Level Up (A5E) Cultural Weapons and Armor Redundancy - Proposed Fix

[W'rkncacnter]

Since the class is "doubling" the proficiencies (the Culture usually comes first), wouldn't any benefits from gaining a proficiency you already got be the same if you get weapon/armor proficiencies you already got from multiclassing?

Just thinking if we are talking about some sort of benefit for "double" stuff...

i mean, it's not just "for double stuff", but also for trying to mend the fact that martial-themed cultures are at their worst when applied to martial classes - or in other words, to help make stuff that blends thematically also blend mechanically, instead of being wasted.

 

[xiphumor]

Since the class is "doubling" the proficiencies (the Culture usually comes first), wouldn't any benefits from gaining a proficiency you already got be the same if you get weapon/armor proficiencies you already got from multiclassing?

Just thinking if we are talking about some sort of benefit for "double" stuff...

Which is why I think this should only be for doubling when part of it is a culture. Otherwise, multiclassing nonsense happens.

i mean, the immediate first thought here would be expertise dice. but an expertise die to AC/attack rolls seems...much (it's equivalent to about a +2 magic armor/weapon, mathematically). an expertise die to damage is more in line, but is kind of strange and only really works for weapons. still, as a weapon-only thing it's somewhat better then the +1 to damage suggested here mathematically (and in the last thread), if that's what you want.

for armor, i like how the first shot at this topic approached it, effectively giving the appropriate armor master feat (or something in line for such a thing, in the case of light armor) for whatever armor you've doubled up on. i don't like the proposition of this thread as much, mainly because it means you only have that sort of benefit for heavy armor (and i guess light armor in a way), whereas medium armor can be further improved with medium armor master. it feels less consistent. that said, it also feels inspired by pathfinder 2e, which has damage reduction for medium/heavy armors you've specialized in.

personally how i'll probably do this for my games is to take the original approach, except actually giving the appropriate feats for medium/heavy armor, and then for shields giving the shield focus feat. i might change the +1 to damage to an expertise die to damage, if only because i like expertise dice. they go clack.

These are largely fair points, except that I think getting the entire shield focus feat is a bit much, as is getting both shield and medium armor proficiency from the medium armor feat when all you’re trying to replace is the medium armor proficiency. Also, there still needs to be something for light armor.

As for the weapons, the reason I like the +1 is that normally, bonus weapon proficiencies mean you can use a martial weapon when you’d otherwise be using a simple weapon, and the difference between a martial and simple weapon is an increased damage die, so adding +1 to the damage functionally adds that in, without causing issues for stuff like mauls.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

These are largely fair points, except that I think getting the entire shield focus feat is a bit much.

maybe.

EDIT: i'm probably going to change it so instead of getting shield focus, you just don't need an action to don/doff a shield (or in other words you treat donning/doffing a shield like equipping or unequipping a weapon).

Also, there still needs to be something for light armor.

your old thread proposed a +1 to dex saves for light armor. i just stole that.