D&D 5E Companion Thread to 5E Survivor - Weapons

[RealAlHazred]

So, does anyone else feel like it was a massive betrayal of the vision of Gary Gygax that we didn't get a full set of polearms in 5E? Like, there should have been three proficiency groupings: Simple, Martial, and Polearm. And the polearm list should have been the largest group of weapons, with Glaives, Glaive-Guisarmes, Fouchard-Forks, Becs de Corbin and Hammers Lucerne, and my favorite, the Glaive-Glaive-Guisarme-Glaive-Voulge.

EDIT: @Dyson Logos has supplied a random polearm generator here, and made a couple of amusing posts about polearms here and here.

 

[CleverNickName]

If they could have found a way to make the differences matter, I would have loved to see a wider variety of polearms. It's not like it would have been hard...

Take my favorite (the Bec de Corbin): start with the stats for Pike, and add "or bludgeoning" to the damage column. Done. Now you have a polearm that can deal two different types of damage when you attack with it, depending on if you're using the hammer side or the back-spike. Nothing game-breaking or superpowered, no weird new mechanic to balance, no power creep...just a small and meaningful distinction.

Bec de Corbin
melee weapon (martial, polearm)
Damage: 1d10
Damage Type: Piercing or Bludgeoning
Properties: Heavy, Reach, Two-Handed
Weight: 18

French for "Crow's Beak," the Bec de Corbin is essentially a war pick, war hammer, and pike all in one. This weapon's impressive leverage allows it to tear or bash through armor with ease. A bec de corbin can inflict bludgeoning or piercing damage (but not both); the player decides the damage type when the weapon hits its target.

 

[CleverNickName]

Uh-oh. I can't stop.

Mancatcher
melee weapon (martial, polearm)
Damage: 1d10
Damage Type: Piercing (and see below)
Properties: Heavy, Reach, Two-Handed, Special
Weight: 6

A Small or Medium-sized creature hit by a mancatcher must make a Strength saving throw (DC = 10 or damage dealt) or be Restrained until the weapon is dropped, the wielder voluntarily releases the creature, or the creature dies. While restraining a creature in this manner, the mancatcher cannot be used to make attacks.

As an action, a creature restrained by a mancatcher may attempt to escape by repeating the saving throw, taking 1d10 piercing damage on each failed attempt.

 

[Undrave]

Why is the trident just a spear in the martial group?! Why doesn’t it have anything different? It’s literally the same stats but it’s somehow heavier? And that makes it Martial? It’s so dumb!

 

[CleverNickName]

Naginata
melee weapon (martial, polearm)
Damage: 1d10
Damage Type: Slashing
Properties: Heavy, Reach, Two-Handed, Special
Weight: 6

The naginata is considered a Monk weapon for the purpose of certain abilities and class features.

 

[CleverNickName]

Why is the trident just a spear in the martial group?! Why doesn’t it have anything different? It’s literally the same stats but it’s somehow heavier? And that makes it Martial? It’s so dumb!

Agreed. I'd just boost the damage to 1d8/1d10 and be done with it.

 

[Undrave]

Agreed. I'd just boost the damage to 1d8/1d10 and be done with it.

I wish the Defensive Property from 4e was still a thing. Hold a Defensive weapon in your off hand while holding another weapon (or maybe two handed? I think that’s how the Quarterstaff worked?) and you get +1 to AC! Simple and clean. Monks would have loved it…

Or the Brutal property, or the High Crit… Weapons in 4e weren’t that complicated but they had some neat subtle differentiation.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Remove the Heavy property from those and they'd be great save for the fact that Crit Range and Multiplier needs to come back.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Guisarme
melee weapon (simple, polearm)
Damage: 1d6
Damage Type: Slashing
Properties: Heavy, Two-Handed, Unhorse
Weight: 8

The guisarme is a simple weapon, since it is just adding a pruning hook to a spear shaft. It has a special use that can only be used by those proficient in the weapon.

Unhorse. When the wielder of this weapon uses an action to Attack, they can forgo one of their attacks to attempt to knock a mounted target off of their mount. The rider must make a Dexterity saving throw versus 10 + the attack bonus of the polearm's wielder. If the saving throw fails, the rider is forcibly dismounted and falls prone to the ground.

EDIT: I wonder if the damage should be 1d4 as a simple weapon. There's a reason the guisarme had a lot of later development adding more damagey bits.

 

[bedir than]

@Dyson Logos has supplied a random polearm generator here,

Unwieldy vicious kobold earspoon with match holder