Making a list of weapon reskins, plus basic homebrew weapons. Contributions welcome!

[AdAstra]

So, 5e encourages refluffing of weapons and such, but I've yet to see an exhaustive list of what sort of things could make sense for such refluffing. So, I decided to make one, and hopefully collect some suggestions as well. I'm also interested in homebrew weapons using "standard" PHB traits.

Also acceptable would be improvised equivalents to regular weapons, like a big shard of glass with suitable wrapping being a suitable replacement for a dagger, or a boulder potentially doing damage equal to a maul (though likely without proficiency). Such suggestions will be italicized. Some "reskins" are really just specific weapons that fit into the same category as the original. Some weapons have multiple equivalents they could be reskinned from.

Reskins (using "original weapon-reskinned as" for my format)

Club- Baton, Brass Knuckles, Rock
Dagger- Push/Punch Dagger, Switchblade,
Greatclub- Big Rock
Handaxe- Machete (including things like Philippine Bolos), Cleaver, Kukri
Javelin- Plumbata, Sharpened Stick
Light Hammer- Rock, heavy object stuffed in a sock
Mace- Metal Baton, Blackjack
Quarterstaff- Bokken, Stick
Sickle- Kama, Karambit
Spear- Sharpened Stick

Light Crossbow- Carbine, Staff Sling
Dart- Shuriken, Swiss Arrow
Shortbow- Repeating (Air) Carbine
Sling

Battleaxe- More or less the same as Longsword due to near-identical stats
Flail- Nunchaku,
Glaive- Bardiche, Poleax, Scythe, Naginata
Greataxe
Greatsword
Halberd- Same as Glaive. The two are identical in every way.
Lance
Longsword- Most swords, Large Cleaver, Macuahuitl
Maul- Sledgehammer, Iron Staff, Kanabo, Boulder
Pike- Bec de Corbin, Lucerne Hammer
Rapier- Colichemarde, Hunting Lance, Small Sword, Side Sword
Scimitar- Machete, Kukri
Trident-
War Pick- Estoc
Warhammer- Bec de Corbin
Whip- Light Spear, Rope Dart, Urumi(I would recommend looking up the urumi, the thing's crazy)

Blowgun- Wrist-Mounted Mini-Crossbow
Hand Crossbow- Pistol
Heavy Crossbow- Musket, Staff Sling (large)
Longbow- Repeating (Air) rifle
Net- Bolas

Homebrew

For now, just two different spears. Didn't add costs, and they are not intended to interact with Polearm Master
War Spear- Martial Melee- 1d8 Piercing- Thrown(15/45), Versatile(d10)
Longspear- Martial Melee- 1d6 Piercing- Finesse, Versatile(d8), Thrown(20/60)

Just wanted to offer some options for people who like spears, and a new option for Dex martials. The War Spear is definitely stronger than the Longsword, but not massively, and given Versatile's near-uselessness for Str characters I think it's about equal to the Rapier balance-wise.

[RSP]

I like the idea but why are you considering rocks as equivalent to weapons? Being combat proficient with a maul or club is not the same thing as hitting someone with a rock. Damage might be similar, but I would go with non-proficient for to-hit rolls.

[AdAstra]

I like the idea but why are you considering rocks as equivalent to weapons? Being combat proficient with a maul or club is not the same thing as hitting someone with a rock. Damage might be similar, but I would go with non-proficient for to-hit rolls.

As stated in the OP, the italicized ones are for improvised weapons that might be treated as similar enough, based on the Improvised Weapons section of the PHB, which allows you (with DM permission) to use the improvised weapon with your proficiency bonus if it's sufficiently similar to a weapon you're proficient with.

[Dork_Forge]

Homebrew wise ok be I've used before and liked is something akin to an Escrima stick. 1d4, light and Finesse, Bludgeoning.

I used this in part to make a cane sword that worked like this: when in cane form as above but with the option of 1d6 Versatile, separating into the above stick and a short sword for TWF as desired.

[Garfunion]

Club/great club - wooden sword(bokken)

[CTurbo]

Here are a few homebrew weapons I've made and used


Reskins-
Trident deals 1d6+1 1 handed and additional 1d4 on a crit and 1d8+1 if 2 handed and deals an additional 1d6 on a crit. Why? I just think the Trident should be a little "better" than the spear. I do at least make them really rare in my campaigns so not everybody and their brother use one all the time. You can buy a spear anywhere. Coastal towns will have a 60% chance of having a trident and any other town will only have a 10% chance of having one to buy.

Morningstar's stats stay the same but deals 2d4 damage instead of 1d8. It's 1d4 bludgeoning and 1d4 piercing. Why? I've always loved the Morningstar and think it got shafted in 5e. I wanted it to deal multiple damage types like it used to and be marginally better than your standard 1 handed (versatile) weapon even though it's not versatile. Again it's not going to be as common as a Longsword or Battleaxe.

Warpick's stats stay the same except deals 2d4 piercing damage and an additional 1d4 on a crit. Why? Similar to the Morningstar, I just wanted it to have "something" that stood out. Again it's not as common.



new weapons-
Longspear - 4lbs, 1d6 piercing, two-handed, finesse, reach. Why? Because there is nothing like it and sounds reasonable. Something fun for Rogues and Monks. Doesn't SEEM OP to me.

Two-handed (Great)Morningstar - same stats as Maul but deals 1d6 bludgeoning and 1d6 piercing. Why? I just like Morningstars and wanted a big one.

