# Is there a "greathammer"?



## 0-hr (Aug 25, 2006)

I'm playing a dwarven warrior who uses a greataxe. I'd like to use a weapon that is EXACTLY like the greataxe stat-wise except that it is a hammer (so I guess it would do bludgeoning damage). It's just the flavor text that I'm interested in - there aren't any rules or combos I'm looking to abuse (he is from clan Fellhammer).

Is there such a weapon out there already? If not, what would be the ramifications of just creating such a weapon?

I saw the Maul in complete warrior and that's close (just a little too small) but I really want to keep using my d12 - that's about the only chance it ever gets to get out of the dice bag


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## frankthedm (Aug 25, 2006)

Ki Ryn said:
			
		

> I'm playing a dwarven warrior who uses a greataxe. I'd like to use a weapon that is EXACTLY like the greataxe stat-wise except that it is a hammer (so I guess it would do bludgeoning damage). It's just the flavor text that I'm interested in - there aren't any rules or combos I'm looking to abuse (he is from clan Fellhammer).
> 
> Is there such a weapon out there already? If not, what would be the ramifications of just creating such a weapon?
> 
> I saw the Maul in complete warrior and that's close (just a little too small) but I really want to keep using my d12 - that's about the only chance it ever gets to get out of the dice bag



I allow said weapon, the great hammer, I even let it deal 2d6 which i also do for the great axe. I use the "maul" name for the 2 handed weapon, using "war sledge" for the Bastard hammer. I decided it weigh a touch more that the "large war hammer" though.

Medium martial 2 hands 2d6 x3 crit. More or less this is weapon the titan wields [the 2 handed hammer that is the blunt equivalent of a Great axe. ]

For some reason wotc did not put a 2 handed martial 1d12 or 2d6 x3 blunt weapon in the core rules. They have the martial 1 handed 1d8 x 3 war hammer and even the simple 1 handed 1d8x2 crit mace, but the only 2 handed blunt weapon is the cripplingly inefficient martial great club[1d10 x2 crit]. The only way to get a decent two handed hammer is to wield the next larger size’s war hammer, but wotc saddled that with a -2 to hit. That makes it very inefficient to wield since that – 2 to hit is the penalty one can take with power attack for +4 to damage with a 2 handed weapon.

The titan gets an ability to avoid the -2 to hit for wielding the war hammer one size too big. He wields it with both hands.

Non core ways for a jumbo hammer;

A forgotten realms accessory had an exotic hammer called the maul that was the bastard sword / dwarven war axe of hammers.

The “Goliath” hammer is a 2 handed exotic 1d12 x4 crit [+2 bonus on sunder attempts]. [those are the medium version’s stats.]

MM4 has introduced The greathorn hammer an exotic Medium 2-hand 2d6 x4 crit weapon [erroneously listed with a 19-20 crit in addition to the x4, I say erroneous because the weapon in the monster listing does not have the extended crit. Wotc promised us NO extended and multiplied crit weapons IIRC.]


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## frankthedm (Aug 25, 2006)

I will note however, there a few critters that blunt weapons are better against.

Anise hags
Skeletons
Puddings
Liches
Tendriculous
Xorn


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## 0-hr (Aug 25, 2006)

Wow, thanks for the great reply. Where is the "Goliath" hammer from? It will be a while before I have a spare feat to spend on an Exotic Weapon, but it might be worth it (especially with Weapon of Impact, or whatever the Keen thing is for blunt, on it).


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## Hypersmurf (Aug 25, 2006)

Ki Ryn said:
			
		

> Wow, thanks for the great reply. Where is the "Goliath" hammer from? It will be a while before I have a spare feat to spend on an Exotic Weapon, but it might be worth it (especially with Weapon of Impact, or whatever the Keen thing is for blunt, on it).




It's a Goliath Greathammer, from Races of Stone... a Goliath racial weapon in the same way that an Elven Thinblade or Dwarven Buckler Axe are racial weapons (in that I don't believe (from memory) they get Familiarity with them, but they're eligible for the Improved Weapon Familiarity feat).

-Hyp.


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## thorimar (Aug 25, 2006)

*Greathammer*

The Book of the Righteous by Green Ronin Publishing contains a Greathammer that is a 2-handed hammer, used by clerics of Korak.  By the book it is 2d6 but could be 1d12 if you prefer.  I wielded one with my last dwarven cleric and it beat heads left and right.  Big hammers rock.

Thorimar


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## Scharlata (Aug 25, 2006)

Ki Ryn said:
			
		

> [...]Is there such a weapon out there already?[...]




There is another version of the greathammer - in MM4 (Minotaur).

