I just got the walriblade. The initiative is -3. Is that good or should I be discouraged of a (-) initiative??

• RE: Initiative,nomad, 06:06 PM, Mar-01-03
• Initiative,Marc, 07:21 PM, Mar-01-03
• RE: Initiative,Lamoni, 11:06 AM, Mar-03-03
  • RE: Initiative,nomad, 04:35 PM, Mar-03-03

The walriblade is not a very good weapon. Always try to use weapons with + iniative modifiers. You wont be able to use + modifier weapons all of the time, but try. The higher your iniative the earlier in the round you go.

I'm sure that there are -initiative weapons that may have some positive attributes. (eg)"Man, this sword get high HPD against Scorchers, I only wish I could draw it before getting toasted."

I think of -initiative weapon as being, for what ever reason, clumsy or cumbersome to use. Slow on the take if you will.
You might try giving the Walriblade to your biggest, burliest fighter and see if it works. If that PC is always going last after the switch then you might as well ditch the weapon.

Marc

I have always used the Warliblade for my fighter until something better came around. I look at damage first, and initiative last. It is nice to be the first to swing, but 80% of the time the creature still gets a turn. 20% of the time I kill it so it doesn't take its turn. Very nice, but it usually does no damage anyway to my fighter. Initiative helps much more with spellcasters that need to cast buffing spells.

I am not saying that initiative isn't worth looking at. I love having a high initiative. I just don't think it is worth sacrificing damage for it. Keep the Warliblade until you find a sword that does higher damage.

Actually I look at to hit modifiers first. I find that if you hit the monster you do more damage. Then I look at special effects, damage, and then initiative, in that order. Most of the times you have to do a juggling act with weapons. I think that paralize and KO are the most important special effects that a weapon can have, nothing like an incapacitated opponent to get good damage hits. You can find an Enchanted Broadsword quite early in the game and I think it is much better than the warliblade.