You seriously mean to tell me that you don't take a Third Eye Clarity on every single character? It's near the level of Haversack in sheer usefulness, and is just about the first protective item I get.
I wouldn't quite go so far as putting it near to the haversack in usefulness (being 1/day and not usable while flat-footed), but it is handy.
Also, that's just about the only way to make a non-metal Greatsword I can think of, and, of course, Greatsword is the absolute best weapon. Plus, if you're Psionic, Deep Crystal has some other bonuses. It's a great deal overall, really.
Dragonfang weapons are approximately equal in usefulness (depending on whether on not you're psionic); while there are a few things that specifically target crystals, there are fewer that specifically target dragon claws or teeth as a material.
The greatsword is a very good generalist weapon, though the quarterstaff is better for basic use (combining versatility and cheapness with easy proficiency), and the spiked gauntlet is the best weapon for many for obvious reasons. And that's without touching on ranged weapons or reach weapons, which involve additional priorities.
The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. - Good Omens
= My most popular campaign item; for all your adventuring convenience.Show
Zauber's Mutable Rod: This rod has a number of useful functions that make it easier to live in the wilderness. It is made of polished wood, with five studlike buttons on one end. Each button produces a different effect when pressed. Unless otherwise noted, the rod’s functions have no limit on the number of times they can be employed. • When button 1 is pressed, one end of the rod produces a small flame, equivalent to a candle. • When button 2 is pressed, the rod unfolds into a two-person tent, complete with bedrolls and warm blankets. • When button 3 is pressed, the rod becomes a one-handed hammer, suitable for pounding pitons into a wall. • When button 4 is pressed, the rod becomes a sturdy iron spade. • When button 5 is pressed, the rod becomes a wooden bucket able to hold 2 gallons of liquid. Once per day, it can be commanded to fill with fresh water. If the rod is seriously damaged or broken in any of its alternate forms (button 2, 3, 4, or 5), it reverts to its basic rod form and cannot be activated for 24 hours. Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Rod, minor creation; Price 375 gp; Weight 2 lb.
It's not so much the text on the crystal weapon materials that you need to look out for as much as it is various sonic spells. Spells and effects with the sonic descriptor for the most part almost always deal full damage crystal creatures and objects (though a few of them have fine writing to look out for, such as shatter explicitly not effecting magical items of such a nature). That being said a simple shout spell can destroy a crystal weapon with little effort.
I wouldn't quite go so far as putting it near to the haversack in usefulness (being 1/day and not usable while flat-footed), but it is handy.
I see what you did there.
More on the point, however, the sheer number of things the Third Eye just turns to lulz is so high, and it is so cheap, that I view it as easily among the best items in the game.
Dragonfang weapons are approximately equal in usefulness (depending on whether on not you're psionic); while there are a few things that specifically target crystals, there are fewer that specifically target dragon claws or teeth as a material.
What book are these Dragonfang weapons in?
The greatsword is a very good generalist weapon, though the quarterstaff is better for basic use (combining versatility and cheapness with easy proficiency), and the spiked gauntlet is the best weapon for many for obvious reasons. And that's without touching on ranged weapons or reach weapons, which involve additional priorities.
I'm gonna have to disagree. The quarterstaff sucks, simply because anyone who has any reason to use it has no business using it. The Spiked Gauntlet or Armor are the only weapons that can even begin to compete with the Greatsword, and that's for reasons totally unrelated actually killing things.
Also, ranged weapons are . No ranged weapon can even begin to compete with the greatsword, execpt for maybe that one magic bow from the D&D movie that was done in an online article. I mean, I do love the Chaingun Porcupine and crap, but they seriously can't compete with Lulzy McBigSword.
Customer Disservice of the House of Trolls Resident Secretly Ron Paul God of Spite and Sloth
More on the point, however, the sheer number of things the Third Eye just turns to lulz is so high, and it is so cheap, that I view it as easily among the best items in the game.
