]
(CWar p103)
Base Attack Bonus +1 You may use some weapons one size category larger than normal in exchange for a –2 penalty on attacks.
A Medium-sized character could use a Large-sized Longsword as a One-Handed Weapon.
This feat does not allow you to use an oversized double weapon or to wield an oversized Light weapon in
your off-hand.


This has been suggested many times.

[elujin]

you kinda have bastard sword and dwarven axes for thisarn't they supose to be one handed/twohanded weapons ?

[Robi3.0]

I am for anything that would allow me to wield a telephone pole as a weapon!

[AZgreentea]

you kinda have bastard sword and dwarven axes for thisarn't they supose to be one handed/twohanded weapons ?

True, however, they are not modified by the THF enhancements of Greater Weapon aptitude and Orcish Melee Damage. That means they wont reach the same DPS as a true Two Handed weapon in a speced character. There are no enhancements or feats that truly enhance the DPs of a S&B, and the ones that do benefit them are inadequate at endgame.

If you make it so you can weild a weapon that will benefit from GWA and OMD, then S&B will be able to compete in the DPS world.

[Angelus_dead]

Wield Over Sized Weapon: When using a shield, you gain the ability to wield a two handed weapon in your primary hand as a one handed weapon. This incurs a -2 penalty to hit.

Several things wrong with this. Mainly:
1. It looks dumb. The existing two-handed weapons in DDO already look comically oversized, but that would be far worse if someone was using them with one hand.
2. It's ineffective. Switching from a khopesh to a one-handed falchion is a downgrade, unless maybe you have all THF feats (and they are allowed to keep working). If you have those THF feats then a 1h greataxe/greatsword is only a minor upgrade over bastard/dwarf-axe. With glancing blows and critical threat, a 1h falchion would be an upgrade for S&B.

If you think S&B characters should be able to spend a feat for more damage, then just give them a feat that causes more damage with whatever gear they're already using (such as inserting shield bashes into the regular attack sequence, which has been a popular suggestion for a long time)

[Vynnt]

How would 1.5x Str mod and 2x power attack work?

Would the S&B be considered a 1h weapon and get the normal 1x, 1x (0.5x, 1x offhand)?
or, would they be 2h weapons and get the 1.5x, 2x?

If they would be considered 2h weapons and get the full 2h weapon advantages, every 2hf person would turn into a s&b because there would be little advantage to not have a shield. And, every s&b would have a 2h weapon.

If they are considered 1h weapons, they still won't be able to compete. Although, IMO, they shouldn't be able to anyway.

There is also the Kensai damage enhancements, and anything else I missed.

The only way I can support a Shield bash proc would be if it had much lower rates than TWF, or just not have feats to improve the proc (leaving it at 20%).

There has to be a downside to having a shield. Increasing shield's usefulness is good, but boost it too much and it would dwarf either the twf line or the thf line.

Adding passive DR is the way to go.

[Chai]

Lets get this straight, you want to build a paladin tank who has full benefits of wearing a shield as far as AC and DR are concerned, and have an eSoS in their weapon hand, complete with silver augment for full DR breaking ability....

Hasnt WF 2 handed weapon enhancements been broken since like WWII? They have been doing just fine without them and will do even more DPS with them fixed. It would be awesome if this stuff applied to one handed weapons that get glancing blows with a shield equipped to the other hand. A Half Orc tank adding 60% of their feeble one handed DPS to their damage might actually justify having a shield equipped in certain situations.

S&B isnt just broken due to lack of DPS from OneHandedFighting® however...

Its also broken because even the weakest pathetic feeble mobs in the high end content have a crazy to-hit bonus. After level 12 or so it becomes harder and harder to add AC, but the to-hit just ramps up exponentially. Players have to farm raids to get items that increase AC by 3 points here and 2 points there, while the mobs likely cover that when adding 1CR to their difficulty level.

This is what happens when a DnD game is designed around having so many magic items that casting a detect magic spell anywhere near stormreach would create a second sun, and blind everyone within a few lightyears.

[Chai]

How would 1.5x Str mod and 2x power attack work?

Would the S&B be considered a 1h weapon and get the normal 1x, 1x (0.5x, 1x offhand)?
or, would they be 2h weapons and get the 1.5x, 2x?

If they would be considered 2h weapons and get the full 2h weapon advantages, every 2hf person would turn into a s&b because there would be little advantage to not have a shield. And, every s&b would have a 2h weapon.

If they are considered 1h weapons, they still won't be able to compete. Although, IMO, they shouldn't be able to anyway.

There is also the Kensai damage enhancements, and anything else I missed.

The only way I can support a Shield bash proc would be if it had much lower rates than TWF, or just not have feats to improve the proc (leaving it at 20%).

There has to be a downside to having a shield. Increasing shield's usefulness is good, but boost it too much and it would dwarf either the twf line or the thf line.

Adding passive DR is the way to go.

I would agree with you if people werent able to build butt naked riding zebra toons who out the AC of full on encased in steel tower shield having fighters, all the while sacrificing much less DPS to do so.

To even have an AC close to an exploiter ranger for instance, the Stalwart has to gimp their melee to the point where they cant hit water falling out of a boat, while the exploiter is running around doing justifiable DPS with 2 weapons and has evasion. - All for what? A little DR. meh...