D&D (2024) Sharp shooter/Great Weapon Mastery

[Micah Sweet]

I really hope you are wrong... that might just knock me and my friends out of D20 fantasy for a while if true.

There are plenty of 3pp options where they do take the magic/martial issue seriously. You don't have to beg WotC for "official" rules.

 

[Kai Lord]

These two feats are normally seen as the two best in the game (I guess only if you use weapons and they are ranged or two handed but still)

they took away the part that most people talk about though... -5 to hit for +10 to damage.

Sharp shooter no longer has a damage bonus
Great weapon mastery is once per round on a hit add your prof to damage.

I like this nerf. I don't know if everyone will agree. It is a hit to weapon users (but I hope one that shows the want them to be more then just best damage in game)

I guess I'm in the minority but I actually don't like this change. Yes +10 damage is a big hike but at low levels the -5 often translates to missing entirely and at higher levels the +10 is offset by higher monster HP's and all the high damage ranged attacks that spellcasters get to dish out.

Thinking back to the Vox Machina Vecna fight with Vecna's high AC I seem to recall Percy having to really gamble whether Sharpshooter would allow him to land a hit or not. shrugs But like I said I really seem to be in the minority on this one.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

There are plenty of 3pp options where they do take the magic/martial issue seriously. You don't have to beg WotC for "official" rules.

If we go away from WotC it will be to Torg or Wod, not a D&D 3p

 

[Bill Zebub]

WotC doesn't think martials need buffing.

The proportion of your posts that (needlessly) contains a declarative statement…invariably with an unflattering slant…about WotC’s goals/beliefs/priorities continues to astonish me.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think they need to choose which feat to put the "shooting an enemy within 5 feet doesn't give disadvantage" benefit into. Currently it is in both SS and CBE which is odd, particularly as CBE only gives that benefits for crossbows, and SS gives it for anything.

Good to see that they have removed the "shoot twice with a single hand crossbow" shenanigans. That always seemed like a cheese interpretation of the rules (even though later they said it was ok bizarrely). Now you need a hand crossbow in each hand and since you ignore the loading property I guess you can magically reload them without using any hands.

Your second paragraph is the reason CBE let you attack twice with the same hand crossbow. In the playtest version it let you dual-wield hand crossbows and there were a million questions about how you were supposed to load them. So they changed it to function the same (two hand crossbow attacks per turn) while leaving a hand unoccupied. Guess they’ve now decided to go back to the dual-wielding idea and handwaving the loading part away.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The proportion of your posts that (needlessly) contains a declarative statement…invariably with an unflattering slant…about WotC’s goals/beliefs/priorities continues to astonish me.

Ok, I strongly believe that WotC doesn't think martials need buffing.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I'm OK with Ranger only getting 1 since it's not technically a Warrior class, but the other Warrior classes should get multiple Fighting Styles early on. At least 3. They're not synergistic, other than Defense. Make Warriors versatile again.

I've been giving fighters a fighting style every odd level and it works fine. It actually makes them the versatile combat masters they should be.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Guess they’ve now decided to go back to the dual-wielding idea and handwaving the loading part away.

Spring loaded magazines. And elves cock crossbows by hooking the strings over their ears. Now you know why they are pointy.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I've been giving fighters a fighting style every odd level and it works fine. It actually makes them the versatile combat masters they should be.

That will increase their effectiveness a little bit, but other than Protection style it doesn’t actually give them anything new to do, or interesting decisions/trade-offs to make.

That’s why I have advocated for giving them (even) more feats, but only from a select list, such as Mobile, Sentinel, Shield Master, Mage Slayer, etc.

(Of course, now that they all come with an ASI that doesn’t work as well.)

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

If we go away from WotC it will be to Torg or Wod, not a D&D 3p

I'm leaning towards PF2 myself. Decent tactical depth, they pulled casters back to the realm of sanity, and at least martials have a dedicated niche rather than wand caddy.

6th edition looks to be more caster favoritism already. Gutting weapon damage is the wrong way to go.