A Hero is Only as Good as His Weapon![3.5 Gear, PEACH]

[Rebonack]

Okay. So here's the thing. Ivory Tower game design had infested D&D at all levels and that means the game system is fraught with trap options whether implemented intentionally out of malice or unintentionally out of ignorance. That includes the weapon table as well as the feats (Exotic Weapon Proficiency in particular!) To that end we'll outline a system for creating weapons here, justify the choices of the system, and provide a few sample weapons for your monster-slaying pleasures. On with the show!

Weapon Creation

Martial Light weapons have 4.5 Weapon Points (WP) and x2 Crit. Martial One-Handed Weapons have 5.5 WP and x2 Crit. Martial Two-Handed Weapons have 8 WP and x2 Crit. Simple Weapons subtract one WP from their size category. Exotic Weapons add two WP to their size category. WP represents the average damage of the weapon plus any additional WP from the varying weapon features that are detailed in the table below. A Crit rating of x2 is worth 0 WP.
Weapon Feature|WP Cost|Special
Damage|Varied|The average damage of a weapon costs 0.5 WP for each half point of damage. Thus, a weapon that deals 1d6 damage (average 3.5) costs 3.5 WP for that damage.
Precise|2 WP|A precise weapon has a +1 Weapon bonus to attack rolls. This feature does not stack with itself.
Cover|1 WP|As a Standard Action this weapon may be used for Total Cover. This feature can only be applied to Martial or Exotic Two-Handed Weapons.
+1 Critical Multiplier|1 WP|A weapon's base critical multiplier can not exceed x4.
+1 Critical Range|1 WP|A weapon's base critical range can not exceed 18-20.
Lightning Draw|1 WP|The weapon may be drawn and sheathed as a free action.
Grapple|1 WP|A Grapple weapon can be used to initiate a Grapple-check without provoking an attack of opportunity and without entering the target's square. If the target attempts to pin you you may drop the Grapple weapon to avoid the pin.
Mounted Charge|1 WP|A Mounted Charge weapon deals x2 damage when charging on a mount.
+1 Shield AC|1 WP|A Martial weapon's Shield AC can not exceed 2. An Exotic weapon's Shield AC can not exceed 4. Shield AC can not be applied to Simple weapons.
Charge Set|0.5 WP|Charge Set weapons can be set against a charge with a readied action to deal x2 damage to charging foes.
+2 Disarm|0.5 WP|The Disarm bonus can not exceed +4.
+2 Feint|0.5 WP|The Feint bonus can not exceed +4.
No Gold Cost|0.5 WP|Only applies to Simple Weapons. Typically costless weapons are made of treated wood with no metal components.
Reach Weapon|0.5 WP|For an additional 1 WP a reach weapon can strike adjacent foes.
+2 Slight of Hand|0.5 WP|The bonus to Slight of Hand to conceal a weapon can not exceed +4.
+2 Sunder|0.5 WP|The Sunder bonus can not exceed +4. Sunder weapons deal bonus damage to Shields being used to Block equal to their bonus to Sunder checks.
Trip Weapon|0.5 WP|For an additional 0.5 WP a Trip Weapon gains a +2 Trip bonus. The Trip bonus can not exceed +4.
Variable Damage Type|0.5 WP|For an additional 0.5 WP Variable Weapons can deal Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing damage at the wielder's choice.
Vicious|0.5 WP|Reroll a one on your weapon's damage roll.
10' Throw Range|0.5 WP|The range increment can not exceed 40'.
Weapon Finesse|Special|Weapon Finesse is free on One-Handed Martial weapons with 3.5 or less damage. Otherwise it costs 0.5 WP.

Questions and Answers

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Q: How do you find a weapon's average damage, again?

A: I'm glad you asked that question, hypothetical inquirer! To determine a weapon's average damage add its lowest possible roll to its highest possible roll and divide the result by two. Thus, a 2d6 Greatsword has an average damage of 7 while a 1d12 Greataxe has an average damage of 6.5. Then you just add the various weapon features to that average value until you hit the proper number for that weapon's size and type.

Here's a handy table of values!
{table=head]Average Damage Value|Dice Roll
10|4d4
9.5|2d8 Vicious
9|2d8
8.5|1d12+2
8|2d6 Vicious2
7.5|3d4
7|2d6
6.5|1d12
6|1d10 Vicious
5.5|1d0
5|2d4
4.5|1d8
4|1d6 Vicious
3.5|1d6
3|1d4 Vicious
2.5|1d4
2|1d3
1.5|Coin Flip
1|You deal 1 damage. What more do you want?[/table]

Q: The values of the two-handed weapons don't match up with the standard weapon table!

A: They sure don't! That was kind of the point. The Halberd and the Greatsword are the only two two-handed weapons with a WP value of 8. The rest of the weapons fall short by 0.5 (Greataxe) all the way down to to a full 1 (Polearms and the Falcheon).

Q: Maybe that just means Reach is worth 1.5 WP instead of 0.5?

A: Nope, not at all. Take a look at the spear and the longspear. The spear has a throw range of 20' (worth 1 WP). The longspear is a charge-set weapon (worth 0.5) and has reach (also 0.5). Otherwise both items deal 1d8 damage and boast a x3 Crit. Reach is just over-valued on Martial weapons for some awful *cough*Ivory Tower*cough* reason.

Q: Won't people just reduce Crit down to x2/20 and focus on base damage?

A: If they are aware that lower variance is good and that Crit Immune monsters are plentiful? Probably. However, a x4/18-20 weapon backed up by Critical focused feat selection and a bit of bonus damage can overtake higher base damage. But that's only at higher levels and only against creatures that don't laugh at Crits. It might be a good idea to remove Crit augmenting spells and feats and reduce the WP cost for Crit boosts down to 0.5 WP, but that's a DM's call.

