D&D 5E The best solution for longswords

[Ganymede81]

I like the idea of making all weapons Finesse, but downgrading the damage by one point per damage die (or lowering every damage die by one step) when used in this manner.

 

[jaelis]

What may seem silly to you was an extremely popular method of fighting with a sword.

Longsword fighting methods made liberal use of grappling techniques. In particular, grabbing your opponent and sending him to the ground was a very effective way of fighting some one in heavy armor.

So a weapon that was held in two hands except when grappling is, you know, not silly at all.

Great, then it seems like you could base a fighting style off that. I'm a fan of anything that promotes grappling. Would this be satisfying?

Grappler: When you take the attack action while wielding a melee weapon in one and and nothing in your other hand, you can attempt to grapple or shove an opponent as a bonus action.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

What! You mean to tell me the longsword is broken, too?! How does the game even function with so many failing pieces?? Does QC mean anything anymore?

In order: Yes, judicious house ruling, and apparently not.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I have always thought it interesting that just because elves get a plus 2 to Dex that, seemingly, a lot of people assume every one of them would have a Dex score higher that their Strength score.

What's the alternative to that assumption? Would you assume something like a 3d6 distribution for both Strength and Dex, such that some elves would have more Strength than Dex, even though they all add +2 to the latter value?

Based on actual observations, how many elves have you seen with higher Strength than Dexterity?

 

[Satyrn]

Based on actual observations, how many elves have you seen with higher Strength than Dexterity?

None. But my observations are useless since "none" is also how many elves I've seen.

I only bother to post this because I had a sudden "Well huh, whaddaya know" moment as I read your question. My table's never played an elf in 5e.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Great, then it seems like you could base a fighting style off that. I'm a fan of anything that promotes grappling. Would this be satisfying?

Grappler: When you take the attack action while wielding a melee weapon in one and and nothing in your other hand, you can attempt to grapple or shove an opponent as a bonus action.

To me bonus action granting is more in the realm of Feats, than Fighting styles, but yes I do see a bonus action grapple attempt as fitting a Versatile Weapon Master Feat.

Which, as I alluded to in an earlier post, steps on the toes of Tavern Brawler.

 

[BookBarbarian]

What's the alternative to that assumption? Would you assume something like a 3d6 distribution for both Strength and Dex, such that some elves would have more Strength than Dex, even though they all add +2 to the latter value?

I would think so yes.

Based on actual observations, how many elves have you seen with higher Strength than Dexterity?

Few. The odd wood elf Barbarian, or High Elf EK.

However I would hesitate to make assumptions for the entire Elven Society and their traditional training techniques based solely on the portion of the population that becomes adventures.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

None. But my observations are useless since "none" is also how many elves I've seen.

I only bother to post this because I had a sudden "Well huh, whaddaya know" moment as I read your question. My table's never played an elf in 5e.

The lack of data is, itself, useful data. Not as useful as the data we were looking for, but it's something.

Part of me wonders if this is why they didn't bother with things like stat penalties in this edition. I mean, if nobody is ever going to build a halfling with Strength 20, because the Dexterity bonus is enough to ensure that every halfling builds for Dexterity instead of Strength, then giving them a -2 penalty would be pointless and redundant.

That means, one potential side-effect of incorporating something like the suggestion in the OP would be to encourage elves and halflings to build for Strength rather than Dex. Attempting to fix the problem of Strength being an inferior combat stat, could very easily create the worse problem of super-strong halflings, which is not currently an issue because they have no reason to build that way.

 

[Ganymede81]

Based on actual observations, how many elves have you seen with higher Strength than Dexterity?

My current character is a high elf barbarian with a strength of 15 and a dexterity of 14.

 

[jaelis]

To me bonus action granting is more in the realm of Feats, than Fighting styles, but yes I do see a bonus action grapple attempt as fitting a Versatile Weapon Master Feat.

Which, as I alluded to in an earlier post, steps on the toes of Tavern Brawler.

I wouldn't be too concerned about feats vs styles. But I do agree that it conflicts with Tavern Brawler. I don't much like TB, that could be revised too, but I guess we're looking for a minimal construction here.

How about when you have a free hand and succeed on a grapple or shove, you also deal your weapon damage die? (Without any bonuses.)