elindred
some of the exotic weapon master's abilities are better than others.
throw exotic weapon can be pretty powerful. do you know of any thrown weapons that can deal as much damage as, say, a jovar, a goliath great hammer or a greatspear? probably not. and no one will be expecting it.
exotic weapon flurry is pretty good, and doesn't come with as many strings as flurry of blows (which doesn't work with katana, jovars or goliath greathammers).
stunning blow would be better if it wasn't so hard to apply usefully.
trip attack is pretty good. no one expects someone with a b*****d sword to trip you with it. and, of course, spiked chain wielders will want this.
uncanny blow is pretty good. compare it to, say, weapon specialization, and you'll see what i mean. samurai will probably want this ability.
anyway, there are plenty of good reasons to take exotic weapon master.
Problems though...
Yeah, you can throw a greatspear, goliath hammer, whatnot. Problem is, to throw it you must throw a focused weapon...with 10 ft range increments.
1) Odds are you're throwing your best weapon, and if it's not meant for ranged, it's not returning anytime soon on it's own.
2) If you're trying to hit someone more than 30 feet away, it's not worth throwing, and if you're withing 30 feet, what's keeping you from getting to them? Some kind of barrier? Then you have time to pull out and use a proper ranged weapon.
Ok, so the flurry isn't as much of a pain as Flurry of Blows, and you get an extra attack, but...
Only with an exotic weapon you're focused with.
I admitted Trip Attack isn't worthless, but if you're going to trip may as well have a weapon for it and be built to do it already. It's not that great of an ability.
Uncanny Blow...ok, first it must be a 1 handed weapon...exotic, and focused, being wielded in two hands. Then, instead of a 1.5x Str bonus, it's a 2x.
Let's look then.
(Str Bonus........Str Bonus x1.5........Str Bonus x2)
+1...................+1.........................+2
+2..................+3..........................+4
+3...................+4.........................+6
+4...................+6........................+8
+5...................+7.........................+10
+6...................+9.........................+12
These numbers suffice for my point, since most fighters below epic won't have a natural Str bonus greater than +6.
Now then....Weapon Specialization gives a flat +2 to damage...one hand or two, added cumulatively with a normal 1.5x bonus.
Uncanny Blow instead offers a difference of...around 2 or 3 for the x2 rather than the x1.5. And that's only with a focused exotic weapon that's meant to be used 1 handed but is being used 2 handed.
Conclusion....Uncanny Blow is too restrictive.
Basically, I just don't see the point to a lot of these stunts. They're little more than specialized feats, and they're far too restrictive. Unless you're using the Exoticist variant (in place of stock Fighter core class) odds are you're going to be proficient with 1 exotic weapon and only focused with it. Even with the Exoticist you're probably only going to get Weapon Focus once, maybe twice.
I can see there is some merit in the Exotic Weapon Master of the Complete Warrior, but personally I just LOVED that I could pick up any weapon, be it simple, martial, or exotic, and use it. Doesn't matter if I've never seen it before, I pick it up and look out. Add in that in a pinch a character can fashion impromptu weapons and that's a valueable ability when you're captured or in a long dungeoncrawl. (Espicially if someone in the party can rig traps for safe sleeping without a watch.)
I just see the Exotic Weapon Master as being a stupid toss-in.
