Exotic weapons

[Spacehamster]

Hey playground!

I were thinking of a half feat that allows access to 4 exotic weapons + a 1 Dex or STR boost. And were wanting suggestions for flavorful weapons(should not just be a bigger die or crit modifier or so but also some perk or drawback that makes the weapon special). My contribution is a two handed super heavy mace:

Crusher

Two handed super heavy bludgeoning
Super heavy has drawback -10 movement
Die is 1d12 + 1d6 + 1,5 STR modifier.
Requires STR 18 to use. Things like barbarians brutal critical and Orc racial affects both damage dice.

Anyone else have any interesting weapon ideas to share? :)

Spacehamster to infinity and beyond!

[Spacehamster]

Oh and if weapon seems to powerful would making it a full feat without ability boosts even it out?

[Tenmujiin]

In terms of balance, a feat should be slightly weaker than a +1 to hit and damge (or 1/2 as strong in the case of a half feat). Your weapon gives between +3.5 to +4 damage (depending if your strength is 18/19 or 20) at the cost of 10ft movement, not taking the bonus on crits and GWM into account.

[Ziegander]

Ew. I would rather, if we must have exotic weapons, that their more "exotic" functions and effects be handled by weapon-specific feats a la Whip Mastery, or Gelugon Spearlord (gain proficiency with the Ice Devil Spear as well as some special rules for it).

[Gurka]

Honestly I don't really see a need for exotic weapons. If it's something suitably weird as to not allow martial proficiency to cover it, there's already a feat that allows for selected weapon proficiency which should be adequate to the task, even if it stipulates martial weapons (I don't remember of hand if it does or not).

Beyond that, part of the reason they moved away from exotic weapons is that 1) they wanted to get away from feat taxes as much as possible, and 2) as creative and cool of a concept as a really wonky weapon might have, in practice when you give any item damage above the standard range, it just ends up as part of the optimization formula, making all that character and style am afterthought at many (if not most) tables. The designers really seem to have wanted to get away from that this time around also.

I think what your looking for might be a niche for a "magic" version of a maul, rather than an entire weapon category. Even if it lacks static +'s or is magical, it may simply be made of a rare material (tungsten or osmium, or something silly like unobtainium), or something like that. It allows for plenty of creativity, at the DM's discretion of course, without adding something that's universally available and more abusable.

[Easy_Lee]

Lances or polearms with the finesse property.
A double weapon that allows a bonus attack with the other end, a la dual wielding
A spiked chain (2h, finesse, reach, 1d8 or 2d4).

There are plenty of possibilities, though I'm not convinced they need to be exotic and not martial. Perhaps magical versions just require X training hours for attunement.

[Spacehamster]

The responses have made me change my mind, agree it would probably be cooler with weapons like these if it's something rare they stumble across in a ruin of a lost civilization or something like that. The weapons could become like a signature weapon for the pc's like icingdeath and twinkle is for Drizzt. Might have my pc's stumble upon some ancient schematics on how to craft a couple of fitting weapons and then a quest would be to find really obscure materials. :)

[Spacehamster]

Then comes the work to come up with a warhammer, great sword, longbow, some weapon good for a sorcerer, a pair of daggers. The idea is due to inherit traces of magic the weapons will start off as +1 weapons with some bonus, then at levels 10 and 15 I will do quest lines that improves them to +2 and 3. Does this sound like something exciting? :)

[Easy_Lee]

Then comes the work to come up with a warhammer, great sword, longbow, some weapon good for a sorcerer, a pair of daggers. The idea is due to inherit traces of magic the weapons will start off as +1 weapons with some bonus, then at levels 10 and 15 I will do quest lines that improves them to +2 and 3. Does this sound like something exciting? :)

Absolutely. A weapon good for a sorcerer could let him do a certain metamagic X times/charges per day, or let him deliver a touch cantrip as part of the attack, or something similar. Sorcerers don't get bonus attacks, so they want to be casting spells.

[Galen]

Foot-bow (fired while lying on one's back, using the legs to pull. 1d10 damage, range 300/1200)
Bolas (1d4 damage, thrown, range 20/60, can make ranged trip attacks)
Elven Courtblade (large, two handed, 2d6 damage, finesse)
Double-Bladed Sword (1d8 damage, versatile 1d10, if used one-handed can make another attack using a bonus action as if fighting with two weapons)

[Spacehamster]

Absolutely. A weapon good for a sorcerer could let him do a certain metamagic X times/charges per day, or let him deliver a touch cantrip as part of the attack, or something similar. Sorcerers don't get bonus attacks, so they want to be casting spells.