Q: What does Vicious do, again?

A: It means if you roll a 1 on your weapon's damage roll then you get to roll that die again until you get something that isn't a 1. It's an easy way to add damage to a weapon in increments of 0.5. Keep in mind it only applies to one 1 rolled. If you're rolling a 2d6 weapon and get snake-eyes you would only re-roll one of them unless you invested 1 WP in Vicious for that weapon rather than the usual 0.5.

Q: How come shields are counted as weapons? Are you saying you can bash with a buckler or a tower shield!?

A: Yes. Yes I am. A buckler was not strapped to the forearm and was designed to smash people in the face. It's where the term 'Swash-buckling' came from, a fighting style using a sidesword in one hand and a buckler in the off hand. For the sake of argument rename the 'Buckler' item on the armor table 'Archer's Shield'. And that giant metal lump in the middle of tower shields was for bashing as well.

Q: But what about shield spikes?

A: A shield with spikes deals piecing damage instead of bludgeoning damage? This re-write isn't covering things like weapon cost and weapon weight, just the relevant combat statistics of weapons. When using weapon Enchantments on shields just consider it a secondary masterwork component or something.

Q: Does the Dagger have to get weaker under this system?

A: Yes, it absolutely does. A Simple Light Weapon should have 3.5 WP. The Dagger clocks in at 4, half way between a Simple and Martial weapon. I would suggest splitting the Dagger into two items. The Dagger would keep the 19-20/x2 Crit while the Throwing Dagger would retain the 10' throw range.

Q: So what about Double Weapons?

A: 3.5's rules for Two-Weapon Fighting are awful and not really covered under this variant rule-set. Why does the Dwarven Urgrosh count as a double-weapon but the Halberd doesn't? Hell if I know. I'll be converting the Dwarven Urgrosh and the Gnome Hooked Hammer into Exotic Two-Handed Variable Weapons. Due to gaining 2 WP above and beyond martial weapons this will result in a pretty telling buff over their current form.

Q: Exotic weapons don't get two more damage on average! Look at all those Monk weapons!

A: That isn't a question? The reasoning here is pretty simple. Exotic Weapon Proficiency costs a feat. When you spend a feat you should get something in return for it. Weapon Focus nets you two extra damage with one type of weapon. Thus, it seems reasonable that Exotic Weapon Proficiency should also net you two extra damage with one type of weapon. Regardless, most Monk Weapons could probably be safely classified as Simple Weapons in terms of how powerful they are. Or they could be upgraded to Martial Weapons so the Monk is slightly less awful.

On that note let's turn to some specific examples, shall we?

Weapon Examples

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Spiked Chain
Probably the most infamous weapon in D&D, beaten out by only the dire-flail in sheer silliness. Try to think of it less as just a chain with spikes on it and more as that cool chain-whip morning star thing from a certain vampire-hunting franchise. The Spiked Chain is a two-handed Exotic weapon that can do a little bit of everything.
Vicious 1d10 Piercing Damage, +2 Trip, +4 Disarm, Finesse, Adjacent Reach, x2 Crit

Dwarven Urgrosh
This fancy Halberd with a funny name is a potent Exotic two-handed weapon. It slices, it dices, and it messes up charging foes.
2Vicious 2d6 Slashing OR Piercing Damage, Charge-Set, x3 Crit

Gnome Hooked Hammer
This Exotic two-handed weapon boasts a stabby bit, a smashy bit, and a hooky bit for yanking folks off their feet.
2d8 Bludgeoning, Trip, x2 Crit OR 2d6 Piercing, Trip, x4 Crit

Gnome Quickrazor
Those sneaky gnomes and their sneaky weapons. The Quickrazor is an Exotic light weapon that's hidden in a sheath inside the sleeve and flicked out with lightning speed. Perfect for catching foes off guard or keeping one of your hands free for other things.
1d4 Slashing Damage, Lightning Draw, +4 Feint, +4 Slight of Hand, 19-20x2 Crit

Tower Shield
The Tower Shield is a huge shield to say the least. This Exotic weapon can be wielded one handed to take advantage of its Shield bonus to armor class, but to bash it needs to be wielded with both hands.
2d4 Bludgeoning Damage, 4 Shield AC, Cover, x2 Crit

Spetum
The Spetum is a short-hafted Martial two-handed weapon with a long, sword-like blade and a wide crescent moon guard with a razor sharp leading edge and a thick, blunt outer edge. It can be used to stab, slash, or clobber, rendering it a highly versatile weapon.
Vicious 1d10 Slashing, 19-20x2 Crit OR Vicious 1d10 Piercing, x3 Crit OR 2d6 Bludgeoning x2 Crit

Two-Moon Spetum
The Two-Moon Spetum is the Exotic big-brother of the Spetum, boasting Reach and a second reversed guard for hacking up anyone who tries to get close to you. The backwards facing guard also makes for an amazing tripping tool.
Vicious 1d10 Slashing, Adjacent Reach, Trip, 19-20x2 Crit OR 1d12 Piercing, Reach, x4 Crit OR 1d12+2 Bludgeoning, Reach, x2 Crit

The Longsword
The Longsword is a really long Martial sword. So long that it takes two hands to use the thing properly. Variously known as the 'Claymore', 'Zweihänder', 'Greatsword', 'Passot' and a host of other names.
2d6 Slashing Damage, 19-20/x2 Crit

The Sidesword
The Sidesword (or Spada de lato if you're feeling fancy) is a nimble Martial one-handed sword that boasts versatility in use. This guy is the Swashbuckler's weapon of choice.
Vicious 1d6 Slashing OR Piecing Damage, Weapon Finesse, 19-20/x2

The Buckler
Speak of the devil. The buckler is a one-handed Martial weapon perfect for adding a little extra defense to a Swashbuckler or bopping someone in the nose.
1d6 Bludgeoning Damage, 2 Shield AC, Weapon Finesse, x2 Crit