It's the 1/day usage that makes it less useful as I see it, since it's good against one shot, then gone. The immediate action usage is certainly inconvenient if someone catches you by surprise (or uses certain abilities) but is less common.
Dragonfang weapons are approximately equal in usefulness (depending on whether on not you're psionic); while there are a few things that specifically target crystals, there are fewer that specifically target dragon claws or teeth as a material.
What book are these Dragonfang weapons in?
Draconomicon, pages 117-118. They're one of the dragoncraft items. The only real drawback is that only piercing and slashing weapons can be created.
The greatsword is a very good generalist weapon, though the quarterstaff is better for basic use (combining versatility and cheapness with easy proficiency), and the spiked gauntlet is the best weapon for many for obvious reasons. And that's without touching on ranged weapons or reach weapons, which involve additional priorities.
I'm gonna have to disagree. The quarterstaff sucks, simply because anyone who has any reason to use it has no business using it. The Spiked Gauntlet or Armor are the only weapons that can even begin to compete with the Greatsword, and that's for reasons totally unrelated actually killing things.
When you're talking about overall goodness, you have to consider all the possible situations; the quarterstaff gives you a light, one-handed, two-handed, and double weapon in a single item that literally costs nothing (though you can certainly make it almost as expensive as anything else with enchantments), almost anyone can use one, the basic material makes it easy to create magically at low levels (should you have the need), it's light, and there are comparatively few spells that specifically harm it, while a few serve nicely to buff it. It's something you can use effectively from 1st level in almost any class, and almost all the nifty magical staves (including runestaves and domain staves) can also count as quarterstaves so that you've got a weapon in hand as well as holding a useful tool. Its strengths are its utter simplicity, accessibility, and versatility.
A greatsword is an excellent martial weapon for dealing hit point damage against most creatures (obviously not things like black puddings, but no weapon is the best in every situation). The quarterstaff is a different weapon that excels in different ways.
Also, ranged weapons are . No ranged weapon can even begin to compete with the greatsword, execpt for maybe that one magic bow from the D&D movie that was done in an online article. I mean, I do love the Chaingun Porcupine and crap, but they seriously can't compete with Lulzy McBigSword.
There are too many ways to keep away from a melee warrior to make ranged weapons irrelevant, along with other effects that make its strengths less important in particular circumstances. Naturally, there are also many cases that make ranged weapons less ideal.
The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. - Good Omens
= My most popular campaign item; for all your adventuring convenience.Show
Zauber's Mutable Rod: This rod has a number of useful functions that make it easier to live in the wilderness. It is made of polished wood, with five studlike buttons on one end. Each button produces a different effect when pressed. Unless otherwise noted, the rod’s functions have no limit on the number of times they can be employed. • When button 1 is pressed, one end of the rod produces a small flame, equivalent to a candle. • When button 2 is pressed, the rod unfolds into a two-person tent, complete with bedrolls and warm blankets. • When button 3 is pressed, the rod becomes a one-handed hammer, suitable for pounding pitons into a wall. • When button 4 is pressed, the rod becomes a sturdy iron spade. • When button 5 is pressed, the rod becomes a wooden bucket able to hold 2 gallons of liquid. Once per day, it can be commanded to fill with fresh water. If the rod is seriously damaged or broken in any of its alternate forms (button 2, 3, 4, or 5), it reverts to its basic rod form and cannot be activated for 24 hours. Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Rod, minor creation; Price 375 gp; Weight 2 lb.
It's the 1/day usage that makes it less useful as I see it, since it's good against one shot, then gone. The immediate action usage is certainly inconvenient if someone catches you by surprise (or uses certain abilities) but is less common.
Then buy a couple. They're 3000 a piece. Until you can buy that awesome banner of "We're all immune to stun," get a couple, and keep them 'cuz you can still laugh at Daze.
Draconomicon, pages 117-118. They're one of the dragoncraft items. The only real drawback is that only piercing and slashing weapons can be created.
Are they any different from normal weapons? If so, I may move away from crystal.
