D&D (2024) New One D&D Weapons Table Shows 'Mastery' Traits

The weapons table from the upcoming Unearthed Arcana playtest for One D&D has made its way onto the internet via Indestructoboy on Twitter, and reveals some new mechanics. The mastery traits include Nick, Slow, Puncture, Flex, Cleave, Topple, Graze, and Push. These traits are accessible by the warrior classes.

 

[Parmandur]

Spoiler: Dumb tangent about Hercules not being a barbarian

Hercules' strength was a product of his divine birth, not rage. And the fact that he killed one guy because he was angry once doesn't make him a barbarian. And if "killing someone while angry once or twice" is the requirement for being a barbarian, almost all of the Greek Gods (and a whole lot of heroes) would be Barbarians. Hercules didn't fuel his fighting style with anger most of the time. Normally he was pretty smart and tactical, quite often solving his problems with his charisma or wit instead of brute force (figuring out how to kill/beat the hydra, tricking Atlas to retrieve the Apples of the Hesperides for him, convincing Hades to let him take his dog on a walk to his cousin's house, etc).

So, Hercules' strength and fighting capabilities didn't come from anger, his one case of "going mad" and killing his family was godly-induced, and he often used his intelligence and charisma to solve his problems, even when it could have been solved with brute strength. If anything, Hercules was a Fighter, not a Barbarian. Battlemaster, probably. Or maybe a Paladin, given his divine connection.

But he didn't wear armor. The Barbarian Class is designed around fulfilling t H e Hercules archetype, even if it is awkward fitting it back the other way.

Conan us also very smart, calm and collected. D&D Barbarians are not necessarily stupid, or even uncivilized: I heard on Earth about a guy who roleplayed Rage as Zen focus.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I love how some people are so lacking in imagination that they can't accept how DoaM would be a weapon thing yet can hypocritically pretend that taking 20 odd arrow "hits" to kill someone is somehow acceptable. What some people are willing to accept makes many of their arguments worthless.

I don't think you and I have ever agreed on anything, design-wise, in 10 years. And I am still largely in the "verisimilitude counts" camp. But, and this is a big but (no pun intended), if there is an assumption that hit points are not only physical health, and we all agree they aren't (cuz it says so), then it makes perfect sense to have some sort of hit point loss even on a miss if the combatant is good, because anyone who has ever trained or been in a fight knows that you're expending energy even if they don't hit. In fact, it's a tactic in boxing to let the other person wear themselves out before coming in and finishing them off.

When DoaM first came out I was against it as a gut reaction. But in certain circumstances it makes sense in the context of what hit points are defined as.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

But he didn't wear armor. The Barbarian Class is designed around fulfilling t H e Hercules archetype, even if it is awkward fitting it back the other way.

Because he had the Nemean Lion's coat, which made him practically invulnerable while wearing it. He used a magic item in place of armor.

Conan us also very smart, calm and collected. D&D Barbarians are not necessarily stupid, or even uncivilized: I heard on Earth about a guy who roleplayed Rage as Zen focus.

Which is why Conan is a Fighter/Thief multiclass, according to Gygax. Not a barbarian.

 

[Sacrosanct]

But he didn't wear armor. The Barbarian Class is designed around fulfilling t H e Hercules archetype, even if it is awkward fitting it back the other way.

Well, he had the Nemean lion's coat, which pretty much made him invulnerable. Why wear mail if you have that?

*edit, ninja'd

 

[Eubani]

I don't think you and I have ever agreed on anything, design-wise, in 10 years. And I am still largely in the "verisimilitude counts" camp. But, and this is a big but (no pun intended), if there is an assumption that hit points are not only physical health, and we all agree they aren't (cuz it says so), then it makes perfect sense to have some sort of hit point loss even on a miss if the combatant is good, because anyone who has ever trained or been in a fight knows that you're expending energy even if they don't hit. In fact, it's a tactic in boxing to let the other person wear themselves out before coming in and finishing them off.

When DoaM first came out I was against it as a gut reaction. But in certain circumstances it makes sense in the context of what hit points are defined as.

It would seem several layers of the Nine Hells have frozen over, maybe we will find a way to agree to some other things.

 

[Bluenose]

People who prefer older editions who don't intend to switch..These masteries don't match the level of heroics you see at 5e tables or in 5e fan media.

Really WotC should take a look at what the weapon-mastery rules from BECMI D&D did for Fighters By comparison the stuff they're presenting here is anaemic. Extra attacks, better AC, more damage with each attack, various special effects including causing fear... Things along those lines. Rules Cyclopedia or Master set iirc. Zero chance of that happening.

 

[Minigiant]

Do they not...?

They don't. The designers don't play like most 5e tables. Or at least they don't design that way and hide their personal houserules and homebrew.

Heck, there is an internal updated CR document the designers have that they want share.

 

[Parmandur]

Because he had the Nemean Lion's coat, which made him practically invulnerable while wearing it. He used a magic item in place of armor.

Which is why Conan is a Fighter/Thief multiclass, according to Gygax. Not a barbarian.

The difference between the Barbarian Class feature and the lion skin sounds like fluff to me.

Gygax may have said that, but all the iconic Narbaroan PCs I've seen are keying off of Conan to some degree or other. Gygax said a lot of stuff that not even he could have possibly believed was true.

 

[Parmandur]

Well, he had the Nemean lion's coat, which pretty much made him invulnerable. Why wear mail if you have that?

*edit, ninja'd

Natratively, I could say that my Barbarian has the Class features due to being a demigod who wears a magic lion skin, and it wouldn't make much difference.

 

[Parmandur]

They don't. Thedesigners don't play like most 5e tables. Or at least they don't design that way and hide their personal houserules and homebrew.

Heck, there is an internal updated CR document the designers have that they want share.

Citation needed.

The CR calculator they use internally isn't fundamentally different than thst in the DMG, it's more detailed because it's a multifaceted Excel document per Mearls back in the day. The DMG version was a quick and dirty estimate version, that got similar results in simple situations. But they could update their Excel version when playtesting Adventures over the years, and corner cases are wonky with the quick and dirty estimate version (and corner cases are easy to find in practice).