HOMEBREW: weapon proficiency / specialization

[gfishfunk]

I was mulling over the simplification of weapon proficiencies in 5e. It seems that melee folks automatically gain all the proficiencies that they need immediately, and full weapon proficiency is only a single multi-class away. It makes the game more adaptable (if you find the cool sword of +1 swording, you don't have to worry about proficiency), but the racial proficiencies do not do much unless you are doing some kind of wacky build.

I was thinking of a different approach:

Whenever you would gain proficiencies in a class of weapons, you instead gain proficiency with different 3 weapons from that class of weapons. Whenever you gain proficiency with a weapon for a second time, you get +1 to all combat maneuvers that you make while using the weapon.

The good:
- it allows racial proficiency to matter far more than it presently does
- a second proficiency (through multi-classing or through the weapon master feat) actually provides a tangible benefit that does not simply mean more DPR, but instead adds flavor.

The bad:
- randomly generated magic weapons are less likely to be useful, unless tailored to characters
- feels restrictive rather than permissive, which is less player friendly than 5e generally aims to be.

Thoughts?

[DanyBallon]

Interesting idea that deserve to be thought thoroughly, but as far as I'm concern I like the fact that as a DM I don't have to give specific weapons to a character because his built requires it.

[Anonymouswizard]

5e's goal, to me, is to concentrate all complexity into the races classes. What this means is that, to some people, the system might not feel like 5e.

I like the system, although it's not complex enough for me. I'm considering rewriting the proficiency system, specifically for weapons and armour, in a way that would require a full rewrite of the Battlemaster, so I like this system for that. I'd probably actually use it in my game, except that I prefer something heavier (giving each class a number of points per level that can be used to buy weapon and armour proficiencies or buy off the disadvantage on specific combat techniques, with trips and shoves being counted as separate things). It's a lovely idea, and really brings to mind the image of a warrior mastering their weapon, and so I'd love to see this developed.

[djreynolds]

I tried to come up with racial champions, fighters, and they would gain another set of feats and class features in place of the champions. A wood elf would be better with a bow, a high elf could finesse a long sword, etc.

Some people liked and others didn't, and then they came out with bladesinger. But you would think a mountain dwarf martial classes would swing a battle axe better than most, or a half-orc would give more on the savage attack thing as a fighter.