D&D 5E Can Tavern Brawler use cards as Improvised Weapons?

*Deleted by user*

Sacrosanct said:

After I wrote it, I realized just how wide I opened the door....



Ricky Jay is clearly a paladin though, on a holy crusade to eradicate the heretical watermelons. That might change your opinion...

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Then that makes Gallagher a dwarf war cleric who hates melons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxls1KnKCA4

This has to beth weirdest start to a thread ever. OP posts a question whis clearly going to get a lot of 'YMMV' answers. Then gets four positive responses, two negative ones, two post about physics but 7 'YMMV but if it's fun, go for it' responses - complains about negative and physics posts despite them being in the minority.

I am just curious, why post this at all if you are going to make that response to the posts that went up? To prove a point? To try to gather evidence to show a dm who already said no? SOme kind of weird plug for Guardian Of Order?

In answer to the question - No, with caveat. If this was one of my supers games then yes. Hell yes. My supers games are all about cool stuff like this. If this was a D&D game based on the western genre or manga or martial arts, maybe. If it's straight fantasy, probably not. It's about suspension of disbelief for my players. If one week someone damages someone with a playing card, next week my players are going to try paper cut damage, or start collecting all the cards they come across rather than buying weapons. Because I have set a standard that my universe works on some kind of physical laws. BUT - that's just me. Maybe if you were trained in card fighting as part of the backstory, that'd be pretty cool. I would of course then include a card golem that was razor sharp.

As for the video. The mythbusters are at best like baseline scholars. 1d4+dex damage could probably kill them. Definately two hits. That guy taking the cards to the chest. Nowhere near death. That's the kind of damage I hand out when someone makes a saving throw and takes no actual HP loss.

Jhyarelle Silver said:

Same answer as predicted. Fantasy is thrown out the window and logic and physics is shoved in. .

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It's also worth noting that just because it's a fantasy game, it doesn't mean every violation of physics should be accepted without question. Every world, fantasy or sci fi, is rooted on a basic agreed upon set of real world physics. Or can your PCs in your game world never need to eat, can jump over buildings, and throw pebbles that destroy dragons in one hit? So when you want to do something that isn't already clearly called out as exempt from real world physics and is highly unusual, that's gonna require conversation with your fellow players and DM for agreement.

If I had a player say to me as the DM, "I'm skilled in improvised weapons, so I can inflict wounds with this sheet of paper just as bad as that soldier can with his dagger.", I'm gonna say, "uh...no. I don't think so. Paper isn't a typical improvised weapon. You gotta come at me with a better argument than that."

Jhyarelle Silver said:

Same answer as predicted. Fantasy is thrown out the window and logic and physics is shoved in. So much for creativity, staying to a theme and it is true rules are written in stone. Man did Guardians of Order get it right. RIP.

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Isn't that the company that made the anime RPG? I think maybe 5e isn't your best bet if that's your comparison. I mean, I wouldn't call 5e a "gritty rpg" by any means, but it's never going to compare to the stuff you see going on in anime's. There's a game called Exalted that's probably more what you're looking for.

Benji said:

This has to beth weirdest start to a thread ever.

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Nah, I still think the 40+ page thread about someone leaving the forums is weirder.

Note that Tavern Brawler doesn't make improvised weapons more damaging. It just lets you add your proficiency bonus to your attack roll.

I like to make up damage for them on the spot when they are weird. Such as 1d4 AoE damage for pouring out a cauldron of soup. Or say, 1d10 if the object is large and heavy.

A playing card though? Nope, no damage. Genre conventions are important to maintain.

If a player said to me "I want to play a guy who uses playing cards as weapons." and then took Tavern Brawler to support it, I'd probably be okay with it. They're burning a (half) feat in order to do the same damage as darts. Sure they can carry more cards than darts (and hide them easier) but that's not likely to come up very often. Though it would tend on what sort of campaign I was running. If I was a running a more "dark and gritty" or horror campaign, I'd ask them to hold that concept until the next campaign.

Only if the tavern brawler's name is Gambit.

Why would they even bother using playing cards? Wouldn't be cheaper to just throw copper coins? If you go with the standard 50 coins to a pound, they are even more massive than cards.