Making a Paladin to solo with and I'd like to give her a Bastard Sword to swing. The tooltip says that it can be used either one-handed or two-handed... Yet when I put it on, it only seems to be a two-handed weapon. Even when I have a shield already equipped it tells me that I have no room to equip a Bastard Sword. Do you need a feat to use it one-handed? Is there a height requirement? Am I thinking of a different weapon?
Yes, you need the feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency Bastard Sword. Anyone with Martial Weapon Proficiencies can use a bastard sword two-handed, but you need the feat to wield it one-handed. Cheers.
Well, that's a bummer... Another Feat I have to waste as a Paladin. Maybe a multi-class is in order down the road...
Be aware that once you leave the Paladin class, you can't come back. Alternatively, you could make a dwarven paladin and use DAxe, which is similar to BS in terms of damage. Loses you a feat either way though, cause you'd be missing out on that free human feat.
You may want to just leave it as is and use the Bastard Sword two-handed anyways. You'll get the 1.5x str bonus damage, and 2x power attack - which can be an awesome combination with the bastard sword I'm thinking of...
Meh, for a 2-hander there are much better options - GSword or Greathammer, for example. Crafted reach weapons are groovy as well. That's unless you wanna rely on the game-breaking sword, though I personally consider it an in-game cheat/bug.
True that GS and Reach Weapons are better damage wise, but for Role Playing aspects, a Dwarven Paladin with his DAx can be cool. Plus while you lose the extra damage, with a Tower Shield enhanced to max, you can get an extra +7 to your AC.
I never understood how a dwarf can use a tower shield. He'd be dragging around a shield as big as he is.
I don't see why a dwarf would care. I mean, plop them in Dwarf Stone armor and they have the mobility of a 2-ton slab of obsidian anyway. Might as well prop a sheet of steel against them and let someone whack away...
Actually I believe the idea of a tower shield was for a formation making a wall of shields that could be reached over with a spear. I think the Romans used this idea.
And look where it got them! Disappeared like all the rest, gone the way of Sparta, Troy, and the McRib!
Never bash the McRib - it will be back again, as soon as pork by-product prices drop! As for the Tower Shield, the Romans may have perfected the technique, but like most everything, they lifted the idea from someone else. The Greeks were using this tactic long before Rome grew into an empire and assimilated them. See The 300 for a semi-accurate example of the concept in action. More accurate would have been the Persians never breaking the shield wall and having the fighting degenerate into one-on-one swordplay. Given the numbers, if the Spartans' line had ever broken, they would have been overwhelmed instantly. In fact, they were annihilated as soon as the Persians scouted a route through the mountains and were able to attack from both sides.
Just watch Troy again last night, and while they seem to be using large shields and not tower shields, the greeks with Achilles (Brad Pitt) do an excellent job of turtling with their shields against archers and spearmen.
Spartan shield wall large round shields not tower shields - eventualy lost advantage to missile weapons leading to invation of sparta by athenes. But the round shield spear combo was re invented in england circa 600 ad and was very effective untill 1066 and the battle of hastings.
