Spiked Chain is by far the best weapon in DnD... also, unlike most weapons in DnD, spiked chain isn't a real weapon that exists in the real world. It has reach, it is unique in that it can hit adjacent enemies (most reach weapons cannot) as well, and it threatens anywhere it can reach, which is a circle rather then a donut. Its damage is 2d4 which is decent (not really an issue, damage comes from buffs, enchantments and strength). As a two handed weapon it enjoys the 1.5x str bonus and the +2 damage per -1 attack from power attack. It can be used to trip, gets a bonus to disarm, and if an enemy counter trips you, you may drop it instead of falling. It is, bar none, the best melee weapon in DnD. Although its a shame about its crit being 20/x2 How much of this awesomeness is in ToEE? Also, are reach weapons normally unable to hit adjacent enemies in ToEE or has that limitation been removed?
answering my own question. It seems you can trip with any weapon, even a sword, in TOEE, also you can attack adjacent enemies with any reach weapon... So the spiked chain went from the best weapon in the game by far to fairly pointless since most reach weapons have 3x crit and more base damage. EDIT: found another issue, the glaive, guisarme, and ranseur are all 20/x3 crit range reach weapons that require a martial weapon proficiency instead of exotic, meaning most classes are automatically proficient with them and don't need to waste a feat. glaive is d10 damage (average 5.5), the other two are 2d4 damage (average 5)... all three are strictly better than a spiked chain.
I consider the spiked chain to be extra worthless. I've used it only once but didn't think much of it. It just doesn't make any sense as a weapon. I don't know of any heroes in literature that carry around a spiked chain for battles. It would be extra useless against any metal armor. Now, if you were talking about a ranseur I would have to concur. I guess it's sort of semi-interesting to have some exotic weapons in the game if you've beaten the game like a drum hundreds of times and want to handicap yourself or just plain have a different experience. I think perhaps it was thrown in the game for the hardcore roleplayers.
But it has the coolest animation and sound of all teh weapons, plus it looks cool when the wielder is idle and swinging it around. Anyone equipped with one looks badass.
Don't forget that spiked chain is Finessable in addition to the 1.5xSTR bonus, so if you're using a high-DEX fighter (with Combat Reflexes), it comes in mighty handy.
only if you are a high dex low STR fighter. which you shouldn't be. it could be useful for a low str high dex rogue that wants to melee... reach and finesse. But it has fallen quite a lot from the PnP version where it is the best weapon by far.
the implementation in ToEE, in comparison to the other reach weapons (which should be limited by donut reach, but are not) makes it seem lacklustre. In PnP the spiked chain is considered by many to be overpowered. If you have a party of people using them with combat reflexes and so on, it becomes amusing. But yes, since the guisarme, glaive and so on all have been implemented with reach +adjacent, it loses its 'edge'. I actually dont generally use the reach weapons, since they arent implemented correctly as per pnp, but thats just me! Donut reach would rock hardcore, but methinks the only way we'll ever see it is with the engine remake
I'm using the thorned chain of love crated to +3 and it seems to work good. The animation is pretty cool too.It's also holy so that helps. Did Co8 mod holy in or did it always come with it on? Have to check the vanilla protos sometime and see.
Hi WizGeorge The Twisted Chains of Love were +1 and Holy in Vanilla. You must have crafted yours to +3. The Royal Canadian
If I could spell correctly, but yeah I crafted it to +3. Never used it before and it used to be called just spiked or radiant. I thought maybe holy was added when they did the long description revamp. Seems to work good tho.
I guess i'm gonna have to give that a swing. My favortite weapons r not crafted but captured. frost bane sword and scather and fragrach (in hands of CN or NG PC) so it's not too crazy powerful.
is there any effective difference between the guisarme, glaive, and ranseur in TOEE? As far as I can tell the only difference is that the glaive is 10lbs, while the guisarme and ranseur are 12 lbs and completely identical to each other. Making glaive the best melee weapon in the game. Longspear for those without martial weapon proficiency... And this reminds me, whats the point of the repeater crossbow? it requires an exotic weapon proficiency feat, and has lower stats than a regular crossbow. A light and heavy crossbows can be made to be repeater like with a single feat (rapid reload or something)... which makes them reload as a free action and allow them to have iterative attacks. So, either way you are paying one feat, but paying one feat for light and heavy crossbows seems superior.
