AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

So i'd had this idea while back, and figured its not worth bringing up as we have limited staff, so even if its loved.. Anyway the idea was discussed in another medium and a bunch of folks seemed to like the concept, so i'm going to share with the whole class!

The idea is that instead of weapon focus or spec giving you focus/spec in one weapon, it gives it in types. So for example instead of being Focused in Short swords, you would be able to focus in Short AND Long swords. This would mean that people that felt inclined to do so could dual wield (as intended imo) a Med weapon with a small weapon off hand without otherwise tanking their feat selection. Other options would be Hammers, Light, War, Maul (in theory). Axes for Light, Battle, Greataxe. This can branch out more to add racial weapon groupings too. Say Elven Weapon focus/Spec would give you focus in Longsword, Rapier, Longbow, Shortbow. Dwarven Focus would be Hammers/Axes. It can go further still, to say.. Knight focus, which might give Lance, Mace and Longsword with the idea that the Lance is used on horseback (lolz) the Mace is used to crack heavy armor, and the longsword a general weapon. Really there are a lot of options for how it can go, it's not supposed to just give unlimited access, but rather offer a greater variety, without screwing people into taking focus in an offhand or flavor weapon.

Weapon Masters would get nothing from this for their Weapon of Choice, as i feel that is a much more intimate and focused selection. Yes, a Knight might be a Weapon Master with the Lance, but he would still be skilled with Mace and Longsword.

Now the only way i could ever see this working was if there was a means to add it, without doing rebuilds. Spitballing i'm wondering if something like the EMD scroll could not be given out upon taking Weapon Focus. Then the player would get the option to select whatever groupings come with said weapon. But i dunno enough about the back end to do much more then guess at how easiest to implement it.. i just know it wont ever happen if its overly difficult!

This would require a massive overhaul of the feats for a bonus that I don't think is very useful or very wanted - reducing the differences between characters on a flavor level should definitely be avoided imo.

Quote:

Say Elven Weapon focus/Spec would give you focus in Longsword, Rapier, Longbow, Shortbow.

And some of these arejust flat out overpowered.

Well it's a discussion man the things listed are examples and ideas. Balance is whatever, it can be figured out along the way.

I dont think it would reduce the difference between characters, but rather expand it. Yes, people are still going to have their core weapons, but it means it is easier to use more variety depending on given situations. I had a paladin once upon a time somewhere else that usd 3 types of axes in a given situation. Waraxe + Shield when he was being attacked, Greataxe when he was not being focused, and Handaxe off hand when he was fighting low ac things. Now feat wise, there was no reason to do that, he would have been better off using one weapon for all situations.

But yeah, i have no idea how it could be implemented without making a kind of small thing into a massive project.

I think someone forgot what focus and specialize mean

Instead of rewriting how those base feats go, I always thought it would be cool if (epic) Fighter could choose one or two weapon grouping feats that would act in a similar way. Axes, longblades, curved blades and sabers(katana, scimitar, rapier), bows, polearms, bludgeons, etc. That would become an interesting dichotomy between Weapon Master and Fighter. Weapon Master makes you supremely good at one weapon. Epic Fighter makes you significantly better with a grouping of weapons, like a heroic veteran soldier might be.

Now THAT actually sounds really cool, and fits my view of an epic fighter quite well.

bobofwestoregonusa wrote:

I think someone forgot what focus and specialize mean

I'm choosing to look at it as a focus in a type of weapon, or a style. The Knight is focused in its Lane, Mace and Longsword, it specializes in these weapons. But the ones who really go that extra mile above and beyond for a given weapon get Imp Crit, Dev crit, Weapon of Choice, etc.

Weapon Focus / Spec Groupings

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