The Rapier
The weapon of choice among duelists, the Rapier is a wonderfully light weapon perfect for seeking out a foe's weak points.
1d6 Piercing Damage, Weapon Finesse, 18-20x2

The Arming Sword
The Arming Sword, or Knight's Sword, is the straight forward, two-edged, one-handed Martial sword we all know and love.
1d8 Slashing Damage, 19-20x2 Crit

The Bastard Sword
This guy is a one-handed Exotic Weapon. While it can be used two handed without special training, its large size makes it unwieldy to use one-handed without familiarity.
1d12 Slashing Damage, 19-20x2 Crit

The Katana
The Eastern cousin of the Bastard Sword, the Katana is another one-handed Exotic Weapon. Its curved blade is better suited for striking telling blows.
1d10 Slashing Damage, 18-20x2 Crit

The Greataxe
Oh boy a classic! Whether hewing through trees or hewing through Orcs the Greataxe is the perfect weapon for someone who really feels like breaking something.
1d12 Slashing Damage, +2 Sunder, x3 Crit

Estoc
This two-handed Martial sword sports a ridged diamond-shaped blade with no edge to speak of and a sharp point, perfect for running through a foe in heavy armor.
Vicious 1d10 Piercing Damage, x4 Crit

Falchion
It's a nice, curved saber-like weapon that's really really big. If you want a nice executioner's weapon then this guy is the one for you.
Vicious 1d10 Slashing Damage, 18-20x2 Crit

Glaive
Not to be confused with the throwing weapon from Krull, the Glaive is a pole-arm with an clever-blade at the end.
1d12 Slashing Damage, Reach, x3 Crit

Guisarme
The weapon of choice for Trip-Monkeys everywhere, the Guisarme boasts pointy things EVERYWHERE and a hook on the back for yanking a foe's legs out from under him. Who knows why Wizards thought this thing was a slashing weapon.
1d10 Piercing Damage, +2 Trip, Reach, x3 Crit

Lucerne hammer
It's a really long spear with a hammer on it! And not a giant, smashy hammer either. This guy sports a spike on the top, another spike on the back, and a smallish hammer head on the front. It was mostly intended to knock someone on their ass via sheer force.
2Vicous 2d6 Bludgeoning, Reach, Trip +2, x2 Crit OR 3d4 Piercing, Reach, x4 Crit

Warhammer
The warhammer is all about just hauling back and clobbering something as hard as you can manage. It lacks much of the finesse of bladed weapons, but this one-handed Martial weapon gets the job done.
1d10 Bludgeoning Damage, x2 Crit

Warmaul
Need to club someone with a really big hammer? This two-handed Martial hammer is about the biggest you can get.
2Vicious 2d6 Bludgeoning Damage, x2 Crit

Mountain Hammer
Did I say the Warmaul was the biggest hammer you can get? I was lying. This absurdly massive two-handed Exotic hammer can crush just about anything into dust.
4d4 Bludgeoning Damage, x2 Crit

Dragon Buster
This impressive Exotic longspear serves one function and one function alone, to plunge deep into the heart of a massive foe and end it in a single stroke.
1d8 Piercing Damage, Reach, Mounted Charge, 18-20x4 Crit

Unwieldy Exotic Weapons

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These Exotic melee weapons are incredibly difficult to use properly unless you have extensive training with them. An Unwieldy Exotic Weapon requires a full-round action to attack with unless you have taken the [Weapon Name] Training feat with it in addition to the proper Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat. An Unwieldy Exotic Weapon gets 4 more WP rather than the usual 2 additional WP that an Exotic Weapon has.

Two-Weapon Fighting and Double/Variable Weapon Fighting

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So in the spirit of fiddling with weapons and weapon-related feats the subject of TWF and Double Weapons needs to be covered. As has already been established, a weapon related feat should net the user a +2 to their damage. How does TWF stack up? Well...

A Two Weapon Fighter grabs a Shortsword and an Arming Sword and thus deals 1d6+1d8 damage. That's one more damage on average than a Fighter using a Greatsword (2d6). At first it might seem like an upgrade, albeit not a very great one, until the downsides of TWF are taken into account.

The TWFer takes a -2 penalty on both of their attacks AND they can only attack with both weapons on a Full-Attack. If Power Attack and Weapon Focus are to be believed then a +1 ToHit is worth +2 damage, so a -2 ToHit should be worth 4 damage as opposed to none.

To make matters even worse TWF requires highish Dex and even higher Dex and MORE feats if one feels like making iterative attacks. To continue making matters worse you're applying Damage Reduction from monsters to both attacks.

So, what do?

Simple fix.

A character who takes Two Weapon Fighting can make an attack with both their main-hand and their off-hand weapon as a Standard Action, on a Charge, or on each part of a Full-Attack. No penalties. No Full-Attack only nonsense. This means the Fighter with two Arming Swords (2d8) is now dealing 2 more damage than the Fighter with a Greatsword (2d6) while being just as flexible. So in feat form that would look like:

Two Weapon Fighting
Prerequisites: Dex 13
Benefits: You may make an attack with your off-hand weapon as a Standard action. You apply one half of your Str modifier as bonus damage on this attack and use your full attack bonus on both off-hand and main-hand attacks. If you have high enough BAB for iterative attacks you may also make an off-hand attack on each attack of a Full-Attack action.

The fact that you have to fund two magic weapons rather than one and the fact that Damage Reduction gets applied twice should more than make up for the increased damage over a Two Handed Weapon Fighter.

So what about Double Weapons? For the sake of simplicity we're going to count Double Weapons and Variable Weapons as the same thing. Of course, if you're wielding a two-handed Variable Weapon you're going to be hitting quite a bit harder than someone packing a pair of one-handed weapons. Let's break the math down, shall we?

