Improvised weapons: how often do you see it?

[Unoriginal]

I was wondering about other people's experiences with improvised weapons.


Seems to me that it's really not common to have anyone use improvised weapons, and that it's basically unseen aside from some thematic encounters (ex: PCs attack someone who's using a tool at the moment and who doesn't have the time to arm themselves, tavern brawls, PCs are disarmed due to being captured,...).

Do you have the same impession? Or do you see characters (PCs or NPCs) use them more often than that?

[nickl_2000]

That is what I have seen from playing. PCs live a dangerous lifestyle, so it is natural that they would be carrying weapons all the time.

[carrdrivesyou]

I actually made a barbarian that used the Tavern Brawler Feat. He was the proverbial "wild man" and just used whatever he found as a weapon. Things like chains, the sorcerer's missing leg attached to said chain, a candle holder, a giant bone, etc. DM was super cool about it, and just gave me damage dice for each thing he picked up (he would hold onto them for a while). Was using the Path of the Beast, back in its UA form. He was a super fun character, and he had a heroic death to save the party.

Honestly though, to answer your question OP, I think that improvised weapons are used in fringe situations as you described, in builds where it is their shtick, and in flavorful encounters. It really isn't optimized, although smiting someone with a broken bottle could be interesting. It IS an underused theme. But also consider how easy it is to get a damaging cantrip or just have a spell list; it mostly mitigates the need for improvised weapons.

[stoutstien]

I don't think it's touched on much because of how DM dependent it is. There are a handful of popular pop culture references when it comes to using improvised weapons and there are some rudimentary rules available but it can clash with themes and logical levels of an individual game.

Personality I purposely fill the world with environments the players can interact with up to improvised damage options.

[Yuroch Kern]

All the time, especially Improvised Tools. And the weapons and tools are sometimes interchanged...I got some delightfully crazy PC's...

[Xetheral]

Tavern Brawler is the only case where I see improvised weapons with any frequency (and even then it's still rare), since it gives a concrete advantage for using an improvised weapon over a manufactured weapon.

[sithlordnergal]

Not really, improvised weapons tend to be pretty poor weapon choices, usually dealing 1d4 or 1d6 damage, with the very rare 1d12. I wish 5e had a better system for using Improvised Weapons, or some sort of Monk Subclass that used them. I remember one of my favorite characters in 3.5 was a Drunken Master that used playing cards as his primary weapons.

That said, I do see them used pretty often in my games since I allow Drunken Master Monks to treat Improvised Weapons as Monk Weapons, and at level 6 their Improvised Weapons are treated as magical weapons.

[Ir0ns0ul]

I can see some value on Alchemist Fire and similar “ranged improvised weapons” being used alongside the Catapult spell.

[Anonymouswizard]

Considering players tend not to accept that the queen won't meet with them while they're in plate armour carrying a two handed sword? It just doesn't come up due to a strict insistance that PCs tend to carry weapons on them at all times. I've seen it more in games like World of Darkness or Unknown Armies where characters might not have weapons on them or immediately available.

Then again, my D&D characters tend to spend a good chunk of their starting wealth on daggers to hide about their person just to avoid relying on improvised weapons. Or multiple foci for spellcasters (likely in addition to daggers, daggers are useful to just have as emergency knives).

[Xetheral]

I can see some value on Alchemist Fire and similar “ranged improvised weapons” being used alongside the Catapult spell.

Oh right, I also see improvised alchemical weapons used by Thieves with Fast Hands.

[Sigreid]

In general if someone in the group is using an improvised weapon, they've made a series of mistakes.

[Samayu]

The closest anyone in my group gets to an improvised weapon is "yeah, we'll call that club."