Yeah something like that or an extra 3rd lvl spell at +1, extra 5th lvl at +2 and 7th lvl at +3? :)

[Person_Man]

5E currently has very, very few passive bonuses. This is intentional. Otherwise, character creation becomes an exercise in stacking passive bonuses, bounded accuracy is broken, and creating a good mix of encounters becomes a lot harder for the DM unless all of the players in a group are similarly optimized.

So I would oppose any Feat/spell/class ability/etc that added additional passive bonuses.

Having said that, its likely that codex creep will re-introduce them, basically recreating 3.X. But until then, I don't see a compelling reason to add more bonuses.

[Theodoxus]

I'm in the process of homebrewing some items I made for characters in a Pathfinder game to cross over into a potential 5th ed reboot.

One item is a magical bastard sword. Since 5th doesn't have one, I'm just boosting a long sword's basic stats to create the bastard sword. The character in question has the Slashing Grace feat - so I'm going to make this specific magic item finesse, thus replacing the feat with the native ability to use dex.

That's what I would recommend for any 'exotic' type weapon. Another character in the campaign wields an Elven Curved Blade - so I've written up a similar two handed finesse weapon. It's arguably too powerful for a standard martial weapon, but as a unique magic item, it works well.

I'm kinda hoping that any future books (DMG, PHB2, whatever) that expand the weapon list actually provide building rules and not concrete examples. I'd much rather use a simple formula for building whatever I want than be locked into whatever the designers deem appropriate. There will forever be weapons that aren't on the list that end up being argued over ad nauseum.

[Easy_Lee]

Bolas (1d4 damage, thrown, range 20/60, can make ranged trip attacks)
Elven Courtblade (large, two handed, 2d6 damage, finesse)
Double-Bladed Sword (1d8 damage, versatile 1d10, if used one-handed can make another attack using a bonus action as if fighting with two weapons)

I take issue with these.

ranged trips are already possible with any ranged weapon
A greatsword with finesse is objectively better than a regular greatsword
Using the double bladed sword grants the advantage of dual wielding without requiring a second weapon. That means players could use it in tandem with duelist and a shield. Also, it's a 1d8; dual wielding 1d8's normally requires a feat. Not much way to balance this one.

[Scirocco]

Better - Double-bladed sword - does 1d8 damage and counts as two longswords for the purposes of dual-wielding.

[Easy_Lee]

Better - Double-bladed sword - does 1d8 damage and counts as two longswords for the purposes of dual-wielding.

More like this. It doesn't create a superior option, just a niche thing that can be better in certain cases (like for blade pact warlocks).

[Galen]

More like this. It doesn't create a superior option, just a niche thing that can be better in certain cases (like for blade pact warlocks).

Actually , since you're spending a feat just to be able to wield it, it better be superior.

[Easy_Lee]

Actually , since you're spending a feat just to be able to wield it, it better be superior.

As I said above, I'm not convinced these weapons need to be exotic. I don't think 5e really supports the idea of exotic weapons; feats are supposed to have a larger effect.

[Galen]

As I said above, I'm not convinced these weapons need to be exotic.In this case, we are having two different conversations. I promise to keep out of yours.

[JoeJ]

Hey playground!

I were thinking of a half feat that allows access to 4 exotic weapons + a 1 Dex or STR boost. And were wanting suggestions for flavorful weapons(should not just be a bigger die or crit modifier or so but also some perk or drawback that makes the weapon special). My contribution is a two handed super heavy mace:

Crusher

Two handed super heavy bludgeoning
Super heavy has drawback -10 movement
Die is 1d12 + 1d6 + 1,5 STR modifier.
Requires STR 18 to use. Things like barbarians brutal critical and Orc racial affects both damage dice.

Anyone else have any interesting weapon ideas to share? :)

Spacehamster to infinity and beyond!


Why do we need a half-feat that grants proficiency with 4 exotic weapons when there's already a half-feat that grants proficiency with any 4 weapons of the player's choice.

[Easy_Lee]

Why do we need a half-feat that grants proficiency with 4 exotic weapons when there's already a half-feat that grants proficiency with any 4 weapons of the player's choice.