The Two Weapon Fighter is hitting for 2d8 damage with his pair of Arming Swords. So what about someone with a Halberd? If they attack twice with it they'll be hitting for 2d10! That's two more damage. So what do we do when one weapon setup would be hitting for two more damage than the alternative? We make it require a feat!

Variable Weapon Fighting
Requirement: Two-Weapon Fighting, Dex 13
Benefit: You may attack twice with a Variable Weapon as if you were wielding two weapons for the purpose of Two-Weapon Fighting.

So that's that! As an aside, this would make Dwarves a pretty decent pick for Two Weapon Fighting and/or Variable Weapon Fighting since they get the EWP for Waraxes and Urgrosh for free.

The Fabled Mancatcher

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Weapons with the Grapple feature have been added to the list! Despite what RAW says the Mancatcher was an incredibly simple weapon. It had a horse-shoe shaped head with a pair of inward facing metal prongs. To use the weapon you would simply thrust it at a limb or the neck. The prongs made it easy for something to pass between the weapon's tines, but very difficult to get out.

Mancatcher
The Mancatcher is a two-handed Martial reach weapon with the unique ability to grapple foes from a distance by making a non-damaging touch attack. The horse-shoe shaped head of the weapon also makes for a nasty bludgeoning tool.
1d12 Bludgeoning damage, Grapple, Reach, x2 Crit

Weapon Grapple Constrict
Prerequisite: Combat Expertise, 13 or more Int
Benefit: If you succeed on a grapple check with a Grapple weapon you deal weapon damage.
Normal: Succeeding on a grapple check deals no damage.

Weapon Grapple Follow-up
Prerequisite: Combat Expertise, 13 or more Int
Benefit: If you deal ten or more damage to a foe with a Grapple weapon you may make a Grapple check against them with the weapon as a free action.
Normal: A Grapple must be initiated as a non-damaging touch attack.

Shields and Blocking

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Aside from very low levels shields are, for the most part, bad. And that makes Rebo very sad indeed. Since part of the focus of this project is erasing trap options when it comes to basic equipment and feats related to basic equipment I think Sword and Board style fighting fits in great with the overhaul. The basic idea is that weapons with a Shield feature can act as a pool of bonus HP. The rules for using shields are as follows.

If you are wielding a weapon with a Shield bonus and would be hit with an attack you may use that weapon to block that attack. The weapon takes damage in your place. And damage that exceeds the weapon's HP is dealt to you.

Shields have 5 HP per point of shield bonus to AC and DR/Adamantine based on their material and their shield Enhancement bonus as outlined in the table below.

{table=head]Material|Damage Reduction
Wood|1
Steel|2
Mithril|3
Adamantine|4
Enhancement|+1 per +1 bonus[/table]

When being used to Block a weapon with a Shield bonus isn't treated as an object, it doesn't have hardness nor does it take half damage from some damage types. A weapon reduced to 0 HP in this way is not Sundered, it simply can't be used to Block until it is repaired. You can take 5 minutes to make a Craft (Armor) check to repair your shield for an amount of HP equal to the check result minus ten. Magical shields repair themselves each round an amount equal to their Enhancement bonus.

And now for some fun feats!

Shield Focus
Prerequisite: Proficiency with Shields.
Benefit: Your Shield bonus to AC increases by 1. This also increases your shield's HP by 5 and its Damage Reduction/Adamantine by 1.

Counter-Attack
Prerequisite: Shield Focus, Combat Reflexes
Benefit: When you Block an attack you may make an Attack of Opportunity against the creature that attacked you.

Shield Ward
Prerequisite: Shield Focus
Benefit: You may apply your Shield bonus to AC to Touch AC. Additionally, you may Block Touch Attacks. Blocking a Touch Attack negates all non-damage effects of that attack.

Stalwart Shield
Prerequisite: Shield Focus, Shield Ward
Benefit: While wielding a shield you gain the Evasion class feature and may add your Shield bonus to AC to your Reflex Save. If you already have Evasion you gain Improved Evasion. Additionally, your shield gains Energy Resistance equal to its Damage Reduction.

[Rebonack]

'So what about ranged weapons?' I hear you asking.

Well, I had to give that one a little more thought. Ranged weapons are weird. They really don't have much consistency and there are so few examples that there really isn't all that much to work with. Thus far I've been able to divine the following.

1) 7.5 damage x2 crit seems to be the base. Reloading is a full-round action.

2) Being able to fire from horseback is worth 1 WP.

3) Being able to reload as a move action is worth 1 WP.

4) Being able to reload as a free action is worth 2 WP.

5) Wizards of the Coast really hates crossbows.

The main problem here is that it costs a feat to upgrade from reloading as a move action to reloading as a free action. Ostensibly it takes two feats to upgrade to reloading as a free action from reloading as a full-round action. That makes the process wholly impractical since you are burning two feats to get 2 WP. Bad trade.

So how do we fix this?

*ahem*

Ranged Weapons
Ranged Martial Weapons have a WP value of 9.5, a x2 Crit, and are reloaded as a Full-Round action. Simple Ranged Weapons have 1 less WP. Exotic Ranged Weapons have 2 additional WP. Weapons with a higher damage die have increased Range Increment according to the Range Increment table.
{table=head]Weapon Feature|WP Cost|Special
Free Reload|4 WP|Weapons that are reloaded as a free action can not be fired one handed. Weapons that are reloaded as a free action can not be fired while prone.
Swift Reload|2 WP|Weapons with this feature can be reloaded as a Move action.
Mounted Weapon|1 WP|Weapons with this feature can be fired while riding a mount.[/table]

For all other weapon features see the melee weapon creation table.

Range Increment
{table=head]Average Damage|Range Increment
3.5|80'
4.5|100'
5.5|120'
6.5|140'
7.5|160'
8.5|180'
9.5'|200'
10.5|220'
11.5|240'[/table]

And now for a couple examples!

