Cultural Rewards

[Angelalex242]

If the typical maxed out weapon is Grievous, Keen, and Fell, which cultural rewards are 'worth it'...that is, superior to the normal maxed out weapons. And if they are superior, which one would you replace in each case?

The list includes, by race:
Barding:
Dalish Longbow:Roll feat die and choose the worst on protection rolls
Spear of King Blad:Roll feat die twice and take the best only when spear is thrown

Beorning:
Giant Slaying Spear:+4 to base damage against anything bigger then a human.
Splitting Axe:1 less protection dice on a Rune

Dwarf:
Axe of Az:Render weak opponents weary on a Rune. (attribute 6)

Elf:
Woodland Bow:Extra opening volley
Bitter Spear:+4 injury rating only on a rune. (It does stack with Fell, fortunately...)

Hobbit:
Bow of the North Downs:Ignore shield parry
King's Blade:Great/Extraordinary success always pierces

Lake Man:
Serpent Scimitar:Ignore Shield parry

Woodman:
Bearded Axe:Shield Smash or Disarm on a Rune
Shepherd's Bow:Inflict your damage rating on a rune. (stacks with great/extraordinary success bonus)

[James Harrison]

well I dislike the Shepard bow - it give bonus damage 1/12th of the time, for a culture where that bonus damage is going to be very low (body=lowest attribute) I like the others, but I often wouldn't consider putting them on a "maxed" weapon - rather I would have varied virtues, and use some to build towards a goal...

e.g. combining splitting axe and fell is great - pretty much a kill 1/12th of the time... or dalish spear + keen (although I would just take the spear for a one shot item)

hum, i might go post on spears....

[Corvo]

If the typical maxed out weapon is Grievous, Keen, and Fell, which cultural rewards are 'worth it'...that is, superior to the normal maxed out weapons. And if they are superior, which one would you replace in each case?
(...)

Hi Angelalex242,

maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but unless I read the book wrong an item can get 3 qualities AND be a cultural reward, not instead.

So a Woodmen can have a Fell, Keen, Grievous Bearded Axe
By the way, I think the Bearded Axe is one of the best cultural reward: getting a FREE* disarm is pretty powerful.

*free as "without having to declare a called shot"

[Angelalex242]

I thought 3 qualities was the maximum, including the cultural reward, so you had to replace grievous, keen, or fell on a weapon to put a cultural reward on it.

It seems to me that cultural reward would be a 4th quality, which is obviously against the rules. (and if it's not, why bother mentioning no more then 3 weapon qualities, if there's no more then 3 weapon qualities to take? Department of redundancy department, go!)

Axe of Az has that really weird Attribute 6 on it. Why is that even there? Axe of Az is meant to be a boss killer, by the look of it, but then they took away its uses on bosses. What enemy Axe of Az works on is going to survive the Injury 22 of a Fell (presumably keen as well) great axe anyway?

Then again, I suppose it's like that because if it worked on any enemy, the Dwarves of Moria, fighting Durin's bane...well, the first 12 dwarves who attacked the Balrog, one of 'em would've rolled a rune and wearied the Balrog. They probably could've forced it to flee after that. Smaug, one of those first 12 dwarves would've wearied him when he rolled a rune, and the rest probably would've hacked him down and killed him.

[Corvo]

I thought 3 qualities was the maximum, including the cultural reward, so you had to replace grievous, keen, or fell on a weapon to put a cultural reward on it.

It seems to me that cultural reward would be a 4th quality, which is obviously against the rules. (and if it's not, why bother mentioning no more then 3 weapon qualities, if there's no more then 3 weapon qualities to take? Department of redundancy department, go!)

I understand your doubts
Let me explain my reasoning.
The A-book (page 135) go to great lenght saying that Qualities and Cultural rewards are different things.
Page 136 it say that an item is limited to 3 Qualities. Later it say that an item with one or more Qualities can be "further empowered by the acquisition of a Cultural Reward".

(By the way, I think the Cultural Reward, while more flavourful, are generally weaker than the Qualities)

[Angelalex242]

Huh. Anyone else think Cultural Rewards are (or aren't) weapon qualities? I still think they are because the rule of 3 has no value otherwise.

[Beran]

Huh. Anyone else think Cultural Rewards are (or aren't) weapon qualities? I still think they are because the rule of 3 has no value otherwise.

Sorry, I don't.

[James Harrison]

The rule of 3 applies to armour as well as weapons: and close fit and cunning make can be applied multiple times to armour - this is where the rule applies...

and if later they come up with further qualities.

You can defiantly have a Grievous, Keen, Fell, Woodland Bow for example.

sorry I miss read your initial post!

[Angelalex242]

Huh. I stand corrected. I thought they couldn't be used together.

[Mim]

Yeah, I was hazy on this two - thanks for clearing it up.

I didn't realize that a weapon or a piece of armor could have up to three Qualities AND a Cultural Reward.