When you're talking about overall goodness, you have to consider all the possible situations; the quarterstaff gives you a light, one-handed, two-handed, and double weapon in a single item that literally costs nothing (though you can certainly make it almost as expensive as anything else with enchantments), almost anyone can use one, the basic material makes it easy to create magically at low levels (should you have the need), it's light, and there are comparatively few spells that specifically harm it, while a few serve nicely to buff it. It's something you can use effectively from 1st level in almost any class, and almost all the nifty magical staves (including runestaves and domain staves) can also count as quarterstaves so that you've got a weapon in hand as well as holding a useful tool. Its strengths are its utter simplicity, accessibility, and versatility.
Except any class that has any reason to use it shouldn't. A druid to bigger stick it? Yeah, he should be eating it. Cleric? Has better weapons. Sorcadin is using a greatsword. Other casters? If they get into melee, you should throw a book at the guy.
A greatsword is an excellent martial weapon for dealing hit point damage against most creatures (obviously not things like black puddings, but no weapon is the best in every situation). The quarterstaff is a different weapon that excels in different ways.
Except, in any situation, there are better options. You need a blunt weapon? Yeah, about a hundred weapons are better.
There are too many ways to keep away from a melee warrior to make ranged weapons irrelevant, along with other effects that make its strengths less important in particular circumstances. Naturally, there are also many cases that make ranged weapons less ideal.
Not really. Anklets of Translocation, Boots of Springing and Striding, hell, flight is pretty easy to get. It's a matter of preparation. Maybe I'm just good at WBL optimization, but I really don't have problems with this. At low levels, I frequently carry a longbow at mid-level, but I very, very rarely use it. Like, the only situations I can think of using it are with massive Con damage or fighting a flying monster in a dead magic zone.
Customer Disservice of the House of Trolls Resident Secretly Ron Paul God of Spite and Sloth
Then buy a couple. They're 3000 a piece. Until you can buy that awesome banner of "We're all immune to stun," get a couple, and keep them 'cuz you can still laugh at Daze.
That's good for occasional use, though it doesn't help much against someone (like the God Hand), who can unload more than one such effect faster than the wearer can switch them. They're obviously good, but it's those limits that keep them from being in the same league as the haversack.
Are they any different from normal weapons? If so, I may move away from crystal.
They have a small cost bump (300 gp) in return for 1 point of appropriate energy damage as an extraordinary feature of the weapon (and obviously, they're made of dragon bits).
If you prefer bludgeoning damage or are psionic, you'd obviously still want deep crystal, but that leaves a lot of characters favouring dragonfang weapons.
Except any class that has any reason to use it shouldn't. A druid to bigger stick it? Yeah, he should be eating it. Cleric? Has better weapons. Sorcadin is using a greatsword. Other casters? If they get into melee, you should throw a book at the guy.
It's particularly good for the druid at lower levels where wild shape is limited or absent. For the cleric (one of the non-War domain ones), the longspear is a reach weapon without adjacent attacks, while the spear is slightly better with a different damage type. Pretty much all of them have it for its general versatility as well as being the natural shape of all those staves. There are other ways to achieve some of that, but the quarterstaff is very convenient.
Even without being a specific magical staff with spells, you've got a weapon with two enchantable ends without having to spend an exotic feat (which would normally make it nonviable). Chuck a morphing enchantment on the "cheap" end of the quarterstaff and you've got whatever two-hander you need, with all the enchantments of the other end.
Some of the advantages do favour lower levels, but that just happens to be where a quarterstaff is more useful, in addition to just being something that the characters already have on hand.
A greatsword is an excellent martial weapon for dealing hit point damage against most creatures (obviously not things like black puddings, but no weapon is the best in every situation). The quarterstaff is a different weapon that excels in different ways.
Except, in any situation, there are better options. You need a blunt weapon? Yeah, about a hundred weapons are better.
Yes, they're better if you can use them, but they require more in terms of proficiency and they cost money, unlike a potentially free stick.