This and pact-blade warlocks are the main reasons why I don't think "exotic" weapons would mesh well with 5e, unless they were no stronger than normal weapons. My signature contains a proposed method for determining what a weapon's damage should be, based on its features, which works for most of the weapons table. It could be used for home brewing weapons.

[Rysan Marquise]

I think exotic weapons would need to be odd, simple, and not strictly better than current weapons.

The feat for weapon proficiency gives 4 weapons, granting a potentially interesting assortment. As a DM, I would include non-standard weapons, like siege weapons for the feat.


Example Weapons:

Catapult: 1d20 Requires 1 action to to draw, 1 action to load, and 1 action to fire. 400/4000

Trebuchet: 2d20 Requires 1 action to to draw, 1 action to load, and 1 action to fire. 1000/6000

Ballista:3D12 Requires 1 action to to draw, and 1 action to fire. 400/1600

Spiked Chain: 2d4, 10' Reach, Two-handed, Finesse

Marn: 1d4, also counts as a 1 AC shield. Reminder, you may only benefit from one shield at a time.

Weighted Gauntlet: 1d4, Light, Heavy

Greatwhip: 1d6, two-handed, 15 foot reach

Heavy Throwing Axe: 1d6, thrown. May use strength when throwing. 10/20 range

Shotput: 1d6, heavy, thrown. May use strength when throwing. 10/30 range.

Great Throwing Axe: 1d10*, thrown, two-handed. 10/20 range. May use strength when throwing.

Shurikens: 1d4, thrown. 20-80 range. You may hold up to 5 of them in a hand at one time.


This is roughly the sort of thing I would present as exotic options. Things that you would not necessarily be skilled in, and things you might want a few different proficiencies in for different circumstances. I would also include things like thrown potions (acid, and alchemists fire), as different bonus options.

[JoeJ]

I think exotic weapons would need to be odd, simple, and not strictly better than current weapons.

The feat for weapon proficiency gives 4 weapons, granting a potentially interesting assortment. As a DM, I would include non-standard weapons, like siege weapons for the feat.


Example Weapons:

Catapult: 1d20 Requires 1 action to to draw, 1 action to load, and 1 action to fire. 400/4000

Trebuchet: 2d20 Requires 1 action to to draw, 1 action to load, and 1 action to fire. 1000/6000

Ballista:3D12 Requires 1 action to to draw, and 1 action to fire. 400/1600

Spiked Chain: 2d4, 10' Reach, Two-handed, Finesse

Marn: 1d4, also counts as a 1 AC shield. Reminder, you may only benefit from one shield at a time.

Weighted Gauntlet: 1d4, Light, Heavy

Greatwhip: 1d6, two-handed, 15 foot reach

Heavy Throwing Axe: 1d6, thrown. May use strength when throwing. 10/20 range

Shotput: 1d6, heavy, thrown. May use strength when throwing. 10/30 range.

Great Throwing Axe: 1d10*, thrown, two-handed. 10/20 range. May use strength when throwing.

Shurikens: 1d4, thrown. 20-80 range. You may hold up to 5 of them in a hand at one time.


This is roughly the sort of thing I would present as exotic options. Things that you would not necessarily be skilled in, and things you might want a few different proficiencies in for different circumstances. I would also include things like thrown potions (acid, and alchemists fire), as different bonus options.

You would allow 1 person alone to fire a trebuchet every 18 seconds?

[Rysan Marquise]

You would allow 1 person alone to fire a trebuchet every 18 seconds?


With these stats?

Probably.


Large, immobile, and expensive. This feels about right.

[CyberThread]

Feat that gives you access to exotic weapons as a selection would work. No need to complicate it.

[Easy_Lee]

Feat that gives you access to exotic weapons as a selection would work. No need to complicate it.

Except that blade-pact warlocks, for example, can get the exotic weapons without a feat. They would have to be errata'd to only be able to pact weapons from the weapons table, unless they had a feat for whatever. And in the past, not all exotic weapons were equal, so...I think it's best to just make more martial weapons and weapons with drawbacks (like siege weapons).

[Galen]

Catapult, Ballista and Trebuchet should probably have a minimum range in addition to a maximum one. Also it would be really cool if they were INT-based.

[Easy_Lee]

Catapult, Ballista and Trebuchet should probably have a minimum range in addition to a maximum one. Also it would be really cool if they were INT-based.

Would it make sense to add attribute to damage with siege weapons? I agree intelligence is the only stat that would make any sense there.