Warhammer for Rogue

[Malapterus]

I have finally joined a 5E game & have been asked to 'keep it simple' in terms of my character options; PHB only, Dragonborn, Tiefling, and even Half-Orc frowned upon, and Good-aligned only.

This does not jive well with my play style! Still, it's a good group and I want to honor their concept while still making the sort of unusual character I like to make. And so: Dwarven Rogue.

A mountain dwarf whose homeland was enslaved by other dwarves and he has cast aside all that it is to -be- a dwarf so that he may find a way to free his people, finding new tactics and tools and allies that no self-respecting dwarf would ever imagine. He'll be an outcast when his work is done, but his people will be free.

To this end I am thinking of asking the DM if he will allow my character to have crafted himself a custom weapon to better fit his concept. He'll be a rogue based on hard attacks and useful skills, probably going down the Assassin path (though I love the climbing ability from the Thief).

The custom item is simple; a Warhammer, crafted from Mithral, and thus light enough to be used for his sneak attacks. Light as a feather, hits like a brick; he gets into position and two-hands that thing into someone's kidney.

The game is in progress and he'll be rolling in around level 9.

All considered, do you guys think this is unreasonable or overpowered? He'll be racially proficient with warhammers and I feel this approach is on par with, or even weaker than, dual-wielding rapiers. Also, picturing him with rapiers is just strange to me, I like this idea of a piece of his heritage he has clung to that has evolved to his new life.

Any input is always appreciated!

[JNAProductions]

So basically, a rapier in its stats, but does bludgeoning damage?

I see no issue.

[Malapterus]

So basically, a rapier in its stats, but does bludgeoning damage?

I see no issue.

Not quite, it would still be Versatile 1d10, everything a warhammer does - just also useable in a sneak attack

[Lalliman]

+1 damage per round at level 9 is nothing. You've probably nerfed yourself to begin with by going Strength Rogue. So I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this.

[JNAProductions]

Not quite, it would still be Versatile 1d10, everything a warhammer does - just also useable in a sneak attack

I'd ask you politely to not multiclass into anything to gain the GWF style, but eh. As was mentioned, 1 point of damage per attack (of which you get one of per round) is minor enough that I don't care.

[Grod_The_Giant]

It's fine; the whole "Finesse only" restriction on Sneak Attack is kind of garbage anyway. Not even GWF style is a concern, since that's been errata'd/ruled to only work on weapon damage dice.

[Requilac]

So it is a rapier that does bludgeoning damage and has the versatile property? I cannot imagine what would be wrong with that. Sometimes a +1 to weapon damage can gain significance in certain builds, but for a plain rogue I doubt that it will bring much of a change at all. It seems perfectly fine to me.

[endlessxaura]

If you want to keep it in line with the other weapons in the game, though, you could drop it to 1d6/Versatile (1d8) and add Finesse. Typically, weapons drop a dice step or lose a beneficial property in exchange for another beneficial property. If you wanted to keep its damage, you could always remove Versatile, add a negative property (two-handed), and add Finesse.

But as the others have said, it wouldn't be a big deal anyway. It'd be ahead of the curve for weapons, but that doesn't make a substantial difference at later levels.

[Jormengand]

This is fine and interesting and you're clearly not doing it to powergame, so I'd approve it. Plus, it reminds me of the warhammer assassin build in Diablo II (warhammer has high damage but slow attacks, some skills deal a percentage of your attack damage but don't take into account your attack speed, profit), which is awesome and so I approve even more.