And if you've got the cash and proficiencies for other two-handed weapons, you can still throw on morphing for an overall saving on a very versatile weapon (a basic +1 and morphing being a total +2 cost of 8,000 gp, compared to the ramping cost of stacking that +1 morphing on another weapon).
Depending on the DM you might also be able to morph the quarterstaff (or any other double weapon) into a one-hander or light weapon, but I'm not going to bet on it.
Anklets of Translocation, Boots of Springing and Striding, hell, flight is pretty easy to get. It's a matter of preparation. Maybe I'm just good at WBL optimization, but I really don't have problems with this. At low levels, I frequently carry a longbow at mid-level, but I very, very rarely use it. Like, the only situations I can think of using it are with massive Con damage or fighting a flying monster in a dead magic zone.
Low levels are indeed one of the places ranged weapons may be more viable due to a lack of teleportation or flight (in addition to dead magic and other possibilities). But simply being far enough away can be a problem that's hard to immediately solve for melee weapons, but simple for a long-range ranged weapon like a longbow.
If you want to notch up another benefit for the quarterstaff (sort of), you can throw in an elvencraft longbow and have both melee and ranged covered. You can also then get the cheaper morphing option due to it functioning as a quarterstaff and have a kind of a bowstaff for all seasons. But you might prefer to keep it in its normal form so that you can freely mix melee and ranged attacks.
The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. - Good Omens
= My most popular campaign item; for all your adventuring convenience.Show
Zauber's Mutable Rod: This rod has a number of useful functions that make it easier to live in the wilderness. It is made of polished wood, with five studlike buttons on one end. Each button produces a different effect when pressed. Unless otherwise noted, the rod’s functions have no limit on the number of times they can be employed. • When button 1 is pressed, one end of the rod produces a small flame, equivalent to a candle. • When button 2 is pressed, the rod unfolds into a two-person tent, complete with bedrolls and warm blankets. • When button 3 is pressed, the rod becomes a one-handed hammer, suitable for pounding pitons into a wall. • When button 4 is pressed, the rod becomes a sturdy iron spade. • When button 5 is pressed, the rod becomes a wooden bucket able to hold 2 gallons of liquid. Once per day, it can be commanded to fill with fresh water. If the rod is seriously damaged or broken in any of its alternate forms (button 2, 3, 4, or 5), it reverts to its basic rod form and cannot be activated for 24 hours. Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Rod, minor creation; Price 375 gp; Weight 2 lb.
Then buy a couple. They're 3000 a piece. Until you can buy that awesome banner of "We're all immune to stun," get a couple, and keep them 'cuz you can still laugh at Daze.
That's good for occasional use, though it doesn't help much against someone (like the God Hand), who can unload more than one such effect faster than the wearer can switch them. They're obviously good, but it's those limits that keep them from being in the same league as the haversack.
God Hand versus titan, let's just say, okay? God hand goes "lolstun," then titan just says "" Third Eyes it, and then proceeds to roflstomp God Hand. And that's assuming it doesn't have higher level, better protection, like that 15k banner.
High level is rocket tag. Third Eye Clarity buys the only turn you really should need. That is why I view this entire build as a "winmoar." Anything that can't deal with it really wasn't a threat anyways.
They have a small cost bump (300 gp) in return for 1 point of appropriate energy damage as an extraordinary feature of the weapon (and obviously, they're made of dragon bits).
If you prefer bludgeoning damage or are psionic, you'd obviously still want deep crystal, but that leaves a lot of characters favouring dragonfang weapons.
Daaaaaaaamn. I missed those. No more crystal for me, I guess.
It's particularly good for the druid at lower levels where wild shape is limited or absent. For the cleric (one of the non-War domain ones), the longspear is a reach weapon without adjacent attacks, while the spear is slightly better with a different damage type. Pretty much all of them have it for its general versatility as well as being the natural shape of all those staves. There are other ways to achieve some of that, but the quarterstaff is very convenient.
