Build: Critical Bill

[t.a.j.]

Hi everybody first of all, this is my first post on this board.

I'd like to present a Build based on the Weapon Master Prestige Class. I originally used this Build in HotU and thus the first part of this Strategy Guide will focus on that.

Conceptual Thoughts:
The Weapon Master Prestige Class has a number of Features that mostly improve your critical hits, to use that to it's fullest extent, it's mandantory to get as many attacks with the Weapon Master's chosen weapon as possible.
The answer of course is dual wielding.
Since we want to use the same type of Weapon in both hands (to fully utilize the Weapon Master's class features) the best choice is on of the two-sided weapons, since this way we get both the improved damage of medium size weapons and the lower penalty for using a small weapon in the off-hand.

Alternative approaches could focus on the Scythe (and thus foregoing the two weapon fighting feats) for it's massive critical multiplier of x4, the Rapier, a light weapon with a great threat range of 18-20 (you would not need Exotic Weapon Proficiency) and the Katana for higher base damage (but it's not a light weapon and you wouldn't save any feats).
I will focus on double Weapons here.

The choice is between The Two-bladed Sword, the Double Axe and the Dire Mace.
The Dire Mace offers nothing to this Build, so it's out.
The Sword offers a higher threat range (of 19-20), while the Axe offers a higher multiplier of x3.

Which one you take is up to you, (I chose the sword because I think it looks far mroe stylish ) but the Axe is probably slightly more effective once you get Overwhelming Critical.

Character Creation:
Race: Human, no way around it if you don't want an experience penalty.

Attributes:

Strength 16 (for attack/damage bonus and you will need a STR of 21(25) for Overwhelming (Devastating) Critical Feast.)
Dexterity 15 (Minimum for Improved Two Weapon Fighting)
Constitution 14
Wisdom 10 (no penalties)
Intelligence 14 (you need 13 to get all necesarry feats, so why not also take that extra skill point?)
Charisma 10 (no penalties)

If you want to, you could easily live with CHA and WIS 8 and get CON 16.

As I've said I've used this build in HotU where you get to start at level 15, my choices during those levels have thus been made with the fact in mind that I wouldn't actually have to play this build while below level 15.
This is how I did it in HotU:

Class: Rogue (for lots of Skill Points)
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Dodge.
Skills: Intimidate 4, nothing else (I saved them all to spend them all on levels 14 & 15)

Then we switch to Fighter:
Level 2 (F1/R1):
Weapon Focus
Lvl 3 (F2/R1):
Dodge
Expertise
Lvl 4(F3/R1)
raise STR to 17
Lvl 5(F4/R1)
Mobility
Lvl 6(F5/R1)
Spring Attack
Lvl 7 (F6/R1)
Whirlwind Attack
Lvl 8 (F6/R1/W1)
Now take your first level of Weapon Master and raise STR by 1
Lvl 9 (F6/R1/W2)
Ambidexterity
Lvl 10 (F6/R1/W3)
Lvl 11 (F6/R1/W4)
Lvl 12 (F6/R1/W5)
Two Weapon Fighting
+1 STR
Lvl 13 (F6/R1/W6)
Lvl 14 (F7/R1/W6)
Improved Critical
Maximize Discipline (17 Ranks)
Lvl 15 (F7/R2/W6)
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Maximize Tumble, Use Magical Item, Lore and spread the rest of your skill points as you see fit.

HtuO begins here.
Keep increasing dsicipline and Lore whenever you can, and save the rest of the skill points for your rogue levels, always save at least 2 skill points at each non rogue level.

Lvl 16 (F7/R1/W7)
This is the maximum Weapon Master Level that we want, because after that it doesn't offer much anymore.
+1 STR

