SRD Talk:Greater Weapon Focus

Why does a character have to be a fighter to take this feat? It makes sense for, say, a samurai to have Greater Weapon Focus(Katana) and possibly Greater Weapon Focus(Wakizashi), doesn't it? Jude Paxmrosy 12:00, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

I'm guessing the reason is so that the fighter can get something that it can call a class feature. I don't think there's anything gamebreaking with houseruling this feat to allow other classes to take it, it just takes away that much more from a class that has precious little to start with. JazzMan 14:29, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

Fighters don't have precious little. Fighters have tons of feats, which is all they really need to do what they do. If you can't get your fighter to do what he's supposed to using the number of feats a fighter gets, then you're doing it wrong. Jude Paxmrosy 14:33, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

Exactly. Fighters get feats. And nothing else. That's why they made fighter-only feats... JazzMan 18:00, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

I mean, sure, that makes sense, but then why not just make them a class feature instead of having them under "General feats"? Jude Paxmrosy 18:01, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

I didn't write the class, but I can only guess that they wanted to keep the feats all in one place and didn't want to make a separate section within the fighter description for fighter-only, fighter feats. Not all fighter feats are exclusive to fighters, so you'd either have to repeat some feats or only display a partial list in the class description. JazzMan 18:26, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

If they had made Weapon Focus with a selected weapon the default bonus feat at 1st level, the later set could have been class features, and Weapon Focus could have stayed a feat. They've done things like that before, like the old 3.0 prestige class Master Samurai with Great Cleave and Supreme Cleave as class features. Although I have a lot of issues with Master Samurai. Jude Paxmrosy 18:35, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

Ah, but then you are setting limitations on the fighter's feats, and maximum adaptability is it's strength. Not everyone who builds a fighter wants to use WF or GWF (or for that matter, Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization), and in the same order. JazzMan 19:16, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of making them automatic. WS at 5, GWF at 10, GWS at 15, or something like that. I think there's also a Weapon Supremacy somewhere that has those as prereqs, but that might also have other prereqs, so I don't know if it could be automatic at 20. This doesn't really seem too broken. People tend to complain that casters are overpowered anyhow, so something like an automatic +2 to attacks with a chosen weapon and +4 to damage shouldn't be too big of a deal. It would really be best for dual-wielders who use the same light weapon in each hand, but I haven't seen those too often, and not usually using fighters anyhow. Jude Paxmrosy 19:20, 4 May 2011 (MDT)

If they automatically replace the feats you'd normally get, then it decreases the flexibility of the class; if you add those in addition to the feats you'd normally get, then it increases the power. No one's saying it'd be broken to add a couple feats (though the core fighter will start running out of feats to pick), but obviously Wizards didn't think it was necessary. If you disagree then change it for your own game. (As for dual-wielding the same weapon, I think that's probably common, especially if it's a fighter. Otherwise you are only gaining a point of damage (average) but have to spend twice the feats). JazzMan 09:22, 5 May 2011 (MDT)