D&D 5E Keen Weapons in 5th Edition?

[SkidAce]

Just make sure that weapons with the new keen ability are rare enough that the characters don't start acquiring them until several levels after the champion gets his abilities for critting. Since they gain that at 3rd level, make the keen swords a rarity (no book near me atm) that doesn't get found on average until 5th level.

 

[Eirikrautha]

Or, another possibility is a keen weapon that has expanded crit ranges only under certain circumstances. A range of 19-29 vs Giants, a range of 15-20 once per day, something to add flavor or tactics without invalidating the Champion or leading to power creep.

 

[Mouseferatu]

There's already a weapon that deals extra damage on a crit: Vicious. So Keen probably shouldn't do the same thing. But as stated, we don't want to step on the champion's toes. So...

I think the 5E solution is simpler than many of that proposed, though I do like some of them.

Keen Weapon
Weapon (any weapon that deals slashing damage), [rarity?] (requires attunement)

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.

After you have hit a target with this weapon, but before you roll damage, you can declare the hit to have been a critical hit. The weapon can't be used this way again until the following dawn.

 

[Mouseferatu]

(Not comfortable assigning rarities yet, hence the question mark.)

 

[Coredump]

There's already a weapon that deals extra damage on a crit: Vicious. So Keen probably shouldn't do the same thing. But as stated, we don't want to step on the champion's toes. So...

I think the 5E solution is simpler than many of that proposed, though I do like some of them.

Keen Weapon
Weapon (any weapon that deals slashing damage), [rarity?] (requires attunement)

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.

After you have hit a target with this weapon, but before you roll damage, you can declare the hit to have been a critical hit. The weapon can't be used this way again until the following dawn.

Being able to 'crit on demand' is very powerful for things like Sneak Attack or Paladin Smiting.

Perhaps just allow it to do Double Damage; but not again until dawn.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Being able to 'crit on demand' is very powerful for things like Sneak Attack or Paladin Smiting.

Perhaps just allow it to do Double Damage; but not again until dawn.

Well, yeah. That's why it's only 1/day, and the only real power it has. I think that works for a very rare or legendary.

 

[CapnZapp]

There aren't threat ranges in 5e, but if you wanted to import a keen weapon I would simply increase the threat range by 1. So 20 becomes 19-20. If you're a Champion you would go from 19-20 to 18-20, etc. I would make it expensive though. That's a pretty nice weapon there.

Also, consider that this weapon steps on the toes of the Champion quite a bit in my opinion. One of the big draws of the champion is the expanded crit range. So by giving this out to someone else it could make a champion in the group wonder why they're picked their subclass. If there aren't any champions, then it really doesn't affect as much.

I would say the natural rule of 5e is not to stack effects. To ignore the possibility, even.

To simply say "your criteria range is 19-20" rather than "your criteria range increases by one".

This latter phrasing means you're thinking about ways to combine this with that, and that's often way too much thinking for 5e. Advantage being probably the most obvious example.

 

[bganon]

I would probably just go with Mouseferatu's version or something similar, like:

Keen Weapon: +1 attack, +3 damage and ignores resistance to slashing damage; this weapon also ignores the damage threshold of objects, and when you roll a critical hit against a Large or smaller unattended nonmagical object you may automatically cut the object in two.

Because I love giving weapons a little more than just combat utility.

 

[Ahrimon]

You could always do a keen weapon closer to the orginal inspiration:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_g6Run-ckJ...ABA/Een8TkGQFwc/s1600/cutting_things_down.jpg

Allow it to sunder weapons or based on the original game version allow it to sever limbs.

 

[Theovis]

"Vicious" is the 5E equivalent of "Keen" - it's a flat bonus that increases steadily instead of exponentially with other crit-related benefits, and also can apply to any weapon, not just slashing or piercing.