Lvl 17 (F8/R1/W7)
Power Attack (prerequisit for Overwhelming Crit)
Lvl 18 (F8/R2/W7)
Cleave
21 ranks Tumble (for +4 AC) and Use Magic Item
Lvl 19 (F8/R3/W7)
Lvl 20 (F8/R4/W7)
+1 STR (to 21)
Lvl 21 (F8/R5/W7)
Overwhelming Critical
Lvl 22 (F8/R6/W7)
you should now have Tumble & Use Magic Item 25, for +5 AC and the abillity to use almost every single item in the game (there have been maybe 5 that I was unable to use)
The reason we have only leveled up Rogue during the last couple of levels is to bring our Rogue level within 1 of your Weapon Master level, thus allowing us to once again advance as a fighter without incurring an XP penalty.
Lvl 23 (F9/R6/W7)
Nothing much to do.
Lvl 24 (F10/R6/W7)
Greater Strengh I&II
STR +1 (you now have a strength of 24)
Lvl 25 (F11/R6/W7)
Lvl 26 (F12/R6/W7)
Weapon Specialization
Lvl 27 (F13/R6/W7)
Your choice of Feat, Armor Skin and Great Dexterity are a good choice as are Epic Prowress and Epic Weapon Focus
Lvl 28 (F14/R6/W7)
Raise Strength to 25
Great Cleave
Devastating Critical

Playing this Build from Lvl 1 on up:

Start as a Rogue, but spend your skill points anyway you like, but save 5 for Discipline.
Take as feats Exotic Weapon Proficiency and Two Weapon Fighting

Lvl 2:
Take a fighter level.
Feats: Ambidexterity, Weapon Focus
Get 5 Ranks of Discipline and add another rank to Lore
Now we have achieved a certain competence in our chosen Weapon that should last us for some time.

Lvl 3:
Take either another Fighter or take a Rogue Level for Tumble 6 (and the +1 AC that comes with it)
Feat: Dodge & Expertise (if Fighter)

Lvl4:
STR+1
Take a Rogue level if you took a Fighter level at level 3 and vice versa.
If Fighter, take expertise now.

Lvl5:
Fighter lvl 3

Lvl6:
Fighter lvl 4
Feats: Weapon Specialization, Mobility

Lvl 7
Fighter lvl 5

Lvl 8
STR +1
Fighter lvl 6
Feat: Spring attack

Level 9
Fighter lvl 7
Feat: Whirlwind Attack

Level 10
Weapon Master lvl 1

Level 11
Weapon Master Lvl 2

Level 12
STR +1
Weapon Master Lvl 3
Feat: Improved Critical

Level 13
Rogue Level 3 (you have to keep Rogue and Weapon Master within one level of each other in order to avert an XP Penalty)

Level 14
Weapon Master 4

Level 15
Rogue Level 4
Feat: Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Level 16
Weapon Master Level 5
STR +1

Level 17
Rogue Level 5

Level 18
Weapon Master Lvl 6
Feat: Power Attack

Level 19
Weapon Master Lvl 7

Level 20
STR +1
Fighter Level 8
Feat: Cleave

Level 21
Rogue Level 6
Feat: Greater Cleave

Level 22
Fighter Level 9

Level 23
Fighter Level 10
Feat: Overwhelming Critical

Equipment:
A keen weapon is of course the first choice for Critical Bill, also note that magical damage boni get multiplied when you score a critical, so look out for those too.
Haste is always good since it grants you yet another attack to the 6 you allready have each round, and more attacks means more chances for criticals
Apart from that, anything that pushes your STR is a blessing and since you don’t have Toughness, you should try to get your hands on stuff that raises your CON.

This Build is perfectly capable of doing 300+ damage in a round, which mostly floors even the big boys and lets you use your cleave and great cleave feats to their fullest potential even late in the game.
Watch out for enemies who are immune to critical hits and sneak attack, espc. The higher level golems are a pain in the ass.

Happy slaughtering.

[Darthel]

Originally posted by t.a.j.
The reason we have only leveled up Rogue during the last couple of levels is to bring our Rogue level within 1 of your Weapon Master level, thus allowing us to once again advance as a fighter without incurring an XP penalty.

Prestige classes do not suffer the XP penalties associated with multiclassing; as long as there are only two primary classes, there will be no penalties.

With that in mind, a number of races would be able to do this trick.
Dwarves favor Fighter and Halflings favor Rogue while Half-Elves are like Humans in having NO favored class and considering the highest one to be favored no matter what.

Rapiers are better for a single weapon dual-wield focus since they are light weapons and usable in both hands with minimal penalty; save the exotic weapons slot for ambidexterity instead.

Why save skill points from R1 to be used when going to R2? Simply assign those points at the beginning the way you would later and save yourself the trouble.

RE Great Cleave: Is this required for some other feat?
If it is NOT, how many enemies are you encountering that can be felled by one hit? If you are finding a lot of this type of enemy then you are not gaining a lot of experience fighting them by this time. If you are finding these only rarely then this is not much more beneficial than Cleave unless it is required for something else.
NOTE: I see no reference to added benefits here.

