D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[Lanefan]

Okay but even at that, you’re telling me a one time purchase of a whetstone is enough to take care of an entire party’s weapons.

This seems more like a brief nod towards verisimilitude than anything impactful or of real consequence in the game.

Relatively speaking, whetstones are dirt cheap in the game; thus when I dock them a flat amount for general upkeep now and then, having a bit of that go toward a new whetstone makes sense.

How is it not easier and better to simply assume that with the proficiency that comes with wielding a weapon also comes the care and maintenance of that weapon?

I could simply add to the weapon's listed weight to cover those extra material, I suppose, but that might raise more questions than it answers while also denying the opportunity to not have a whetstone or weapons care kit and instead rely on others (wouldn't be the first time I've seen that!).

 

[Lanefan]

Every cantrip is limitless magic ammo.

Yep - one of 5e's poorer ideas.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Yup, and I really don't care for it.

Why? It doesn't make sense for an archmage to simply forget how to do most basic things, because he did one of them five times this very day. Cantrips are realistic and beleivable about worldbuilding regarding magic users.

Yeah. That's the biggest reason why I want nothing to do with WotC or Hasbro. Can't believe I haven't been clear about that.

Then you want nothing to do with D&D, at least until they own the IP. And they're not giving it up.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Yep - one of 5e's poorer ideas.

Originated in Pathfinder 1st edition, and the reasoning for it was that the moment magic users run out of spells they just stop being magical and become some rando with a crossbow, so they could as well spam cantrips sicne they're not powerful. Cantrips help keep the fantasy going without breakign immersion over arbitrary rules.

 

[Lanefan]

Originated in Pathfinder 1st edition, and the reasoning for it was that the moment magic users run out of spells they just stop being magical and become some rando with a crossbow, so they could as well spam cantrips sicne they're not powerful. Cantrips help keep the fantasy going without breakign immersion over arbitrary rules.

Never played PF in either form. Closest I got was 3.5e.

Casters IMO are the limited-use big-effect guys while martials are the go-all-day energizer bunnies. Giving casters go-all-day abilities takes away the main advantage and appeal of martials.

 

[Hussar]

But even if it was accurate that a sword was not a primary weapon (again, sometimes yes sometimes no), D&D does not model mass combat. It models small unit combat often in tight spaces.

How many hunters used a sword? Compared to using a spear? After all, many of the things D&D characters fight are not humanoid. Swords would be my last choice of a weapon vs most non-humanoids. Imagine trying to fight a wyvern with a sword. But, the romance version of swords makes it not just a viable option, but, in most versions of D&D, the best option.

And, as far as academics go, might I suggest reading The ARMA site? It's by far the best research there is on things weapony and medieval.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Never played PF in either form. Closest I got was 3.5e.

Casters IMO are the limited-use big-effect guys while martials are the go-all-day energizer bunnies. Giving casters go-all-day abilities takes away the main advantage and appeal of martials.

But it does fit the simulationsit approach. If you want the game where you need to track every arrow and weapons break, then it doesn't make sense for wizard to be operating by video game logic where he spots being wizard, turns into a Joe Schmoe and picks a crossbow once he runs out of arbitrary number of spells to cast.

 

[GobHag]

Have you used 5e's encumbrance, or just ignored it from day 1 (ignoring it includes using magic to get around it)? And what version of 5e?

Yes but my experience was that unless you were a sword and boarder with heavy armour it was easy to just not think about it since we weren't going for a survival campaign in a 2014 campaign.

I had a oneshot with 2024 but we weren't even tracking it.

 

[Hussar]

Yep - one of 5e's poorer ideas.

Meh. Why? No one even tracks components anymore. You have a spell component case and that's the end of the tracking. And, let's be honest, the reason for this is because for the past forty or so years, while every single PHB has listed spell components, unless they were expensive, no one cared.

If you were stripped of equipment? Ok, fair enough. Then it matters. But 99.9% of the time? No one remotely cared. I remember way back in the 80's having a DM who insisted on tracking sand for sleep spells because, as he put it, you needed to blow the sand at the target. I pointed out that Sleep had an alternative spell component - a cricket's leg - that wasn't used in casting, so, I just wrote cricket's leg on my character sheet and never had to worry about it again.

You need bat guano for a fireball. Exactly how much? A pinch? An ounce? How many castings per ounce of guano do you get? Tracking this sort of stuff is pointless busywork that pretty much went the way of armor vs weapon adjustments.

 

[GobHag]

Meh. Why? No one even tracks components anymore. You have a spell component case and that's the end of the tracking. And, let's be honest, the reason for this is because for the past forty or so years, while every single PHB has listed spell components, unless they were expensive, no one cared.

If you were stripped of equipment? Ok, fair enough. Then it matters. But 99.9% of the time? No one remotely cared. I remember way back in the 80's having a DM who insisted on tracking sand for sleep spells because, as he put it, you needed to blow the sand at the target. I pointed out that Sleep had an alternative spell component - a cricket's leg - that wasn't used in casting, so, I just wrote cricket's leg on my character sheet and never had to worry about it again.

You need bat guano for a fireball. Exactly how much? A pinch? An ounce? How many castings per ounce of guano do you get? Tracking this sort of stuff is pointless busywork that pretty much went the way of armor vs weapon adjustments.

Because Lanefan believes in the idea that it's easier to remove than add in houserules, so any kind of old rule shouldn't be abandoned or removed--good or bad for the customer base's play experience. Especially since he's a fan of the old-style

I however, am an anti-fan, so I want those stuff removed or marginalized since I want D&D to move towards the 'new-school' style where long-term resource management and down-to-earth survival style of play is practically excised. I'm the Tyrant of Fun basically.