See attached file for extreme comfort. 

Enjoy!


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## pawsplay (Aug 25, 2006)

Your best bets would be:

goliath greathammer
great maul, described as looking hammer shaped
(without using EWP) a morningstar wielded two handed


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## Sidekick (Aug 25, 2006)

Not quite as good as the Goliath Hammer, but if you’re DM doesn’t allow the _Races of_ series then I suggest you try the Maul in the FRCS.

It’s a martial 2-handed weapon that deals 1d10 damage. See page 97 (off the top of my head) in the FRCS for more details.

As a DM I’d definitely allow that without a second thought, any feats/weapons/classes/races from the ‘Races of series’ makes me look twice.

I’m a bit old fashioned like that though.

So if you’re DM isn’t sold on the Goliath super hammer – that’s a solid martial weapon that is essentially the bastard sword of the hammers (can’t be wielded 1 handed though – not even exotic)


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## 0-hr (Aug 26, 2006)

That's funny because while we allow the "Races books", if I asked for anything from Forgotten Realms (or Eberron), I'd be run out of the house. 

I'm just going to ask if I can have a great hammer made - exactly the same as a great axe but does bludgeoning. 

Seems like the easiest solution.


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## R-Hero (Aug 26, 2006)

Ki Ryn said:
			
		

> That's funny because while we allow the "Races books", if I asked for anything from Forgotten Realms (or Eberron), I'd be run out of the house.
> 
> I'm just going to ask if I can have a great hammer made - exactly the same as a great axe but does bludgeoning.
> 
> Seems like the easiest solution.




Ah, but a Greathammer in Races of Stone gets a x4 to Crits.  
Make one out of Adamantine and get ready to sunder the crap out of everything.
(It gets a bonus to sunder attempts too, but without the book in front of me I can't remember.  +2 comes to mind)

I played a goliath with an adamantine Greathammer and a lot of hit points. (See Jollydocs Shackled City S.H.) .  
A 3d6 crit x4+ str will make soup out of most things.  
Very few creatures have bludgening DR,  
And there is hardly a door or chest you can't bust into...Lots of fun


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## Someone (Aug 26, 2006)

If you just scale the warhammer to be 2-handed you end with a martial 2d6 20/x3 weapon, wich is different from greatsword and greataxe. I´d allow it in my games.


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## 0-hr (Aug 26, 2006)

deleted


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## taliesin15 (Aug 26, 2006)

As a DM I would certainly allow a Greathammer, in fact, this brings to mind a similar weapon I thought of, a Great Pick, in case someone wanted to play a super bad Gnome Fighter character. I'm always up for this kind of creative tweaking IMC and I think most other DMs should think in this way.


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## cignus_pfaccari (Aug 27, 2006)

R-Hero said:
			
		

> Ah, but a Greathammer in Races of Stone gets a x4 to Crits.
> Make one out of Adamantine and get ready to sunder the crap out of everything.
> (It gets a bonus to sunder attempts too, but without the book in front of me I can't remember.  +2 comes to mind)




Correct.  It is an Exotic weapon, though; while you could take the feat that gives you proficiency with racial weapons (or treats them as martial), it's not terribly worth it.  And, really, +2 on Sunder isn't really that much of a bonus.  After all, PCs almost never sunder.



> A 3d6 crit x4+ str will make soup out of most things.
> Very few creatures have bludgening DR,
> And there is hardly a door or chest you can't bust into...Lots of fun




My goliath barbarian/fighter/cleric/warpriest uses a Great Falchion, for the more frequent crits.  However, he does carry the Greathammer as a religious function, and occasionally uses it for fun.

Brad


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## frankthedm (Oct 24, 2006)

taliesin15 said:
			
		

> As a DM I would certainly allow a Greathammer, in fact, this brings to mind a similar weapon I thought of, a Great Pick, in case someone wanted to play a super bad Gnome Fighter character.



 i gave out one of those picks myself. It was made from a dragon's tooth.


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## MarkB (Oct 24, 2006)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> i gave out one of those picks myself. It was made from a dragon's tooth.



A Great Tooth Pick?


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## ValhallaGH (Oct 24, 2006)

Sidekick said:
			
		

> Not quite as good as the Goliath Hammer, but if you’re DM doesn’t allow the _Races of_ series then I suggest you try the Maul in the FRCS.
> 
> It’s a martial 2-handed weapon that deals 1d10 damage. See page 97 (off the top of my head) in the FRCS for more details.



Oddly enough, the FRCS Maul has the exact same stats (excepting cost) as the nigh-unplayable Greatclub.


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## frankthedm (Oct 24, 2006)

MarkB said:
			
		

> A Great Tooth Pick?



