D&D (2024) Do you actually like weapon masteries?

[Mistwell]

Ok, but to what extent is it "doing" something? It's not a choice you make during combat. Even the non-damaging ones don't come with any trade-offs, not even using your bonus action. So every turn, every attack, you just add an extra step.

And in most cases I would say its not even a choice you make outside of combat: you are probably going to use the best magical weapon you own, and get whatever passive benefit comes with it. Right? Or am I wrong?

You have not thought through how these interact with other rules enough. Yes, it often does depend on a trade off involving your bonus action, and it also involves a trade off in which weapon you use, and sometimes even which order you use your masteries, and if you use two weapon fighting. There are a ton of potential decision points in there. I strongly recommend you not read the document and make a judgement but instead make a 13th level Fighter using ALL the new rules (not just the new fighter rules) and test it in a combat and compare that to how the old fighter and weapons worked.

And I am saying that as someone who did just what you did. Read it, think it's pretty meh, and came to an initial conclusion. It took hearing a full build with all the new rules and a battle simulation and comparison to really see what was going on here and all the interactions involved. These are rules intended to be playtested. And I have been falling into that same trap of not playtesting the rules, just reading a new section in isolation. The further we get into this playtest, the harder it is to see how all the new rules interact with each other just by reading a section.

 

[mellored]

Pull should be an option, so you can drag people into close melee for a good stabbin'.

Pull on the whip would be fun.

Effects should compound to capitalize on multiple attacks, such as slow, which should be something you can hammer at until the target is immobilized.

Immobilized with a bow would be a bit broken.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes, I like them, and how they make different weapons feel like an actually different choice. They are big effects, and shouldn't be a major complexity in play.

 

[Incenjucar]

Pull on the whip would be fun.

Immobilized with a bow would be a bit broken.

Add a range limit. Entangle is a 1st level spell with a 90' range, an AOE, restrained instead of immobilized, can be sustained for the whole combat, requires only one attack, and drops difficult terrain.

 

[jerryrice4949]

I like it a lot. It at least distinguishes weapons a little and will help make different characters more unique. Before weapons were so boring other than the ridiculous rapier.

I also think you are greatly over thinking how much it will slow down combat. Maybe the first couple sessions but after a while it will be memorized and integrated into play and will feel almost automatic; may add seconds but not much more.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Weapon masteries are a good start, but we still need even more complexity to weapon combat.

 

[Incenjucar]

I'd really love to see weapons have a whole tool kit associated with each of them. A warrior picking up a weapon they're trained in should be like a druid choosing a wild shape, including utility features. A fighter that's trained in daggers should be able to throw them and choose damage types by precisely aiming which part hits the target, and should be able to jam them into trees and masonry to use as a stair step in mid-combat.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I stand corrected on the "fighters can give any weapon any mastery" part.

Thanks for the responses. It's been illuminating.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm thoroughly perplexed by the weapon masteries thing. I don't feel like it adds anything of value to the game, other than slowing down combat. It feels like complexity for the sake making the game feel more complex...for the sake of complexity. Sure, it adds more decisions, but not interesting decisions.

And it's also just so arbitrary. Sure, giant hammers might be good for knocking people down, but in most cases the mechanic associated with a given weapon could just as easily apply to almost any other weapon. (And, in fact, they will, since Fighters can arbitrarily assign any mastery to any weapon.)

Do you like it? Why?

I'm on the fence.

Conceptually, the idea that Fighters (I'd prefer it just be fighters, but "warrior" type classes is ok too) can do more with weapons than others? I really like that!

However, I see a bunch of problems with the playtest's implementation...

a) They're shifting any conversation away from what Fighter-types do in a broader sense (including exploration and interaction) to a very narrow zoomed-in view on what they do with weapons in combat. My opinion is that's to the detriment of the game. Compared to other D&D players, I'm likely in the minority about this. C'est la vie.

b) Mostly, these properties feel milquetoast or underwhelming, especially compared to Basic D&D's weapon mastery or PF2e's proficiencies which kind of replicates what BD&D did.

c) They're probably going to slow combat down at least a little bit.

d) Which property is applied to which weapon feels nonsensical.

e) The Fighter's ability to change/add weapon mastery properties during a Long Rest feels out of touch with "a master of combat" being able to adapt weapons on the fly to, say, push with a maul rather than topple.

What if a Fighter instead had a choice of 'mastery paths' that incorporated some of this stuff, plus a bit more story...

Woodcutter
Wood wise and handy with an axe, you are skilled in identifying types of wood and felling trees. Gain Survival proficiency. Wooden creatures (plants, constructs, casters benefiting from barkskin) suffer vulnerability to damage from your axe attacks. Likewise, when using an axe to chop down a wooden door or barricade, you deal double damage. When you wield a Handaxe it gains the Vex property. When you wield a Greataxe, it gains the Cleave property.

 

[mellored]

Add a range limit. Entangle is a 1st level spell with a 90' range, an AOE, restrained instead of immobilized, can be sustained for the whole combat, requires only one attack, and drops difficult terrain.

Entangle doesn't deal damage, and gets a save each turn, and you will run out of spell slots.

A little different than immobilized at-will with damage.

Maybe slow can stack, but only up to a maximum of half their normal speed.
So a 30' speed enemy can be slowed twice, and have 15' movement.