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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next [Modified Equipment] Expanded and Improved Weapons for less blandness with weapons



AmbientRaven
2016-06-07, 10:52 AM
I created this table for a game I will be running. I thoroughly enjoy 5th edition D&D, but I have always found the weapons to be bland. You essentially just pick a 1d6, 1d8 or 1d12 piercing, slashing or bludgeoning weapon; or a reach weapon. I was never excited for weapons and just picked what ever. Whilst feats can shape how you fight, they don't affect what you fight with. Wizards released a Unearthed Arcana with some extended weapon feats, but, I felt that is punishing a martial player, requiring a feat for weapons be a generic boring template. That is why I have created this expanded weapons table. It adds in some new weapon features, as well as a new (modified?) feat to encompass a martial warrior, and fixes a few minor things that bothered me as well (unwieldy and heavy properties in particular). I hope you all enjoy this following table.

I still have some formatting to fix (alphabetizing the properties for example), but please also point out ant formatting mistakes (And, if any one knows a better way on Natural Crit to lay out the weapons table, i would love to hear it. These are modified short class tables)

I look forward to your feedback!

Homebrewery (chrome recommended): V2 http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1V4wU8V
PDF: V2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx8EzFrA4PbbLWF4eHBiSmhLOXM/view?usp=sharing

Old
- V1 http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BJpi_SNV

Clip: Added the Clip feature to repeating crossbows in place of loading.
- Defensive: Reworked defensive.
- Disarming: Added the new Disarming feature to whips.
- Heavy-Blade: Changed to work on double advantage hit.
- Impairing: Re-worded Impairing and added flavor text.
- Loading: Returned to PHB Ruling, as there is now Clip.
- Mechanical: Mechanical repair shortened to 10 mins and only on an attack roll of 1
- Two-Handed: Added a full stop.
- Unpredictable: Added flavor text.
- Weighted-Blow: Fixed wording
- Fast Firing: Added a mechanic for firing/throwing fast with blowguns and shuriken if using them two handed.
- Added new class proficiencies
- Modified the feat
- Fixed various spelling and grammar issues.
- Fixed weapon table formatting

LordFluffy
2016-06-07, 01:33 PM
I created this table for a game I will be running. I thoroughly enjoy 5th edition D&D, but I have always found the weapons to be bland. You essentially just pick a 1d6, 1d8 or 1d12 piercing, slashing or bludgeoning weapon; or a reach weapon. I was never excited for weapons and just picked what ever. Whilst feats can shape how you fight, they don't affect what you fight with. Wizards released a Unearthed Arcana with some extended weapon feats, but, I felt that is punishing a martial player, requiring a feat for weapons be a generic boring template. That is why I have created this expanded weapons table. It adds in some new weapon features, as well as a new (modified?) feat to encompass a martial warrior, and fixes a few minor things that bothered me as well (unwieldy and heavy properties in particular). I hope you all enjoy this following table.

I still have some formatting to fix (alphabetizing the properties for example), but please also point out ant formatting mistakes (And, if any one knows a better way on Natural Crit to lay out the weapons table, i would love to hear it. These are modified short class tables)

I look forward to your feedback!

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/BJpi_SNV
Needs more page breaks. All of the pages have three columns and I can't read what's in the 3rd.

Final Hyena
2016-06-07, 02:07 PM
Some weapons are just a fair bit worse/better than counterparts.

Quarter staff does more damage than a great club, and isn't heavy and is versatile (saving on item switching).
Assuming you hit 60% that's +0.5 damage on 12/20 swings. So 6/20 average damage increase.
The extra 2 damage is on a crit every 1/20 swings (champions do get up to 3/20 but they get martial so won't care). So 2/20 average damage increase.
Tone the quarter staff back down to a d8, if anything buff the great club up to 2d4 to give it an advantage for heavy and no versatile.
The Spear also needs a minor change so either needs to lose versatile becoming just a d6 weapon, or losing the other versatile and be a d8 two handed weapon.

Scythe gets disadvantage (-5 to hit) but +3.5 damage over the mace.
A scythe is pretty big so I would make it two handed, and then give it 2d8 damage which would be +4 damage and a better crit but -5 to hit over the great club.

AmbientRaven
2016-06-07, 08:36 PM
Needs more page breaks. All of the pages have three columns and I can't read what's in the 3rd.

Strange, you're the only person that has had this issue. What browser are you using? I'll upload a Imgur version as well and add a link just in case.


Some weapons are just a fair bit worse/better than counterparts.

Quarter staff does more damage than a great club, and isn't heavy and is versatile (saving on item switching).
Assuming you hit 60% that's +0.5 damage on 12/20 swings. So 6/20 average damage increase.
The extra 2 damage is on a crit every 1/20 swings (champions do get up to 3/20 but they get martial so won't care). So 2/20 average damage increase.
Tone the quarter staff back down to a d8, if anything buff the great club up to 2d4 to give it an advantage for heavy and no versatile.
The Spear also needs a minor change so either needs to lose versatile becoming just a d6 weapon, or losing the other versatile and be a d8 two handed weapon.

