Level Up (A5E) Cultural Weapons and Armor Redundancy - Proposed Fix

[xiphumor]

One thing that bothers me is that classes who already have proficiency in armor and/or weapons that are also gained from their culture get no benefits. E.g. the Imperial should be a thematically great pick for fighters, but because they already have proficiency in light armor, spears, and light crossbows, it’s a suboptimal pick for them.

So here’s my proposed solution:

If a character gains a weapon proficiency from their culture that they later gain from another source, they gain +1 to damage rolls with that weapon. The second source can be from anywhere, but doesn’t stack.

If a character gains redundant proficiency in armor or shields following the same criteria, they reduce non-magical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage by the following amount while wearing that armor.

Light - by 1
Medium - by 2
Heavy - by 3

Shields also reduce by 2, which stacks with the armor reduction.

Thoughts?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

...didn't you already make a post like this back in september?

 

[xiphumor]

...didn't you already make a post like this back in september?

I think I did. Apologies.

 

[Corinnguard]

I think I did. Apologies.

It's cool. Sometimes a topic needs revisiting.

One thing that bothers me is that classes who already have proficiency in armor and/or weapons that are also gained from their culture get no benefits. E.g. the Imperial should be a thematically great pick for fighters, but because they already have proficiency in light armor, spears, and light crossbows, it’s a suboptimal pick for them.

What if we had a form of Expertise that can be applied to weapons and armor proficiencies?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

What if we had a form of Expertise that can be applied to weapons and armor proficiencies?

i mean, the immediate first thought here would be expertise dice. but an expertise die to AC/attack rolls seems...much (it's equivalent to about a +2 magic armor/weapon, mathematically). an expertise die to damage is more in line, but is kind of strange and only really works for weapons. still, as a weapon-only thing it's somewhat better then the +1 to damage suggested here mathematically (and in the last thread), if that's what you want.

for armor, i like how the first shot at this topic approached it, effectively giving the appropriate armor master feat (or something in line for such a thing, in the case of light armor) for whatever armor you've doubled up on. i don't like the proposition of this thread as much, mainly because it means you only have that sort of benefit for heavy armor (and i guess light armor in a way), whereas medium armor can be further improved with medium armor master. it feels less consistent. that said, it also feels inspired by pathfinder 2e, which has damage reduction for medium/heavy armors you've specialized in.

personally how i'll probably do this for my games is to take the original approach, except actually giving the appropriate feats for medium/heavy armor, and then for shields giving the shield focus feat. i might change the +1 to damage to an expertise die to damage, if only because i like expertise dice. they go clack.

 

[Corinnguard]

personally how i'll probably do this for my games is to take the original approach, except actually giving the appropriate feats for medium/heavy armor, and then for shields giving the shield focus feat. i might change the +1 to damage to an expertise die to damage, if only because i like expertise dice. they go clack.

A free cultural feat then.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

A free cultural feat then.

yeah, basically. i can get if some people find that much, though. i don't think any of those feats are particularly great so i think it'll be fine.

 

[Corinnguard]

Certain cultures are more likely to train their citizens in a particular feat than others. The 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign setting had a list of regional feats for anyone who wanted to come from a particular area of Faerun. So this idea of a free cultural feat is something that some people can get behind.

 

[Selganor]

Since the class is "doubling" the proficiencies (the Culture usually comes first), wouldn't any benefits from gaining a proficiency you already got be the same if you get weapon/armor proficiencies you already got from multiclassing?

Just thinking if we are talking about some sort of benefit for "double" stuff...

 

[Tessarael]

IMHO, the simplest approach is to just swap in some similar racial or heritage ability of equivalent value. I've seen analysis of this for both 5E D&D and A5E, just not finding a link with a quick search at the moment.

It has been a problem for quite a few editions that racial abilities in terms of weapons and armor sometimes just overlap, and hence are worthless vs. the ones you're already getting from class. It leads to some counter-intuitive choices for race/heritage/culture. I'd much prefer there was a choice to not have armor or weapon training, for the case where you're already getting that proficiency from your class.