D&D 5E All weapons doing d6?

[Jacob Lewis]

I find the damage dice are probably the most boring aspect for defining a weapon quality. And yet, it is the primary characteristic that we all look at because it is the most basic and direct measure used for determining the quality of what is considered to be the most important piece of adventuring equipment for D&D. The thing is, the dice doesn't guarantee the effectiveness of the weapon used. It only offers the potential to achieve a greater result.

Fact is, that d12 greataxe isn't any more dangerous than a dagger if you don't roll higher than 4 on a hit. That is unless you take certain abilities or feats that allow your particular character to handle certain weapons better than others. But that says more about the character's identity and specialization, not the weapon itself.

If it were up to me, and I were designing weapons from the ground up with the goal of making their damage output the significant factor, I would make only two changes: d10 becomes (2 + 1d8), and d12/2d6 become (4 + 1d8). If you're swinging a heavy weapon, you're not lightly jabbing at something like a dagger.

The other option is to create more interesting dynamics with weapon properties and qualities. But this becomes more detailed and complicated, which works against the 5e design. So it may be best reserved for other systems looking to create a more detailed or tactical style of play.

 

[Fenris-77]

You could combine those two ideas if you had variable damage dice by class, and variable bonus to damage by size. If the fighter rolls a d10 and the mage rolls a d6 for damage, if they both have a great axe, they do 1d10 +4 and 1d6 +4 respectively. That doesn't sound out of sight.

 

[Hoffmand]

I do weapon damage by class like 13th age with my d&d. Stole their escalation die also. Great system

 

[atanakar]

I'm a fan of predetermined values for damage. I used them for creatures instead of rolling. Speeds up play too.

Dagger = 2 damage, sword = 4, long sword = 6, two-handed = 8. You could add a class bonus based on levels. Fighters +1 per level (+10 damage at level 10), Cleric and thieves +1 at odd levels (+5 at level 10). Wizards +1 every three levels (+3 at level 10).

But players are addicted to rolling damage because they are always gambling on the miraculous Max Result... and cry when they get under average.

 

[Voadam]

To me, this is a rabbit hole that benefits very little from delving into.

Some people like different damage type per weapon (whether traditional style or 13th Age style), others might enjoy reducing all weapons to a d6. But there is no meaningful reduction in complexity for the latter. Is anyone confused by rolling a d8 for a long sword and a d6 for a short sword?

My point being, if the former group of players enjoys it and it doesn’t bog down the game, there is no concrete advantage for removing different weapon dice. Let the players who like rolling different dice have their fun and simplify the game rules somewhere that confers more benefit.

The contrary view:

Some people would like to play warriors with different weapons for aesthetic reasons and to not mechanically disadvantage themselves in the game to do so.

Odin and Heracles are fine warrior archetypes. So are Spartan hoplites, Masai warriors, and samurai with tetsubo.

All d6s would accomplish that as would class based damage.

The idea of Ranger Rambo doing a lot of damage with his bayonet has some appeal.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I can't (I honestly don't even know who he is), I simply pointed out my source. Based on Mr. Monard's quote, it would make sense that Gygax would fudge the truth to avoid embarrassment.

Okay.

Do you have a source- I didn't see you point it out. I truly enjoy researching these sorts of things, and I've never encountered that (the iron spike story) before. I'd like to see where it came from!

1. Mike Monard (also known as "Old Geezer") was one of the OG players; he played in the original Greyhawk and the original Isle of the Ape with Ernie , Kaye, Kuntz, and Arendt.

2. It's on a different forum, but you can google the text and find the source.

PS- Anyone hear from him recently? Haven't seen him posting on any forums in a while?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Since we've had recently a thread on Five Torches Deep, I'll share the system's weapon table:
Effective Range

• Melee Works in close range (5’); some have reach (10’)
• Ranged Suited for ranged distances (15-300’) disadv in melee

Proficiency Required
Simple: Easy to use but weak
• One hand: 1d6 damage
• Two hand: 1d8 damage
• Dual 1h: 2d6 dmg, take best single d6 result

Ex: Clubs, spears, hunting bows

Martial More complex and powerful
• One hand: 1d10 damage
• Two hand: 1d12 damage
• Dual 1h: 2d10 dmg, take best single d10 result

Ex: Swords, halberds, war bows

 

[jaelis]

Since we've had recently a thread on Five Torches Deep, I'll share the system's weapon table:
Effective Range

• Melee Works in close range (5’); some have reach (10’)
• Ranged Suited for ranged distances (15-300’) disadv in melee

Proficiency Required
Simple: Easy to use but weak
• One hand: 1d6 damage
• Two hand: 1d8 damage
• Dual 1h: 2d6 dmg, take best single d6 result

Ex: Clubs, spears, hunting bows

Martial More complex and powerful
• One hand: 1d10 damage
• Two hand: 1d12 damage
• Dual 1h: 2d10 dmg, take best single d10 result

Ex: Swords, halberds, war bows

I take that dual 1h means dual wielding two weapons? For the martials, dual wielding is better, that seems a bit weird. And I take it you can't target two different creatures while dual wielding? It's an interesting approach to TWF. On the whole, though, I think I would probably use a shield if I could.

Do they have finesse?

Average damage 1d8: 4.5
Average damage 2d6 drop 1: 4.47
Average damage 1d12: 6.5
Average damage 2d10 drop 1: 7.15
Average damage 2d8 drop 1: 5.81

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Abstraction is always an interesting concept. It also leads to an enforced balance.

There is some comfort in knowing that your choice of a weapon for stylistic reasons will not hamper the effectiveness of your character. Moreover, this allows you to create fascinating characters (commando dagger fighter, hand axe murderer, Devo whip enthusiast etc.) without worrying about effectiveness.

The drawback, of course, is that you lose out on the vagaries of different weapon choices. Infinite customization through a single damage type does not present (as some would put it) a meaningful choice.

In practice, though, I have often noticed that there really isn't much meaningful choice among those who most demand it. Given that there is only so much customization that can be done (unless you want to go full-out and start doing weapon v. AC and speed factors), you quickly find that everyone uses the same weapons based on the build and math. So more often than not, the meaningful choice is reduced to one, unless there is re-skinning, in which case .... why bother?

In short, you are confronted with infinite variety that does the same thing, or the illusion of meaningful choice that always leads to the same decision.

Kind of like life.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I take that dual 1h means dual wielding two weapons? For the martials, dual wielding is better, that seems a bit weird. And I take it you can't target two different creatures while dual wielding? It's an interesting approach to TWF. On the whole, though, I think I would probably use a shield if I could.

Do they have finesse?

Average damage 1d8: 4.5
Average damage 2d6 drop 1: 4.47
Average damage 1d12: 6.5
Average damage 2d10 drop 1: 7.15
Average damage 2d8 drop 1: 5.81

That's mostly it, yeah.

I'd make two handed weapons be 2d6 to raise the average to 7. So dual-wielding and great-weapon fighting would be the same and be differentiated by fighting styles.
Two-weapon style: deal Dex/Str mod damage on a miss OR (variant) gain +1 to hit while dual-wielding. Both represent the fact that attacking with more weapons increases the odds of dealing at least some damage on your turn.

Heavy weapon style: deal Str mod on a miss OR +1 to hit with heavy melee weapons (pick the one you didnt give to TWFS). In this case, it represent the fact that is way harder to totally resist a hit (even partial) from a huge-a** weapon.