Scythe gets disadvantage (-5 to hit) but +3.5 damage over the mace.
A scythe is pretty big so I would make it two handed, and then give it 2d8 damage which would be +4 damage and a better crit but -5 to hit over the great club.

Thanks, I actually forgot to go back and fix these weapons. It was supposed to be reversed on damage die (2d4 great club, 1d8 quarterstaff)

The Spear is one that has been troubling me. I think I'll make it a 1d8 two handed 5ft weapon with the Long-haft property. This now gives a variance between light spear, spear and infantry spear.

Scythe was supposed to be two-handed, i just missed it when typing it out on natural crit! I was hesitant to go to 2d8. but I also missed the reach property as well which balances out the damage.

Final Hyena
2016-06-08, 09:28 AM
I'm being lazy with regards to martial weapons, so much to consider, but I did immediately notice;

Weighted-Blow.
Whenever you have advantage on a melee attack roll you make with the weapon and hit, you can knock the target prone if the lower of the two

LordFluffy
2016-06-08, 02:40 PM
Strange, you're the only person that has had this issue. What browser are you using? I'll upload a Imgur version as well and add a link just in case.
Firefox. It looked better in Chrome.

AmbientRaven
2016-06-08, 07:43 PM
I'm being lazy with regards to martial weapons, so much to consider, but I did immediately notice;

That has been fixed!

v2 is now up with several changes

Final Hyena
2016-06-09, 08:57 AM
The Martial reach weapons are a lil bit gimped by unwieldy. Is this in response to the sentinel ~ pole arm combo?

AmbientRaven
2016-06-10, 01:34 AM
The Martial reach weapons are a lil bit gimped by unwieldy. Is this in response to the sentinel ~ pole arm combo?

This is looking at older versions of D&D and the fact it would be very hard to swing a polearm in a short space, which is why historically they are an anti-cavalry weapon.
I know tying in realism into a fantasy game is a lame argument, but it has always bothered me that polearms hit within 5ft, making them almost always better than two-handed weapons. Now there is a balance, though i may up the martial poles to a 1d12 to 2d6 damage to compensate

Final Hyena
2016-06-10, 08:58 AM
If it helps something like a halberd is very usable in close ranges, you turn it backwards as it's easier to swing so you don't tire out as easily, you try to create an opening before swinging the head over for a fatal blow.
Using a pole arm like a quarter staff to give yourself a smidgen of room to attack is very reasonable.
compared to the crushing penalty of disadvantage or suffering an aoo reach in D&D just doesn't cut the mustard. A fairer suggestion would be to tone it down to say 1d10 within 5 feet.
While getting in close past the optimal range of such a weapon should give you an advantage D&D really is not set up at all to support "realistic combat."

Markoff Chainey
2016-06-12, 09:39 AM
Great work! I really like what you did there! The additional weapon attributes are great and they make a difference.

There are a few things I would like to remark to maybe improve it by a tad:
- There are some "bad", "too good" and "redundant" options - only a few, but they are there. Like the Saber... it is strictly better than the the Rapier. And the Scimitar and the Shortsword are redundant (IMO) as they only differ in the damage type. What I would have done is: Delete the name column of the weapons table and think what kind of combinations do you want to offer... like: "there should be a one-handed, heavy and unpredictable martial weapon - according to my balance table it must do 1d8 damage"... When you are done with the options that you want to provide, think about a name. IMO the damage type is just "fluff" and not important enough to justify a list entry. In my alternative weapon table, I wrote for example "Greatsword / Warmaul" as one entry because it is the same set of attributes only as slashing and bludgeoning variant.
- I like that you added something to "heavy", but I personally would lower the str requirement to 13 and lower the initiative by 1 or 2 points, so that "heavy" is not a restriction but a penalty.
- I would also add a paragraph how to deal with some feats like PAM or the new ones like Blade Master. I have the feeling that the abilities plus some new feats do not mix well. Those feats should maybe taken out if you use those rules.
- I also feel that you should move some of the "maneuvers" away from the weapons... (Brace, Defensive, Disarming, Heavy-Blade, Impairing, Weighted Blow) and make them "maneuvers" that principally every character can do - if the weapon she is using does allow it. This way it gets a bit more transparent and you could add maneuvers to cover the things from existing feats - like take a -5 penalty to hit in order to deal +10 damage (should you want to keep that) - call it "power attack" move it to maneuvers and state which weapon can use it.
- I would change the mechanic from unpredictable, I would hate it as a DM and as a player to have to roll an additional time for every attack.

My 2 cents,
Cheers!

Final Hyena
2016-06-12, 10:08 AM
Like the Saber... it is strictly better than the the Rapier.
That might be because rogues get rapiers but not Sabers.


And the Scimitar and the Shortsword are redundant (IMO) as they only differ in the damage type.
This is very valid, get rid of defensive on one of them and replace it with say disarming?