Finally:
If you really want to push this guy to the max, why not re-run the OC? This will garner at least the Uthgardt Amulet giving you +4 to strength and you can buy Gauntlets of Ogre Power - I was able to find a Girdle of Fire Giant Strength as well. You will also start out at a slightly higher level in HotU.

[t.a.j.]

Prestige classes do not suffer the XP penalties associated with multiclassing; as long as there are only two primary classes, there will be no penalties.

I didn't know that, but it does take a lot of the awkwardness out of this build.

Rapiers are better for a single weapon dual-wield focus since they are light weapons and usable in both hands with minimal penalty; save the exotic weapons slot for ambidexterity instead.

They still only do 1d6 as opposed to 1d8 damage and it's probably a bit harder to find two good Rapiers (both keen by preference). But there are a lot of advantages to using rapiers.

Why save skill points from R1 to be used when going to R2? Simply assign those points at the beginning the way you would later and save yourself the trouble.

The idea is to save those points (when going from level 1-15 in one go), for reasons of a better overview over how many points you actually have as to not run out of points for skills you want.
But it's probably a missplaced advice here, so I will remove it and replace it with the advice to take care to always be able to max tumble and umd when you take a rogue level.

RE Great Cleave: Is this required for some other feat?

It is needed for Overwhelming Critical

If it is NOT, how many enemies are you encountering that can be felled by one hit?

True, though I noticed a few times when this was actually usefull and once you got yourself a decent critical threat range it's entirely possible to fell three or four enemies in one round with this feat, considering that you do about 90 damage with a critical hit and while it doesn't happen always, it happened often enough for me, to change my opinion about great cleave a bit. (I always considered it a useless feat)
Also, since combat is rather fast in NWN I'm not sure about another impression I've had using this build:
You can only attack one enemy without (great) cleave, when you kill one, you lose the rest of your attacks for that round.

If you really want to push this guy to the max, why not re-run the OC? This will garner at least the Uthgardt Amulet giving you +4 to strength and you can buy Gauntlets of Ogre Power - I was able to find a Girdle of Fire Giant Strength as well. You will also start out at a slightly higher level in HotU.

Mainly because I really hated the first chapter of the OC
But while you have a point, this doesn't belong belong in the build description imho, since it's very much a general advice. And all the equipment gathered before HotU will be of little use to you.


Conclusion: Thx a lot for the correction and comments, I will use a lot of with when I rewrite critical bill next week.
I plan to:
Take away the focus on double weapons and write it down for all the weapons I consider fit for this build and also go into more detail concerning their pros and cons.

Rework the races comment.

Go over the levelling advice in light of the new insight you provided.

Give it a bit more structure and appeal. (is it possible to use html in posts here?)

all in all, thank you for a very productive comment.

[Darthel]

I am glad to have been of help; you made your point with Overwhelming Critical - I was unable to find that link.

[shift244]

i have a few comments?

regarding use of rapiers when fighting 2 weapon style. as i understand it, rapiers are medium sized weapons, and are not "light" for mediu sized creatures (humans, elves etc) and are definately heavy for small creatures (halflings, gnomes).

but, it is a special category weapon which will be affected by weapon finesse. using a rapier on the off hand should incur a -4 penalty to attacks instead of -2 as when using short swords.

as for taking rogue levels, mightn't it be advisable to take one every char 5 levels (at 3, 7, 13, 17.. etc) to max out tumble during those levels and get +1 AC?

otherwise this looks good.

[Darthel]

The rapier is the only "medium"-sized weapon to be classified "light"-weight. Try it on one of your own characters and see what I mean.

Most people would look at the picture provided by the creators of the game when attempting to visualize a rapier but those pictures are more likely sabres instead. A rapier as envisioned by D&D is very closely related to the foil and epee but is edged instead of simply pointed - the epee has a triangular cross-section and the foil a square one while neither has a true cutting edge. The idea is that of a late-era rapier instead of an early-era one.

The image used in the game is much more like this one:

This picture is found here and is referred to as "English Saber 17th Century"

You tell me which one is the "rapier" of D&D and NWN.