Sling
The quintessential giant-killing weapon. The sling is a Simple weapon that requires a Move action to reload. This weapon can be used from horseback with no issue. Just make sure to pray to the appropriate divine entity before lobbing a rock for maximum effectiveness.
1d10 Bludgeoning damage, x2 Crit, 120' Range

Battle Crossbow
This bad-boy is a Martial crossbow meant to bring the pain. Reloading it is a Move action and getting hit with it hurts like hell. You can even fire it freely from horseback if you like horses.
1d10 Piercing damage, 19-20x2 Crit, 120' Range

Chainsaw Shotgun
Because why the hell not? This Exotic variable Ranged/Two-handed weapon is probably the most bad-ass thing you're ever going to see EVER. Reloading it is a Full-Round action, but you can just chainsaw some faces until the dust settles.
2d10 Piercing damage, x2 Crit, 220' Range OR 2Vicious 2d6 Slashing, +2 Sunder, x3 Crit

While it's by no means a rule, I personally like the idea of making Bows a Free action to reload, Crossbows a Move action to reload, and Firearms a Full-Round action to reload.

Also? I would highly recommend making the Crossbow a Martial weapon rather than a Simple weapon. Simple weapon users can rely on the Sling.

Aaaand now for some modded Feats!

Point Blank Shot
Benefit: You gain a +1 on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons when firing at creatures within your weapon's first range increment. Additionally, firing in melee no longer provokes an Attack of Opportunity.

Sniper
Prerequisites: 13 or more Dexterity, Point Blank Shot
Benefit: When firing a crossbow or firearm at creatures within your weapons first range increment you may add your Dexterity modifier to your damage rolls.

[D-naras]

I don't get how you get your damage values. Can you elaborate?

[Rebonack]

With melee weapons it was a pretty simple case of just looking at the die size of different weapons of the same category and comparing their features. For example, a standard issue Longsword out of the PHB deals 1d8 damage (4.5 average) and has a crit of 19-20x2. A Battle Axe also deals 1d8 damage, but it has a crit of x3, so it seems a x3 crit and a 19-20x2 crit have the same value. A Scimitar, by contrast, deals 1d6 damage (3.5 average) and has a crit of 18-20x2. So it stands to reason that expanding its crit range by one step was worth one damage.

By the same token the Flail deals 1d8 damage (4.5 again), can be used to Trip and grants a +2 on Disarm, and has a crit of x2. Since we've already determined that a x3 crit is worth 1 point of damage then the Flail's other features, namely Disarm and Trip, must have a combined damage value of 1. Or 0.5 each.

This system was (mostly) followed with the weapons in the Player's Handbook. But there are a number of weapons that are slightly underpowered (the Greataxe), moderately underpowered (the Falchion), or dramatically underpowered (the Sling).

Also, Exotic Weapon Proficiency is pretty much universally a terrible option if one is using the Exotic Weapons in the Player's Handbook. I figure that since Weapon Specialization nets you +2 damage with a particular weapon then it isn't unreasonable that an Exotic Weapon should boast two more damage than a similarly sized Martial weapon.

Does that answer your question, or did I completely miss the point?

[Rolep]

I'm liking this. Nothing more to say, except that the players in my campaign have a thing or two comin'...

EDIT: Could there be a rule for making weapons with extra WP bat a penalty to attack roll, or possibly a stage above exotic, or some other way of making even more ridiculous weapons?

[Rebonack]

If we take Weapon Focus and Power Attack at face value +1 ToHit is worth 2 damage. I had considered adding a +1 ToHit as a weapon feature, but there aren't actually any weapons that I'm aware of that do that aside from all of them in 4.0.

Generally speaking I think just nabbing Power Attack would be more effective than snagging a weapon that has a -1 ToHit penalty. It would average out to a Power Attack that you can't turn off. But if one of your players really wants to swing around Cloud's Buster Sword I think an Exotic Weapon with a -1 ToHit penalty for two more average damage would be the way to go.

As far as Really Exotic Weapons go I sorta have something in mind with Double Weapons and trying to get both them and Two Weapon Fighting integrated with this system, but I'm still mulling over the details.

[Rolep]

Generally speaking I think just nabbing Power Attack would be more effective than snagging a weapon that has a -1 ToHit penalty. It would average out to a Power Attack that you can't turn off. But if one of your players really wants to swing around Cloud's Buster Sword I think an Exotic Weapon with a -1 ToHit penalty for two more average damage would be the way to go.

That sound's pretty fair; I do think that a larger trade-off would unbalance the game (see what I did there...)!

As far as Really Exotic Weapons go I sorta have something in mind with Double Weapons and trying to get both them and Two Weapon Fighting integrated with this system, but I'm still mulling over the details.

Ooh can't wait!

[Rebonack]

Hmm, though I suspect a Light Martial Combat Knife (+1 ToHit 1d4 Slashing Damage, x2 Crit) would be a pretty nice weapon to include in the Rogue's proficiency list. I'm sure they wouldn't mind the extra accuracy.

Also just for kicks and giggles...

Buster Sword
This sword is really really stupidly big. I'm pretty sure a normal person would need at least four arms to wield it. Or maybe they could make do with absurdly spiky hair.
-1 ToHit 2d10 Slashing damage, 19-20x2 Crit

[D-naras]

With melee weapons it was a pretty simple case of just looking at the die size of different weapons of the same category and comparing their features. For example, a standard issue Longsword out of the PHB deals 1d8 damage (4.5 average) and has a crit of 19-20x2. A Battle Axe also deals 1d8 damage, but it has a crit of x3, so it seems a x3 crit and a 19-20x2 crit have the same value. A Scimitar, by contrast, deals 1d6 damage (3.5 average) and has a crit of 18-20x2. So it stands to reason that expanding its crit range by one step was worth one damage.

