I've been thinking about how I might do exotic weapons a bit. The core idea of exotic weapons in 3e, at least, was that they were strictly better than the alternatives but you had to take an opportunity cost to use them. Well, I think I can see a nice way of implementing that and keeping it balanced in 5e.
(Note that I'm just jotting down a basic idea for the mechanics with an example I've thought up on the spot; I've not spent very long trying to work out the power balance of it yet, so it might be off)
- First, exotic weapons in this scheme do not appear on any list - they are not simple and they are not martial weapons. They are weapons with which nobody is proficient by default. There is no way to gain access to all the exotic weapons
- Every exotic weapon has one exotic property. That is, a double sword or axe might have the "Double weapon" property. A mercurial greatsword might have the "Mercurial sword" property. This property defines what makes that particular weapon type special.
To throw out two random examples:
- Double sword
- 100gp
- 1d10 slashing
- 15lb
- Heavy, two-handed, Double weapon
- Mercurial greatsword
- 100gp
- 2d6 slashing
- 10lb
- Heavy, two-handed, Mercurial sword
Double weapon
When you wield this weapon in two hands, you may attack with your off-hand using the standard two-weapon fighting rules as if both main and off hand were light weapons. If you are proficient with this weapon, you may add your ability modifier to the damage on a hit. On rounds when you do
not do this, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC.
Mercurial sword
When you get a critical hit with this weapon, roll one extra die of damage for the weapon. In addition, the extra force applied when you take a strong swing with this weapon can batter shields and parrying blades from your opponents's hands - you may choose to take disadvantage on an attack roll. If you hit, the target takes damage as normal and must make a Strength saving throw or drop a weapon or shield they are holding. The target chooses what to drop, and the DC is 8 plus your attack bonus with this weapon
So here we have a set of weapons which are each better than "normal" weapon, but with which nobody has proficiency. Balance-wise, they should be not quite good enough to use without proficiency. How do you get proficiency? Be a martial character and pick the Exotic Weapon fighting style.
Fighting Style: Exotic Weapon (Available to any class that can choose a Fighting Style)
Choose one exotic weapon property. You gain proficiency with weapons that have that property.
Making it a fighting style makes the most sense, to me. Feats are too large, and they might not even be allowed in a particular game. Exotic weapons should be easiest for a Fighter to gain skills with, but should be available for other martial characters. Hell, it makes the Champion's second fighting style that bit more valuable, too.
As I said, I pulled these particular examples out of thin air - I'd be interested to see what people think about the balance, but I'm not expecting it to be perfect. What do you think about the structure, though?