[shift244]

i have always seen the rapier as the first two pictures (btw, those are some of the nicer ones i've seen). the last, i might have mistaken for a middle eastern longsword variety, as i've alwasy seen sabres as more of a pirates cutlass, or something similar. i could be wrong there.

anyways, what i've posted earlier was what i understood from the PnP rules (NWN may implement it differently, which means that there is no reason to take a short sword anymore, when the rapier is an option. if that is true, i really regret that since i specialised in short swords thinking as i did when placing the earlier post! ). my group n i agreed that it would be rather difficult, even for an ambidextrous, trained character to "fence" (ala epee/foil) with a rapier on the off hand (ie. 2 rapiers, if u r using one, we would just place the rapier on the main hand, and any other weapon on the offhand).

as a note for interest: there is an expansion weapons list on top of the standard/original set for DnD 3e. in that, it lists the sabre as a slashing type-dmg equivalent of the rapier. the rapier is a peircing weapon. and also a small version of both for our little friends (mainly the halfling) that deals 1d4 (like a dagger) instead of 1d6.

[Darthel]

Continuing the hijack:

The Cutlass of pirates fame was not a point heavy weapon. The basket on those things was normally solid metal intended for use as an armored fist in hand-to-hand fighting (picture a really big set of brass knuckles).

This extra weight in the basket would have made the short edge extremely easy to realign in fighting sword-to-sword. Remember that in deck fighting there would be comparatively little room for slashing and most fighting would have to be done with the point of the weapon.

A replica shop has the following examples of USNavy cutlass' for sale (click on the image for a larger image in a new window - gawd I hate WASS). These are based on the actual catalogues used for supply.


The following picture is identified as a French Officer's Cavalry Sabre:


To make a long story short - the main difference that I can see between the sabre & cutlass is the hilt & guard. The lighter guard would be used where the weapon was intended for use as a slashing weapon after having seen some training in its use while the heavy basket hilt/guard would be used on swords the primary wielder would be a brawler with little or no training in sword-fighting but quite a bit of KNIFE experience.

[shift244]

wow, this is really enlightening. sorry to bring the thread totally off topic!

and all points taken. the last pic of the French Officer sabre was what i've always known for a sabre. and to me (still), it looks much lighter than the sabre from your earlier post. i would recognise the latter pic as a sabre, but would've surely mistaken the former (sabre pic) as a longsword variant.

as for the cutlass, yes, i know about the basket cum brass knuckles, but i've always thought they were slashing weapons instead of piercing (as u seem to imply?) but then i would rather think that like longer variant of daggers, or short swords, such weapons would be quite adapt at slashing and stabbing attacks, depending on situation..

anyways. so it is agreeable from ur point of view to actually dual weild rapiers (more importantly: rapier on the offhand) and gain "light weapon" bonus?

[t.a.j.]

a crisp updated version:

Start as Fighter
STR 16
DEX 15
CON 14
WIS 8
INT 14
CHA 8

Using a double weapon:

Feats:
Lvl 1: Dodge, Expertise, Mobility
Lvl 2: Weapon Proficiency Exotic
Lvl 3: Weapon Focus: Two-Bladed Sword
Lvl 4: Spring Attack
Lvl 5: -
Lvl 6: Whirlwind Attack, Weapon Specialization

Switch to Weapon Master at Lvl7

Lvl 9: Ambidexterity
Lvl 12: two weapon fighting

Switch to back to Fighter at Lvl 14

Lvl 15: Improved two weapon fighting, Improved Critical


Using two weapons:

Start as Fighter

Feats:
Lvl 1: Dodge, Expertise, Mobility
Lvl 2: Weapon Focus
Lvl 3: Two Weapon Fighting
Lvl 4: Spring Attack
Lvl 5: -
Lvl 6: Whirlwind Attack, Weapon Specialization

Switch to Weapon Master at Lvl7

Lvl 9: Ambidexterity
Lvl 12: Improved Critical

Switch to back to Fighter at Lvl 14

Lvl 15: Improved two weapon fighting, feat of your choice actually.

