D&D 3.x [3.5] Weapon size and use

[Li Shenron]

From the WotC messageboards (posted by Andy Collins): http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?threadid=45270&perpage=30&pagenumber=19

A Medium character wielding a Large weapon (whether that weapon is a dagger, longsword, greatsword, or crossbow) takes a -2 penalty to attacks with the weapon.

The DMG also includes a variant weapon-equivalency chart that DMs can use if they feel like letting characters use alternative-size weapons with less difficulty (for instance, a Medium short sword is the equivalent of a Small longsword and a Large dagger). This not only lets the halfling keep using the weapons he takes off the orcs he fights, but also lets the half-orc try out that ogre's enormous greatsword.

A character can wield a weapon within one size category at a -2 penalty. You can't wear armor that isn't of your size category (so a halfling can't wear Medium armor, but a dwarf, human, elf, or half-orc can).

The DMG gives a variant system for weapon equivalencies for those DMs who want a Medium short sword to be treated like a Small longsword. In that case, the halfling wouldn't suffer the "wrong-size" penalty for wielding a Medium short sword.

I fully expected that this system would create some questions. Thankfully, the books do a pretty good job answering them, and once you're used to the system, I think you'll find that it handles weapon-wielding creatures of varying sizes much more cleanly and effectively than in 3.0.

For characters with a natural reach of 5 ft. or more, reach weapons allow you to attack at up to twice your normal reach. (For characters with natural reach 0 ft., a reach weapon allows them to attack a creature 5 ft. away--fear the pixie army wielding longspears!)

A small longspear will grant reach.
A large greatsword or halberd won't grant reach (but note that a Large humanoid-shaped creature already has 10-ft. natural reach).

Melee weapons are defined as light, one-handed, or two-handed. This definition is relative to weapon size (a Medium one-handed weapon is a two-handed weapon for a Small character, and a light weapon for a Large character).

The new weapon size rules. These clarify an essentially ad hoc and confusing system.

Brilliant! Excellent! Superb!

Easy to comprehend, very needed to improve our games and extremely useful to balance the new Power Attack. Besides, it gives us the opportunity to explain the reason of desertification and deforestation of the temperate zones.

Hey, don't worry it's cabaret!

 

[Darklone]

A medium character wielding a large greatsword has a -2 to hit????????

 

[CrimsonTemplar]

A medium character wielding a large greatsword has a -2 to hit????????

Glad I'm not the only one confused by that. I thought a Greatsword was a Large weapon already.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think A.C. means that the sizes in 3.5 mean something different.

So a Greatsword will not be a Large weapon by default, but rather there will be Small Greatswords, Medium Greatswords, Large Greatswords, depending of the creature the weapon is made for.
The current 3.0 Greatsword is a 3.5 Medium Greatsword (2-handed weapon) because it is designed to be used with 2 hands by medium creatures.

Frankly I had no problem whatsoever with 3.0 weapons, it was not "confusing", except maybe when dealing with very big or very small monsters, in case of which I supposed Arms & Equipment Guide was the place to find suitable rules. Eventually it was very important for someone to have smaller/bigger version of each weapon, but in my experience I have never felt such a need. Plus, there were already enough weapons to cover the needs of all PC races.

 

[Li Shenron]

A medium character wielding a large greatsword has a -2 to hit????????

Yes, but that "Large Greatsword" is NOT the 3.0 Greatsword, but rather a Greatsword made for Large characters (in 3.0 it would have Huge size).

 

[Pbartender]

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54951

 

[Sabaron]

I understand these rules. I'll post what should be a clear and concise version below:

edit: Read it if you want, but Pbartender's link is better.

Medium sized creatures use Medium sized weaponry. Humans, being Medium, wield Medium daggers, Medium longswords, and Medium greatswords. The dagger is still a light weapon, the longsword is still one handed, and the greatsword is still two handed. The difference? These are built for a creature of Medium size to use. If a halfing (size Small) tried to use a Medium Longsword, he'd suffer a -2 penalty. Ditto if a human tried to use a Small Greatsword.

What I don't get is why these rules are necessary. A greatsword is Large. That means a Medium human wields it in two hands, and a Large ogre wields it in one. Why does this neeed changing?

 

[CrimsonTemplar]

Ahhh...now I understand. We're experienceing a terminology shift without any clearly worded point of reference.

Here's a question, how does the scaling of weapons effect reach weapons? Since there can now be a Small Spiked Chain or Longspear (which are ordinalily Medium weapons in 3.5) it's possible to have a Halfling barbarian weilding a spiked chain w/o Monkey Grip.

 

[Staffan]

Ahhh...now I understand. We're experienceing a terminology shift without any clearly worded point of reference.

Here's a question, how does the scaling of weapons effect reach weapons? Since there can now be a Small Spiked Chain or Longspear (which are ordinalily Medium weapons in 3.5) it's possible to have a Halfling barbarian weilding a spiked chain w/o Monkey Grip.

Yes. This means that reach weapons will also be available to Small characters.

Also note that Tiny and smaller things have a natural reach of 0, so a tiny thing armed with a Tiny longspear will only get the reach advantage out to 5' - what a human gets with a normal weapon.

 

[CrimsonTemplar]

But will it be 10' reach? Since they can threaten the 5' squares around them I'd imagine so.