Homebrew system weapons help

[relyt462]

I wan't entirely sure where to put this so if it belongs in the homebrew forums feel free to move it.

Now with that out of the way, I need some help designing abilities weapons for a homebrew system and setting I'm developing. These abilities are needed for what is essentially a warrior class whose shtick is that he is skilled in more traditional fantasy weapons. He is essentially the big armored melee fighter in this system and what I am looking for are one or two tricks for each individual type of weapon. The current list of weapon types that I want to include are: Spears, Halberds, Quarterstaffs, longswords, maces, 1-handed axes, rapiers, greataxes, 2-handed swords, longbows, shortbows, and crossbows.

What I need are basically thematic ideas/concepts that are "tricks" that are characteristic of each of these weapons. I would also like for all of these to make logical sense for the weapons in question.

[newBlazingAngel]

For the halberd and spear I would say a tripping or 'sweep' move with an area of knockdown affect. Axes could be used to hook a weapon in, rapiers for a good disarm, and a bowstrings could be used to choke somebody.

[Knaight]

The current list of weapon types that I want to include are: Spears, Halberds, Quarterstaffs, longswords, maces, 1-handed axes, rapiers, greataxes, 2-handed swords, longbows, shortbows, and crossbows.

Why are there no short swords, daggers, thrown weapons in general, or slings? For that matter, why are the groups what they currently are - until you get a good set of weapon groups that work well, this is essentially dead in the water. As of now, this seems like a sloppy list that could be consolidated with the missing weapons added.

[Averis Vol]

well the only problem with this is that its kind of hard to make up some weird fantasy ability because they are generally specific to your character. i dont watch anime as i hate it but if you do you'll see what i mean. As for actual weapon uses: you could let sword like weapons use a special attack to make them flat footed 1/round where they grab their blade and bash with the hilt of the weapon. axes could be used to trip or maybe take off limbs. Hammers would be great for sundering plate and weaponry+bones, maybe imply a stacking -5 ft to movement speed. Maces could be used to.......well morning stars are awesome. Spears could be used to assist with a jump checks.

honestly, alot of weapons dont have much more going for them other then occasionally disarm/trip/sunder, it's actually hard to think of anything not too.....well cartoony, a place I do not have any expertise in.

[Vitruviansquid]

The way I would do it is to give each weapon a different mechanical theme, and make the tricks up to fit those themes.

For example, you could designate spears to have a defensive space-control theme and give it the tricks Repel, which pushes an enemy away from you with the length of the spear after you hit him, and Spearwall (the names of course, can be changed however you want), which prevents enemies from entering spaces adjacent to you.

Then suppose you give Greataxes the theme of having high risk and high reward. Its first trick could be Wide Swing, which represents a slow, telegraphed swing that does bonus damage but causes the character using it to be more easily hit. Make its second trick deal with anther kind of risk/reward scenario, like an Axe Rush where you attempt to charge into a target at high speed in a straight line and strike him. If you hit, you do bonus damage, but if you fail, you keep on going in that straight line and take a defensive penalty for unbalancing yourself.

Unless your game makes a point of simulating reality (and there's nothing wrong with that), my opinion is that you should concentrate on what gives the player tough/fun decisions, making historical/logical sense a secondary priority.

[Arbane]

Spears - fend off enemies. defense bonus, keep people at range, etc.
Halberds - ditto.
Quarterstaffs - good defense.
longswords - good at cutting people.
maces - better against heavy armor
1-handed axes - good for property damage.
rapiers - good against light or no-armor. Fast.
greataxes - does a LOT of damage.
2-handed swords - ditto.
longbows - go watch a few Robin Hood movies, steal liberally.
shortbows
crossbows - easier to use without a lot of training, but takes forever to reload.

[Nero24200]

If you're still looking for ideas to make the weapons feel different an idea could be to add manuevers to the game and allow weapons with specific descripters gain additional effects. For instance, an attack which causes bleeding could allow a Fort Save to negate, but against a slashing weapon the DC is increased. (Using D'n'D terminology for reference).

[CET]

Here's what I've got off the top of my head from something I worked on back in the day. The details for implementation will depend a whole lot on your combat system.

Polearms: Spear, Halberd, Quarterstaff, etc.
- Defensive/Space-clearing maneuvers (bonus to defense and/or initiative against shorter weapons)
- Leg Sweeps
- Feints (easy to do with thrusting weapons)

Large Swords: Longsword, 2-handed sword, etc
- Power attack
- Half-swording (taking a wide two-hand grip with one hand on the blade and using the sword like a man-opener) - lower damage, but works in grappling/close combat and is better vs. armor
- Defensive fighting

Small Swords: Shortswords and Rapiers
- Feint
- Defensive fighting
- Disarms/Targeted attacks

Knives: Daggers, etc.
- All out attack that is a mixture of grappling and stabbing (get in too close for their larger weapons and then put your dagger through the eyeslit in their armor, etc)
- Grabbing your opponents shield or weapon with your free hand
- Accurate/Effective knife throwing

Anti-armor weapons: Maces, Hammers (really more like picks), etc
- Power attack
- Armor/Shield crushing attack that is really good at damaging your opponent's defensive gear

Axes: Axes, greataxes
- Power Attack
- Hooking your opponent's shield or weapon

Projectile Weapons: Bows and crossbows
- Precision shooting (firing into a melee, weak points in armor, etc)
- Rapid reload (especially important for crossbows)