This is also a good build if you want to use a race other than human, in that case take Mobility as you Lvl2 feat, Weapon Focus at Lvl3 and take Two Weapon Fighting at Lvl12, Improved Critical at Lvl15

Going from lvl 15:
advance as a fighter, be sure to always increase you strengh.
Take Epic strengh every chance you get
(21, 24, 27) and increase your strengh by 1 at 24.
This should set you up for taking Overwhelming Critical at lvl24 and Devastating Critical at 27.

adding more classes:

Rogue:

How to multiclass:
Take a level of Rogue at Lvl 17 or 12 (if you do that take the final level of Weapon Master (7) as level 16).
Be sure to have enough skill points saved by that time to max Tumble and Use Magic Item.
Timing it this way will let you get 20(15 if you do it at lvl12) ranks in those skills.

What you get:
Sneak Attack (+1D6)
Seeing as you are able to sneak attack more often than not, this comes in handy.
Increased AC, for every 5 ranks in tumble you get +1 AC Bonus, no matter your armor.
Use Magic Device skill.
Use (almost) any magical item in the game.
Evade

What you lose:
One point of base attack bonus as long as you take only one or two Rogue levels, more if you take more as well as a fighter bonus feat.

Worth it?
Imho, definitly.

Variation: taking more Rogue levels:
take one more Rogue level at levels 22 and 27 to reap the maximum benefit from Tumble and UMD.
In this case you also won't be able to chose Devastating Critical at Lvl27 and that's a bit of a downer, but since by then you will allready be in the final parts of the game, it's not that bad.

Champion of Torm:

How to multiclass:
Start at lvl 16. The important thing to consider is to multiclass when you have an even number of fighter levels, since otherwise you'll miss out on one of you bonus feats.

What you get:
Saving throw bonuses (up to +5 on all saves).
All the other CoT features need a high charisma, which you don't have.

What you lose:
Nothing.
Well, you do lose the chance of multiclassing to Rogue.

Worth it:
If you don't go with anything else, yes.

Assassin

How to multiclass:
Be sure to have have 8 Ranks in Hide and Move Silently, which is no problem even with cross class skills
At lvl16 take your first level of Assassin
and stick with it till lvl25, when you will be Fighter 8, Weapon Master 7, beyond that (if you're playing HotU at least) you can expect to earn another 2 lvls, which should be fighter levels (for the BAB and the bonus feat).

What you get:
Death attack, which is just like a Rogue's sneak attack, but better.
Tumble and Use Magic Device as class skills, just like a Rogue.
Some spell like abillities (Ghostly Visage, Improved Invisibillity, Darkness)
Save bonus vs. Poison.
Uncanny Dodge 1-3
(look here]

What you lose:
+3 Base Attack compared to taking those levels as a fighter, a number of bonus feats.
Also, unlike a Rogue, you do not get evasion, but that abillity can readily be aquired through magical items.

Worth it:
You can still manage to get Overwhelming Critical at lvl 27, but all in all you lose 3 Epic feats compared to the fighter route.

Other options might be Blackguard, Shadow Dancer (starting at lvl 17), Barbarian or Paladin.

The Blackguard doesn't offer anything usefull (thanks to your low charisma) that the assassin wouldn't do better, the shadowdancer offers nothing at all to our primary concept and what it does offer (damage reduction mostly) can easily be obtained via magical items.
The Barbarian would bring us Rage (which is nice), faster movement (nice) and Uncanny Dodge.
The Paladin finally brings some imunities and a host of abilllities that depend on charisma and are therfore pretty useless to us.

Ok, I hope everybody's happy now

[Aremah]

As to previous posts: Overwhelming Critical requires 23+ Strength, not 21+.

As for the recent post, some nice suggestions in there. But unless I'm missing some bug or exploit, it's impossible to get abilities of 16/15/16/8/14/8. I did the same thing and it's 16/15/14/8/14/8 (to get Str from 14 to 16 you need to spend 4 points, not 2; same with dex - 2 points to increase from 14 to 15).

[t.a.j.]

you're completely right of course. the mistake has been corrected.

[Aremah]

Also, I know this probably has been argued before, but I believe going Fighter 12/Weapon Master 28 is more beneficial that Fighter 33/Weapon Master 7, especially when dual wielding (with Improved Two Weapon Fighting - where you get 6 attacks, or 7 when hasted). I'm talking about very similar builds, of course - it's just the decision of separating the levels between the two.

The F12/WM28 character loses out on 5 fighter bonus feats (2 pre-epic) in total and gets slightly lower Fortitude saves, but gains +6 to attack (the WM gets +1 to attack with the chosen weapons at levels 5, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 27, contrary to what the manual says) and better Reflex saves. If a F33/WM7 character were to offset the AB with Epic Prowess (3 of them), he'd still come out with 3 AB less than the F12/WM28 one, the other feats would effectively be the same, and the gain in Fortitude saves in the first case is smaller than the loss in Reflex saves.