Even without being a specific magical staff with spells, you've got a weapon with two enchantable ends without having to spend an exotic feat (which would normally make it nonviable). Chuck a morphing enchantment on the "cheap" end of the quarterstaff and you've got whatever two-hander you need, with all the enchantments of the other end.
Some of the advantages do favour lower levels, but that just happens to be where a quarterstaff is more useful, in addition to just being something that the characters already have on hand.
You really aren't selling me. What can it do that plenty of other weapons can't do better?
Anklets of Translocation, Boots of Springing and Striding, hell, flight is pretty easy to get. It's a matter of preparation. Maybe I'm just good at WBL optimization, but I really don't have problems with this. At low levels, I frequently carry a longbow at mid-level, but I very, very rarely use it. Like, the only situations I can think of using it are with massive Con damage or fighting a flying monster in a dead magic zone.
Low levels are indeed one of the places ranged weapons may be more viable due to a lack of teleportation or flight (in addition to dead magic and other possibilities). But simply being far enough away can be a problem that's hard to immediately solve for melee weapons, but simple for a long-range ranged weapon like a longbow.
Bro? You do realize the Anklets are 1400 and the boots around 5K, right? Flight is only slightly more expensive. It's very, very rare that a melee character can be easily shut down by level six. Unless facing a god wizard, that is, but hey, you're probably screwed then anyways.
If you want to notch up another benefit for the quarterstaff (sort of), you can throw in an elvencraft longbow and have both melee and ranged covered. You can also then get the cheaper morphing option due to it functioning as a quarterstaff and have a kind of a bowstaff for all seasons. But you might prefer to keep it in its normal form so that you can freely mix melee and ranged attacks.
Elvencraft longbow=/=quarterstaff.
Customer Disservice of the House of Trolls Resident Secretly Ron Paul God of Spite and Sloth
I really thing Guisarme and Sling require mention here as extremely useful weapons.
If your party God is an artificer for example, everyone should have a Sling (it's probably the most common proficient weapon, although if everyone's got Light Crossbow or Long Bow Proficiency in the party then use that instead) . The weapon isn't the main reason all by itself, it's the easy means of enchanting a 50 stack of ammo to do whatever the hell you need it to do. At low levels this just ends encounters, with a single spell (Turn a pile of rocks into Bane vs your enemy, and win). This isn't specialized just to artificers of course, you can use a Sorc or Wiz to make the ammo flaming, which is still fairly good, but not nearly as awesome as Bane.
Guisarme is basically short of a spiked chain in that you don't get the diarm bonus (Woo?) and you don't threaten adjacent (The aforementioned spiked guantlet or armor spikes fix this issue). You don't need to spend a feat, you have reach (this is good, always) and can trip with it (also always good, if you are bigger than the thing coming after you, trip it!)
Greatsword's balanced and simple, but there are plenty of weapons that while they may seem more specialized can be generally useful. Honorable mentions to Longspear, Falchion and Shuriken which fill niches of their own.
God Hand versus titan, let's just say, okay? God hand goes "lolstun," then titan just says "" Third Eyes it, and then proceeds to roflstomp God Hand. And that's assuming it doesn't have higher level, better protection, like that 15k banner.
High level is rocket tag. Third Eye Clarity buys the only turn you really should need. That is why I view this entire build as a "winmoar." Anything that can't deal with it really wasn't a threat anyways.
Smash the item with your first attack, stun with the second one. If the item's common and effective against one of your main tricks, you'll know all about it by the time you're fighting titans.
You really aren't selling me. What can it do that plenty of other weapons can't do better?
Morphing; have all the other two-handed weapons available (including the greatsword) cheaper than you can put the same effect on a non-double weapon. The other double weapons that can pull the same cheap-end enchantment trick are exotic, which isn't really a problem since they morph into something different, but the quarterstaff is slightly cheaper, and you aren't left holding a nonproficient weapon if you happen to hit an antimagic field or get tagged with a dispel magic.
Or if cash isn't a problem, you can have two ends with different enchantments and choose which end you want to use whenever you morph your quarterstaff.