The player who had the dragon tooth pick wrote it down as Dragon's toothpick.

The idea came from a time when i was contemplating changing Dragon's DR/Magic to DR/Dragon  .


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## Unkabear (Oct 24, 2006)

In the back of complete warrior there is a Maul and a War(great) Mace the Maul is a d10x3 I believe and the War Mace is a 1d12 x3 -2 ac or some such.  I don't have the books on my so I can only draw from my foggy memory.


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## ValhallaGH (Oct 24, 2006)

Iron Heroes uses a Maul similar to frankthedm's houseruled one.  Two-handed, 2d6, x3 critical, bludgeoning, 12 lbs.

The Mattock is two-handed, 1d8, x4 critical, piercing, 10 lbs.


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## Korak (Oct 24, 2006)

thorimar said:
			
		

> ... used by clerics of Korak.




I have worshippers?  Cool.




			
				ValhallaGH said:
			
		

> ...as the nigh-unplayable Greatclub.




Three Mountains Style and the Spikes spell do a great deal to make the greatclub an excellent weapon choice.


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## Feldspar (Oct 27, 2006)

frankthedm said:
			
		

> the only 2 handed blunt weapon is the cripplingly inefficient martial great club[1d10 x2 crit]



You forgot about the Heavy Flail [1d10 19-20/x2 +2 to disarm checks, can be used to make trip attacks].  The fact that the Heavy Flail is so much better than the great club is proof alone that the great club is not balanced at all.  HOUSERULE - make it a simple weapon, as its basically just a bigger, two-handed morningstar.



			
				frankthedm said:
			
		

> I allow said weapon, the great hammer, I even let it deal 2d6 which i also do for the great axe. Medium martial 2 hands 2d6 x3 crit. More or less this is weapon the titan wields [the 2 handed hammer that is the blunt equivalent of a Great axe. ]



Same. The rest of the weapons table sets up certain precedents and the absence of a 1d12 or 2d6 Greathammer breaks them.  The Warhammer = Longsword = Battleaxe.  The light flail has a smaller threat/crit than those three to compensate for its other combat abilities.  The heavy flail and halberd have smaller damage die in comparison to the Greataxe and Greatsword for same reason.  So its perfectly logical to go from a heavy flail to a 1d12 or 2d6 Greathammer.

With regards to weight, while I would think that blunt weapons would be heaver than axes, the warharmmer and the two flails are actually lighter than their axe counterparts.  I give my Greathammer a weight of 10 lbs and cost of 25 gp.

With regards to 1d12 vs 2d6, I houserule that all three weapons use the same damage die. Its the choice of the party whether that's 1d12 or 2d6; but they know that if they choose 2d6 then thats what everyone in the world, like Greataxe wielding raging Orc Barbarians, will be rolling as well.  Even if they choose to go with 2d6, any player has the option to role a d12 (even for a Greatsword) if that's what they prefer (perhaps for the more random spread).



			
				ValhallaGH said:
			
		

> Oddly enough, the FRCS Maul has the exact same stats (excepting cost) as the nigh-unplayable Greatclub.



I'm pretty sure that the crit for the Maul in the FRCS, reprinted in the Arms and Equipment Guide, is x3.  The exact same weapon appears in Complete Warrior as an Exotic hand-and-a-half weapon (like a bastard sword).  They made two mistakes, in my opinion, when porting it over though.  First it has a weight of 20 lbs. which is heavier even than an Orcish double axe and way out of line with the reduced weights of weapons in 3.5; I recommend going with 7 lbs.  Second, I don't think they make any reference to needing a Str of 13+ to take the EWP to use the weapon one handed; both the Dwarven Waraxe and Bastard Sword have that requirement.

The authors/editors of Complete Warrior made the same weight (go with 8 lbs) and Str requirement mistakes with the hand-and-a-half Dire Pick, which was the successor to the Gnomish Battlepick from Sword and Fist and the Arms and Equipment Guide.  They also went wrong with the name - Dire is *so* played out.  If you're not going to keep it as the Gnomish Battlepick (and give Gnomes Weapon Familiarity with it) then you *have* to call it the Mattock to go along with the (in same class) Maul!

We also have Greatpicks (moved Scythes to Exotic - technically better than Falchions because of the Trip attack and I think they're kind of cheesy) that are two hander martials.  We also made the small size damage 2d3 for all weapons whose medium damage is 2d4.  Currently the progression for x4 or 18-20/x2 weapons is: One-Handed 1d4,1d6; 1.5 Handed *1d6*,1d8; Two-Handed *1d6*,2d4.  If you look at average damage, 2d3 fits the progression better.


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