Of course, this does not factor in addidng a third class, and I'll admit, Fighter/WeaponMaster is the only multiclassing I've done in 3E games. I've always been a fan of pure classes, but recently I'm seeing more and more viability in 3 class builds (including prestige classes, of course). I was just wondering whether you've thought if your build with Rogue levels could be made better switching the balance from Fighter to Weapon Master.

[t.a.j.]

Aremar: If you don't mind, I'd like to put your comments into my strategy guide, you get credit of course.

Since this has become a little cluttered (no offense, the little excursion into weapon lore was very interesting) I've posted a new thread with the final version (1.0 if you will ). So please continue there.

[RtrnofdMax]

Scythes anyone?

I know everyone favors the rapier because of it's increased critical potential, but I find it is more valuable to hit extemely hard on critical rather than all the time.

I am playing a "Death" inspired character wielding a scythe. With a keen scythe, improved critical and at least 7 WM levels he criticals on 16-20. Sure it's not the 10-20 you could get with a rapier but tell me does your rapier has a multiplier of x5; it doesn't. So with 4 attacks per round and a 25% chance of criticaling, I see him critical nearly 75% of the enemies he fights. Now here is the kicker. The scythe is kind of weak for a 2-handed weapon, only 2d4 damage, but you add in strength bonuses, he currently criticals over 120 pts of damage. Need I add more? Well there is. Overwhelming critical adds a +1d6 damage bonus on criticals per modifier above x1, so that means that overwhelming critical adds another 4d6 damage. Take a weapon with some elemental damage and I can see this guy criticaling at around 200 as he gains more levels (he's only lvl 20 at the moment).

Your rapier guy could only match this with 2 criticals so I'll take half the critical potential and over twice the damage any day. Staying true to my build, I added assasin levels (which unfortunately I can't use because I am soloing the game), but imagine the possibilities. Exploding bodies on the special damage setting is fun!

[Noober]

I do not believe that damage is of much importance any more because of the introduction of devastating critical. Fine, you can do 200+ damage but i can kill a creature with 1,000,000 hp if it fails its save (which is quite common if with extremely high strength).

If you want to do the most damage possible try out the Great Smite feats (1800+ damage on critical and Great Smite X), although that only works on specific alignments.

[Apprentice]

a really naster weapon master bulid is to have an epic barb, dev crit, over crit and imporved crit with a keen scythe (spelling). i think its bout 15/16-20 with x5 mutliplier (which i have seen do over 400+ dam), and you get and extra 4d6 and an extra 2d8 from thundering rage. on the other hand, the str boosting ablities of the barb will increase the DC on dev crit as the dc is based on ur str bonus. hence a barb with 30+ str will have a dev crit thats hard to resist
apprentice

[Ekental]

4 points to bring up

1: in D&D 3rd edition a rapier is considered a medium sized weapon that could be used with weapon finesse to give you the attack bonus with the dex instead of str. It is still considered a medium weapon though and using two of them WILL incur a -4 penalty to both hands, also if you pick up weapon finesse you can only hold one weapon. In the slightly different NWN the rapier can be used with weapon finesse, but you can use 2 weapons if you choose weapon finesse. Still, using 2 rapiers does incur a -4 penalty on your character.

2. Go to Bioware, click on HoTU and in features take a look @ their epic weapon master. It's fairly good so you might want to take a look at it for your decisions. Basically if you want to do a class focus on a few main goal in that class... i.e. I want to do crit hits as much as possible, and hit lots of enemies at once etc. and select skills and feats according to your goal, thats it. Do whatever works for you.

3. A saber is traditionally a cavalry weapon, optimized for slashing attacks, and the rapier is a lighter weapon designed for thrusting attacks mainly. The triangle cross section is to give it strength so that it doesn't break in half when hit with a sword.

4. A rapier buffed up doesnt have a critical hit multiplier of x5... but you can get it to x3... Which is NOT as good but on the other hand you do a critical 55% of the time with the right feats... while a keen scythe doesn't get that bonus, so it basically balances out. Though personally I like the rapier doing lots of critical hits, especially combined with whirlwind attack...