By the same token the Flail deals 1d8 damage (4.5 again), can be used to Trip and grants a +2 on Disarm, and has a crit of x2. Since we've already determined that a x3 crit is worth 1 point of damage then the Flail's other features, namely Disarm and Trip, must have a combined damage value of 1. Or 0.5 each.

This system was (mostly) followed with the weapons in the Player's Handbook. But there are a number of weapons that are slightly underpowered (the Greataxe), moderately underpowered (the Falchion), or dramatically underpowered (the Sling).

Also, Exotic Weapon Proficiency is pretty much universally a terrible option if one is using the Exotic Weapons in the Player's Handbook. I figure that since Weapon Specialization nets you +2 damage with a particular weapon then it isn't unreasonable that an Exotic Weapon should boast two more damage than a similarly sized Martial weapon.

Does that answer your question, or did I completely miss the point?

So, any excess points are converted to a higher damage die?

[Lyndworm]

Does that answer your question, or did I completely miss the point?

I was wondering the same thing as D-naras, but I'm afraid that your post didn't answer my (unspoken) question. To say it myself...

I like where you're going with this (it reminds me of Seerow's Revised Weapons rules), but I don't see how to determine the damage of a newly created weapon. I may have missed it, but I'm beginning to think that the answer isn't in your original post.

EDIT:
Oh! I forgot, but I wanted to address this:

Could there be a rule for making weapons with extra WP bat a penalty to attack roll, or possibly a stage above exotic, or some other way of making even more ridiculous weapons?

(Emphasis mine.)

This makes me think of the sugliin (2d8, 20/x2 | Frostburn, p77). As the book says, "This weapon is so unwieldy and heavy that making a single attack with it is a full-round action." There is some good news, however; "The Sugliin Mastery feat (see page 50) allows a character to make attacks with this massive weapon normally."

So, there's actually precedence for a "Really Exotic Weapon" that takes two separate, weapon-specific feats to utilize properly.

[Rolep]

Also just for kicks and giggles...

Buster Sword
This sword is really really stupidly big. I'm pretty sure a normal person would need at least four arms to wield it. Or maybe they could make do with absurdly spiky hair.
-1 ToHit 2d10 Slashing damage, 19-20x2 Crit

No, really, that's nothing...

Ubercharger
This is a spear specially designed for the small but unnaturally strong race known as munchkins...
-1 ToHit Vicious 1d10 Piercing Damage, Adjacent Reach, Trip, 18-20x4 crit

Ōdachi
What did the scouter say about the Ōdachi's power level? IT'S OVER 9000!
-1 ToHit 2Vicous 2d10 Slashing damage

[inuyasha]

so im a little confused, how many WP does it take to determine the damage of the weapon? Does WP=average damage? So if i wanted a weapon that did an average of 1 damage, would i spend 1 WP

[Rebonack]

Since the same question keeps coming up I must not have been implicit about how to take it into account. One of the bane of designing game rules is that something that seems obvious to the designer might not be obvious to everyone else. Thanks for pointing out this fault!

But yes, 1 damage is worth 1 weapon point. Basically you spend weapon points on features and then whatever is left goes to damage. So weapons points and average damage have a one to one correspondence. I'll update the feature table with this information.

There's a table in the Q&A section of the first post that covers converting average damage/left-over weapon points into damage dice.

[inuyasha]

Heartseeker darts
Light exotic weapon
x3 crit multiplier
Throwing range 40ft.
1d6 damage

A thick hollow wooden dart designed to draw blood from the target, and store a tiny bit in its hollow tip, these horrible weapons were invented by wood elves.

Did I design this weapon right?

[Lyndworm]

OK, so let's say that I wanted to make an exotic throwing weapon for my Halfling Rogue. I decide to make it a Light weapon, so it has 6.5WP. I add the following abilities:

{table=head]Feature | Cost

Lightning Draw | -1

+4 Slight of Hand | -1

30' Throw Range | -1.5[/table]

My halfling's assassin's shurikens are 20/x2 weapons that can be drawn or sheathed as a free action, provide a +4 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks made to conceal them, and have a 30ft range increment. Since I have 3WP leftover, my average damage is 3 and my damage die is Vicious-1d4 (or, Vicious-1d3 since the character in question is Small-sized).

Makes sense to me! How's that look?



I believe that I understand now, but...

There's a table in the Q&A section of the first post that covers converting average damage/left-over weapon points into damage dice.

I'm not sure that's right, actually. That section/table (while helpful) describes converting average damage into damage dice, but makes no mention of leftover WP. The post explained what to do once you knew the average damage but did nothing to help you determine what the average damage was in the first place. Your edit has definitely made things much clearer, but it's not in that section

[AttilaTheGeek]

Man, this is really cool. I wasn't going to read this thread, but then I saw your name on the OP and remembered your excellent work with the Protean Chimera, so I decided to give it a try. This is great! I've thought about doing a fix like this for a while now, and I would have gone about it with a similarly math-based approach, but this seems very well done.

I do wonder why you work in increments of half a weapon point, rather than multiplying everything by two so you can work with integers. I think that would be simpler, even at the cost of saying "2 WP per point of damage", but changing it (or not) is your prerogative.

[Rebonack]

Heartseeker darts
Light exotic weapon
x3 crit multiplier
Throwing range 40ft.
1d6 damage

A thick hollow wooden dart designed to draw blood from the target, and store a tiny bit in its hollow tip, these horrible weapons were invented by wood elves.

Did I design this weapon right?

That's spot on, and exactly what this system is designed to be used for. It lets people come up with exactly the sort of weapon to fit their character, or for DMs to create interesting racial or regional weapons not covered in the rules.

Makes sense to me! How's that look?