I'm not entirely sure about it without further investigation, but it may also be possible to double up on the speed enchantment by switching which end of a double weapon you use while making a two-handed attack (since you're effectively using a different weapon in magical terms by shifting your grip on the same physical item). It's not terrible important in the overall scheme of things, but more of a silly trick to play about with on double weapons.
You do realize the Anklets are 1400 and the boots around 5K, right? Flight is only slightly more expensive. It's very, very rare that a melee character can be easily shut down by level six. Unless facing a god wizard, that is, but hey, you're probably screwed then anyways.
Most ranged weapons cost a pittance compared to even those prices. And they can't be dispelled (should anyone try it) or outranged as easily so that you waste turns getting to your foe.
On that range front, the anklets of translocation only move you 10 feet as a swift action once per round (and only twice per day), the boots of striding and springing give a more constant boost to your speed, but it's still only 10 feet, and items based on fly often default to a 60-ft. fly speed. Given charging you're getting to someone perhaps 120 or 130 feet away which is barely into the second range increment for a standard longbow, and isn't quite into the second increment for a dragonbone bow. Against a moderately distant foe, you'll be easily hitting with arrows in rounds where you don't even get into melee.
And standing further away doesn't cost your foe anything if they've already got attacks for that range. It won't always happen, but when it does, ranged weapons become more useful than melee, and there are naturally other cases where a foe may have the means to evade your approach that are likewise well-served by having a ranged weapon on hand.
As I said it's "sort of" a quarterstaff and according to the text it "functions as a quarterstaff when wielded as a melee weapon" and can be enchanted separately as a melee weapon, which is good enough to play around with morphing.
The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. - Good Omens
= My most popular campaign item; for all your adventuring convenience.Show
Zauber's Mutable Rod: This rod has a number of useful functions that make it easier to live in the wilderness. It is made of polished wood, with five studlike buttons on one end. Each button produces a different effect when pressed. Unless otherwise noted, the rod’s functions have no limit on the number of times they can be employed. • When button 1 is pressed, one end of the rod produces a small flame, equivalent to a candle. • When button 2 is pressed, the rod unfolds into a two-person tent, complete with bedrolls and warm blankets. • When button 3 is pressed, the rod becomes a one-handed hammer, suitable for pounding pitons into a wall. • When button 4 is pressed, the rod becomes a sturdy iron spade. • When button 5 is pressed, the rod becomes a wooden bucket able to hold 2 gallons of liquid. Once per day, it can be commanded to fill with fresh water. If the rod is seriously damaged or broken in any of its alternate forms (button 2, 3, 4, or 5), it reverts to its basic rod form and cannot be activated for 24 hours. Moderate conjuration; CL 9th; Craft Rod, minor creation; Price 375 gp; Weight 2 lb.
Re: Titan matchup: the Titan only has two roflstomp abilities, Gate and Maze. Maze is a 1-round delay tops if you have a Find the Path cast on you in advance. Gate is a win everything ability, in the sense of "if your GM decides to abuse this ability, your party is going to die". Seriously. Otherwise, the Titan can't roflstomp God Hand: their combat stats (and the Titan's sadly low SLA DCs) give the God Hand the clear advantage in melee.
Re: ranged combat: the big advantage of high level ranged combat is the ability to engage the enemy beyond the range of True Seeing, which means Silent Image remains an encounter winner. Make an image of the archer firing at the opposition about 30' closer than he truly is. The tank 'ports next to where he thinks the archer is and right into spell-based deathtrap of your choice.
Re: dragonfang weapon: Hellooooooo nurse!
Re: Third Eyes: the competition for that particular item slot is FIERCE. Then again, you can get any of those things recrafted as rings anyways, right?
. No ranged weapon can even begin to compete with the greatsword, execpt for maybe that one magic bow from the D&D movie that was done in an online article. I mean, I do love the Chaingun Porcupine and crap, but they seriously can't compete with Lulzy McBigSword.