Two-handed (Great)Warpick - Same stats as Greataxe but deals 1d12 piercing. Why? Had a player ask for it for his Dwarf Barb and seemed reasonable.

Triple Headed Flail - Same stats as Maul, but deals 3d4 bludgeoning damage. Also comes with the special tag. It deals Str mod damage to yourself on a nat 1. Why? It's a ridiculous weapon so it's perfect for D&D lol

Spiked Chain - same stats as it was in 4e, but deals half damage to yourself on a nat 1. Why? I like unique weapons and used the spiked chain a lot in 4e.

Boomerang - 1lb, 1+mod bludgeoning damage, light, returning. Why? I dunno sounded fun lol

[djreynolds]

Here are a few homebrew weapons I've made and used


Reskins-
Trident deals 1d6+1 1 handed and additional 1d4 on a crit and 1d8+1 if 2 handed and deals an additional 1d6 on a crit. Why? I just think the Trident should be a little "better" than the spear. I do at least make them really rare in my campaigns so not everybody and their brother use one all the time. You can buy a spear anywhere. Coastal towns will have a 60% chance of having a trident and any other town will only have a 10% chance of having one to buy.

Morningstar's stats stay the same but deals 2d4 damage instead of 1d8. It's 1d4 bludgeoning and 1d4 piercing. Why? I've always loved the Morningstar and think it got shafted in 5e. I wanted it to deal multiple damage types like it used to and be marginally better than your standard 1 handed (versatile) weapon even though it's not versatile. Again it's not going to be as common as a Longsword or Battleaxe.

Warpick's stats stay the same except deals 2d4 piercing damage and an additional 1d4 on a crit. Why? Similar to the Morningstar, I just wanted it to have "something" that stood out. Again it's not as common.



Yes good fixes, I was whining about this on another thread. Every weapon needs to be unique and a reason why a blacksmith would make it.

Tridents, morningstars, warpicks, and flails... all of them have a purpose.

Maybe a trident can only be thrown "so" far, perhaps on a hit with a trident you can cause a decrease in movement with bonus action on a successful athletics check

Otherwise, why bother listing the weapons. Save yourself the paper and the ink.

So warpick could be, if you attack with advantage and score a critical hit, you would treat it as a brutal critical. A warpick from horse back hitting you in the head, hitting a prone opponent

[HappyDaze]

Yes good fixes, I was whining about this on another thread. Every weapon needs to be unique and a reason why a blacksmith would make it.

Tridents, morningstars, warpicks, and flails... all of them have a purpose.

Maybe a trident can only be thrown "so" far, perhaps on a hit with a trident you can cause a decrease in movement with bonus action on a successful athletics check

Otherwise, why bother listing the weapons. Save yourself the paper and the ink.

So warpick could be, if you attack with advantage and score a critical hit, you would treat it as a brutal critical. A warpick from horse back hitting you in the head, hitting a prone opponent

Some weapons might be primarily ceremonial or show purposes. Sure, you can use a trident in battle, but it's more often considered a weapon/symbol of gladiators and religious figures (sea deities in the west and later demons, but far more types in the east).

[AdAstra]

I've talked about this before in other places, but there's a good reason why 5e doesn't have tons of unique properties for weapons, and a good reason why I was generally trying to source weapons that did not use unique properties. When each weapon can do different things, it actually has the effect of decreasing choice, even if you assume every property is balanced, which they rarely are. Want to have better crits? Better grab the war pick (just an example), or else you're screwed. 5e has this problem to some extent, but at the very least, if you want a one-handed Str-based weapon to use along with a shield, you have plenty of (basically) equal options, plus some niche options that are occasionally useful.

Some of the examples proposed are straight (and significant) upgrades to existing weapons. 2d4 is just better than 1d8 (5 vs. 4.5 avg, plus more consistent, which is usually considered an advantage), having stronger crits is objectively superior to not having them. Why would you use a Longsword if a Morningstar does more damage in basically every possible scenario?

Not only that, but characters in DnD are very rarely restricted in how many weapons they can carry. Even with Variant Encumbrance, three weapons will usually weigh less than your armor. In most cases, you can expect a careful player to always have access to any weapon made available to them, since you only have to find/buy a weapon once.

[djreynolds]

Some weapons might be primarily ceremonial or show purposes. Sure, you can use a trident in battle, but it's more often considered a weapon/symbol of gladiators and religious figures (sea deities in the west and later demons, but far more types in the east).

Very true.

In 1E when cavalier became a class, they were afforded certain proficiencies in groups of weapons. Stuff that was more cavalry based.

Some of the weapons were grouped. Battle axes, war picks, etc. Slashing swords. And piercing weapons like a lance or spear.

These weapons each had its part in fighting from horseback, if the enemy is infantry with a shield, items like a battle axe or pick are more useful.

You know there really are differences actually between the halberd and glaive.

I wouldn't mind a feat for gladiatorial weapons, like a trident and net.

I'm quite tired of PAM and GWM, there so good players flock to these feats.

I thought fell-handed and flail master were unique and had some flavor.

[Bphill561]

I miss the Steel Flute from 3.5. A flute that counts as a club for combat and still is an instrument. It is also made of metal which was interesting because it was difficult to find rules on making wooden weapons metal in 3.5 with special materials.

The only downside I see to this is the "Special Properties" ideas discussed above. Technically a bard could use it as a spell focus.

[suplee215]

I'm using a character with a Japanese club (I forget the name or the weapon, but an iron rod that can look like a studded baseball bat) as a mail.