Looks perfect. The rules for a lot of thrown weapons are just plain terrible in terms of what we've been given to work with, the throwing stars in particular.

I grabbed the Lightning Draw feature from the Gnome Quickrazor, as it happens. But it's also an ideal effect to put on a throwing weapon so you don't have to waste anything on the awful Quickdraw feat. Dealing one less damage than a comparable weapon is obviously a price to pay, but you only get so many feats to fiddle with.

I do wonder why you work in increments of half a weapon point, rather than multiplying everything by two so you can work with integers. I think that would be simpler, even at the cost of saying "2 WP per point of damage", but changing it (or not) is your prerogative.

I was left with the choice of using whole numbers of points or having a direct one to one correspondence between average damage and WP. Given that choice I decided to go with the direct correspondence. It could go either way, really. I figured half-points wouldn't be very difficult to keep track of.

On an unrelated note, I've edited the opening post with a section on Unwieldy Exotic Weapons (like the fabled moose-on-a-stick) and Two Weapon Fight, Double Weapons, and Variable Weapons.

[Rolep]

You constantly mention variable weapons as if they are a pre-defined thing, but I can't find any mention of them anywhere. Also, from the wording of your TWF, you cannot attack with both main and off-hand weapons on the first attack of a full attack.

[inuyasha]

You constantly mention variable weapons as if they are a pre-defined thing, but I can't find any mention of them anywhere. Also, from the wording of your TWF, you cannot attack with both main and off-hand weapons on the first attack of a full attack.

for variable weapons, I think he means like the morningstar that does bludgeoning and piercing, or like the dagger which does piercing or slashing

Also, more weapons:

ORCISH FLYING THUNDER DRAGON CLUB!!
unwieldly exotic weapon/2 hands
2d6 damage
40' throwing range
Crit: 18-20/X2

Whistling bow
Exotic ranged weapon
2d6 damage vicious
200' range
lightning draw
can be used while mounted

The whistling bow is really a crossbow invented by a tribe of tree living goblins, they shot the bolts out of the trees and they made noises like angry birds, the weapon is awkward to reload though, and must be reloaded after each shot

one more question: how do we determine GP values of weapons

[Composer99]

Since I have seen reach builds being touted as highly effective, and have seen firsthand such effectiveness in play, I would like to see a more cogent defence of:

Reach is just over-valued on Martial weapons for some awful *cough*Ivory Tower*cough* reason.

(As an aside, I find the disparaging of heavily-playtested systems as "Ivory Tower" design to be bizarre in the extreme. )

Beyond that, I wonder if it would be better for the WP cost of damage to equal average damage -1 (on the view that a weapon that inflicts but 1 damage, with no other rider, has no business costing an entire WP), and reducing the WP budget for each weapon class by 1. I guess the existing method is simpler, though.

Beyond that, however, I think this is a very good system for weapon design, and would surely look forward to a similar effort for armour/shields.

(The OP mentioned SRD RAW Falchions as falling short, so let's run through creating a Falchion using this system.)

It's a 2-handed martial weapon, so budget of 8 WP.
Base (Medium) damage is 2d4, for 5 WP.
Improved Critical Range (from 20 to 18-20) is 2 WP.
The Wikipedia entry for falchions indicates they have "the weight and power of an axe [combined] with the versatility of a sword."
So since the bigger axes usually have better critical damage, let's add Improved Critical Multiple (from x2 to x3) for the final 1 WP.

You constantly mention variable weapons as if they are a pre-defined thing, but I can't find any mention of them anywhere.

The OP defines variable weapons as ones where you can "change" the damage type, or where there is more than one damage type.

[Rebonack]

Since I have seen reach builds being touted as highly effective, and have seen firsthand such effectiveness in play, I would like to see a more cogent defence of:

[Reach weapon comment]

The WP cost of martial reach weapons was out of whack with the WP of simple reach weapons. I simply went with the lower of the two values. Reach is always useful, yes. Especially when paired with the ability to trip a foe at a distance. But that didn't make it any less of an incongruity that needed to be resolved.

Beyond that, however, I think this is a very good system for weapon design, and would surely look forward to a similar effort for armour/shields.

I actually made a point of including shield bonus to AC as one of the features that can be placed on a weapon. For the most part shields were used as off-hand weapons pretty much without question.

Especially the buckler. The buckler on the Armor Table would just get replaced with an 'Archer's Shield' which uses the exact same stats as the PHB version. You can't bash with it, so it isn't included here.

The OP defines variable weapons as ones where you can "change" the damage type, or where there is more than one damage type.

This is correct. A variable weapon is a weapon feature on the weapon feature table. It allows a weapon to deal more than one damage type or even have different features on each part.

On the subject of gold value: Cost is all over the place. The only really consistent trait is stuff costs more if it is bigger and/or more complicated.

[Rolep]

So for 4 feats (EWP, UWT, TWF, VWF), you can wield this?

BFG (Big Fighter's Glaive)
Half arming sword, half halberd, all damage!
-1 toHit 6d4 3Vicious Slashing OR -1 toHit 6d4 3Vicious Piercing

So you can effectively deal 12d4 6Vicious damage per attack?

EDIT: Let's take this a step further by giving them power attack, leap attack & shock trooper, as well as pounce. At level 6 (earliest level that this is possible without unnecessary fiddling), you make 4 attacks at -1 penalty to each attack. The combined total damage, assuming that all of the attacks hit, is as follows:

24d4 12Vicious
8* strength modifier (you never specify the strength modifier on the mian weapon, and since this variable weapon is two-handed it defaults to 1.5*Str (+0.5*Str for off-hand) on each attack.
72 from power attack (you never specify how power attacks interact wiht off-hand weapons, and so, since this variable weapon is two-handed, you apply 3*toHit penalty on all attacks (both main and off-hand).

With a strength of 24 (perfectly possible at this level), this equates to 200 damage. At 6th level. Before any other bonuses are applied. Is this the kind of power that you want?

