Gnomish Hooked Hammer Gnome build

[FünkeFisher]

Hi, I'm finally getting around to playing this game and I wanted some ideas for how to make a gnomish hooked hammer wielding Gnome.

I'm not familiar with the system and am struggling to come up with a build. I was under the impression that the weapon is a double weapon that requires 2 Weapon Fighting but in the game it is listed as a two handed.

Anyway, any ideas are appreciated. I'm just going to play on normal, so I'm not too worried about min/maxing. Thanks

[Halfgeek]

Probably some class that has sneak dices, as dual wield and imp two wep fighting requires high dex so your dmg will be low without SA.

[Aria Athena]

It's listed as two-handed, but it counts as dual wield. A pure STR fighter will work very well. I haven't use a Gnomish Hooked Hammer, but I've build around Two-Bladed Swords.

You need 15/17/19 Dex for normal/improved/greater two weapon fighting, but you don't even have to get 19 Dex if you don't want to, because item bonuses count towards feat requirements. For example with 15 Dex and a belt of +4 Dex you will be able to chose Greater Two Weapon Fighting. You just temporarily lose the feat if you drop below 19 Dex.

An advantage that double weapons have is the following: Feats like Power Attack grant only half the damage bonus to your off-hand, but double weapons count as 1 weapon so you get the full bonus on both main hand and off-hand.

Other than that I would go full Strength and take feats like:
-I think you still need to get Exotic Proficiency, even as a Gnome
-Weapon Focus + Greater Weapon Focus
-Weapon Specialization / Greater Weapon Specialization
-Double Slice
-Improved Critical (take this with a grain of salt)
-Precise Strike , Outflank
-Power Attack (later on)
-Sickening Critical, Tiring Critical, Exhausting Critical, Critical Focus

Those are just suggestions really.

[FünkeFisher]

Thanks for the info!

[Morgian]

If you are not a ranger or slayer with access to twoweapon fighting styles (and therefore can ignore feat pre-requisites), you may want to go DEX instead of STR, as you will need 19 to fully build up twoweapon fighting.
I am not so sure that stat items will fulfill feat requirements, btw, since I could not pick combat expertise this way.

If you go DEX, you need piranha strike instead of power attack, and you want weapon finesse. All the other feats stay the same.

[FünkeFisher]

Would weapon finesse even work for a gnomish hooked hammer though? I thought it only applied to certain light weapons.

[Aria Athena]

Originally posted by FünkeFisher:

Would weapon finesse even work for a gnomish hooked hammer though? I thought it only applied to certain light weapons.

That's actually a good point. I always thought Weapon Finesse would work, because the double weapons' attack penalties are the same as dual wielding light weapons and because there is an Agile Two-Bladed Sword. But I tried it and it doesn't work.

[FünkeFisher]

Thanks for checking. I looked into what you said earlier and it turns out that Gnomes dont need exotic prof to use a the hooked hammer. Im assuming its a racial weapon. Thankfully that eliminates a needed feat

[Aria Athena]

Yeah, that saves you a feat. Unfortunately you have a bit of a disadvantage as a Gnome with a Hooked hammer, though it will not matter that much in the long run. Max starting Strength is 16, the Hooked Hammer deals 1d8 / 1d6 instead of the usual 1d8/1d8 of double weapons, but also in the hands of a Gnome it will deal 1d6/1d4 due to size.

1d6/1d4 instead of 1d8/1d8 isn't really much of deal on itself, but with Legendary Proportions for example it will become 2d6/1d8 instead of 3d6/3d6. Still not an serious loss though.