D&D (2024) 3 Months in - Weapon Mastery

[TaranTheWanderer]

I'm going to be using topple a lot this weekend so I'll let you know next week!. And, probably, Nick and push as well.

 

[mellored]

My biggest issue is that all classes don't have some form of it.

Cantrips are some form of it.

Slow -> ray of frost
Sap -> vicious mockery
Cleave -> acid splash
Push -> thorn whip

That really just leaves the monk, but they can grapple.

 

[Eubani]

I do not wish to see weapon mastery shared further, in fact I would of been happier to see them being a Fighter only mechanic but as history shows, when a fighter is rarely allowed a nice thing everybody tries to steal his lunch.

 

[abirdcall]

I do not wish to see weapon mastery shared further, in fact I would of been happier to see them being a Fighter only mechanic but as history shows, when a fighter is rarely allowed a nice thing everybody tries to steal his lunch.

There is far too much design space there to make it Fighter only.

They kept it out of all of the full casters which was the right move. Even the mastery feat only provides Str or Dex so is tough for the full casters to take if they want to go that way.

Fighters got a lot in 2024 including better mastery than other classes at level 9. Tactical Master doesn't sound great when read but in game doing mastery combos as well having more options available is quite good. They can do all of this with whatever their strongest magic weapon is.

Feats are stronger so their extra feat at 6th is very good. They can get to 20 with 3 feats by 8th.

Tactical Mind is very good. Only applies when failing and doesn't use it up if you still fail. They even get 1 more Second Wind. Tactical Shift is also very nice.

Indomitable is much better.

The Champion is quite good now too. Heroic Inspiration every round at 10th level is incredibly strong.

Fighters did very well in 2024.

 

[Sulicius]

There is far too much design space there to make it Fighter only.

They kept it out of all of the full casters which was the right move. Even the mastery feat only provides Str or Dex so is tough for the full casters to take if they want to go that way.

Fighters got a lot in 2024 including better mastery than other classes at level 9. Tactical Master doesn't sound great when read but in game doing mastery combos as well having more options available is quite good. They can do all of this with whatever their strongest magic weapon is.

Feats are stronger so their extra feat at 6th is very good. They can get to 20 with 3 feats by 8th.

Tactical Mind is very good. Only applies when failing and doesn't use it up if you still fail. They even get 1 more Second Wind. Tactical Shift is also very nice.

Indomitable is much better.

The Champion is quite good now too. Heroic Inspiration every round at 10th level is incredibly strong.

Fighters did very well in 2024.

Just because there is design space, doesn’t mean it needs to be filled. There exists such a thing as overdesigning.

At some point the mechanics get in the way of rolling dice and pretending to kill a goblin.

 

[Baumi]

I feared they might be a problem, but in the games i GM'd so far the players hat tons of fun with it and it wasn't a big deal on my side.

The most common Mastery was Vex and Nick, but the players tried other like Topple, Cleave, Sap,.. to mostly good effect. I thought sap would be a drag since it can make most of the monsters impotent (especially on the fighter with all the multiple attacks), but it did wasn't a big deal in the end.

Only slow really sucks, I have not seen a usefull effect from this once.

 

[Retros_x]

My biggest issue is that all classes don't have some form of it.

Why would a divinitation wizard get a weapon mastery. But I bet each class will get a "martial subclass" at one point with weapon mastery incl. . Although it will make your game even slower, your problems with the feat are kinda pulling in different directions.

 

[Horwath]

Only slow really sucks, I have not seen a usefull effect from this once.

yeah, slow should be 15 or even 20ft move speed penalty.
Or better yet, halve your speed, so it can be useful against very fast opponents.

or -20ft or half speed, whatever is slower.

 

[Horwath]

Why would a divinitation wizard get a weapon mastery. But I bet the moment each class will get a "martial subclass" at one point with weapon mastery incl. . Although it will make your game even slower, your problems with the feat are kinda pulling in different directions.

agree 100%

but any class/sub-class feature that gives martial weapons or extra attack should give one weapon mastery slot.

 

[abirdcall]

Just because there is design space, doesn’t mean it needs to be filled. There exists such a thing as overdesigning.

At some point the mechanics get in the way of rolling dice and pretending to kill a goblin.

They're either going to have it for multiple classes or not at all. It would be bad design to introduce this complex mechanic and have it apply to only fighters and for little to no benefit.