On another note, you still haven't fixed the wording about using both weapons on the first attack of a full attack (currently is sounds like you can't) and you haven't said how it works with charge actions.

Don't get me wrong; I really, really like this, but it just needs a little more number-crunching and polish.

[Lyndworm]

I don't think that that's right, Rolep. By my count, your BFG was made using a nearly half as much again as many WP as its allowed (17 instead of 12). I'm also not sure that your math for is totally appropriate.

The average weapon damage of your BFG is 16.5. Multiplied by four, that's 66. Assuming each head of the weapon is considered to be held in two hands, each of the four attacks add 1.5 x your Strength modifier (1.5 x 7 = 10.5; rounded to 10, x 4 = 40). Power Attacking for -6 with Leap Attack and a two-handed weapon gives you +24 per attack (x4, that's 96). Adding it all together gives you a damage of 202.

I suspect, however, that one end of each weapon will be considered light and the other one-handed, considerably lowering most of these numbers.

On a less troublesome note, I think Rebonack did away with the "-1 to attack rolls" idea in favor of sugliin-style "requires a full-round action to attack with unless you have taken the [Weapon Name] Training feat with it in addition to the proper Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat."

---

1

It looks like, going for pure damage, the best you can do is 3d6-V3 or 4d4-V4. That doesn't include the Versatile property, either. You can get it if you knock off one of the Vicious properties, though.

[Rolep]

@Lyndworm: You're right in that the weapon itself has too many WP, but he does specify that off-hand weapons deal 0.5*Str bonus damage, and power attack w/leap attack and two-handed weapon only does penalty *3 (not *4).

[Rebonack]

I'll confirm that I decided to drop the -1 ToHit idea and go with the Full-Round Action to attack idea since that was already an existing game mechanic. Woohoo existing game mechanics!

I've also added the Grapple Weapon feature to the table at a cost of 1 WP. This should allow fancy nets and the Mancatcher to be a little more viable as weapons. In addition I added a pair of Grapple Weapon feats following in the footsteps of Improved Trip and Knockdown for anyone who feels inclined to master the esoteric art of Grapple Weapons.

Grapple Weapons would be an amazing alternative (or addition to!) Trip for any melee-bopper class who wants to focus on battle-field control.

Precise Weapons (+1 to attack rolls) have also been added to the table for 2 WP. Do note that bonus doesn't stack with itself.

[Lyndworm]

@Lyndworm: You're right in that the weapon itself has too many WP, but he does specify that off-hand weapons deal 0.5*Str bonus damage, and power attack w/leap attack and two-handed weapon only does penalty *3 (not *4).

You're definitely right about the off-hand math; I misremembered the redone feat. I have mixed feelings about Leap Attack returns (due to the wonky errata), but you definitely aren't wrong. I just assumed the most beneficial ruling in an attempt to get closer to your result of 200 damage.

Using x3 x2 Leap Attack returns and treating both heads as one-handed weapons (since there doesn't seem to be any difference between light and one-handed in regards to two-weapon fighting and the rules for Versatile weapons don't specify), the math would change to:


Average weapon damage: 16.5 x 4 = 66
Primary Strength modifier: 7 x 2 14
Off-Hand Strength modifier: 3 x 2 6 (rounding down)
Power Attack/Leap Attack: (6 x 3 = 18) x 4 = 72 (6 x 2 = 12) x 4 + 48

Total damage dealt: 158 134


Replacing the average weapon damage with the legal 3d6-V2 or 4d4-V3 (each 11.5 average damage) yields a total of 138 114.

[Rebonack]

You would only be using the x2 Leap Attack modifier since the Variable Weapon Fighting feat specifies that you treat a Variable Weapon as though you were wielding two weapons for the purpose of Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

If you decided to just attack with one part of it then you would get the x3 Leap Attack modifier.

[Lyndworm]

You would only be using the x2 Leap Attack modifier since the Variable Weapon Fighting feat specifies that you treat a Variable Weapon as though you were wielding two weapons for the purpose of Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

If you decided to just attack with one part of it then you would get the x3 Leap Attack modifier.

I'm so sorry. I... can't believe I did that. I thought one number (x2), typed a second number (x3), and mathed a third number (x4). I feel more silly than I could ever put into words.



Math updated due to inexplicable moment of insanity.

[Rebonack]

Shoobeedoo~

I've added a Shields and Blocking section to the opening post. Not only does this make Shields a more important part of a martial warrior's collection of toys, it also helps to make combat a little less lethal to folks who feel like investing in a shield.

Shields essentially serve as a pool of bonus HP that can take a few hits for the wielder.

[Terumitsu]

A note on shield spikes: They functionally bump up the shield one size catagory in terms of damage while also making the damage piercing. Not sure if this bit was missed or if it works differently in this system due to your wording. If it was missed, however:

...it seems you could make something hilariously ridiculous depending on what leeway there is in determining if a martial weapon could count as a shield so that spikes could be applied:

5.5 for a one-handed martial weapon - 1 for one point of shield bonus = 4.5 or 1d8
Bump that up a size category due to shield spikes and that becomes 2d6. In one hand, that's nothing to sneeze at.

Now let's just be silly and add the 'Bashing' enchantment to this 'shield,' adding 2 more effective size categories in the process, and we now have a one-handed 4d6 'weapon.' (Average damage of 14)

A bit of crazy here but why not make it an exotic weapon which would put us at a 6d6 one-handed 'weapon.' (Average damage of 21)

By this point, there is probably no reason to not go full hog on this. So by being utterly ridiculous and making this a two-handed martial weapon, we now have a 6d8 (Average damage of 27) two handed weapon for the low price of one feat and a bit over 4000 gold. Easily done by level 6.

Gentlemen, I present to you the SMASHING BOARD!