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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1010562" data-attributes="member: 5171">Hey, Thought-Bub!Honestly, no real specific game in mind.  I'm just getting material ready (my D&D game just wrapped up).Thanks for the thoughts.  I see what you mean on the rakes and shovels.  Dropping them to 1d6, 19-20, archaic, and with reach is probably more reasonable -- or perhaps 1d6, 20, SIMPLE, and with reach.  And the old rusty one is going at -2 to attacks and damage for being a piece of junk.As for them being generally overpowered, here were my thoughts:1) A character who doesn't have Archaic Weapon proficiency is attacked by zombies.  He runs into the shed and sees a good-sized wrench(club), his woodcutting axe, a good-sized saw, and a rake.If he picks up the wrench, he can do 1d6, 20/x2, and he's got a hand free.If he picks up the woodcutting axe, he can do 1d8, 20/x3 (if these zombies are even vulnerable to crits).  He's also fighting at a -4 penalty, and has to use both hands to swing the axe.If he picks up the saw, he can do 1d6, 20/x3, and is at a -4 penalty (possibly -6 if it's not a great saw).If he picks up the rake, he can do 1d6 damage and has reach -- he may or may not take the -4, depending on whether the rake should be Archaic (and 19-20 crit) or Simple (and 20 crit).Which is the best weapon for him to use?  In my book, our hero is better served using the wrench, unless he's desperate.  Taking a -4 to hit is just too costly.  I think I'm gonna make the rake a large simple weapon that does 1d6, 20/x2.  It's essentially a large club that got reach instead of higher damage.2) A character who DOES have Archaic Weapon Prof. is being chased by zombies.  His longsword is back in his car, and he can't get to it right now.  He gets to the shed and sees the same weapons.  What does he grab?Wrench: 1d6, 20/x2, mediumAxe: 1d8, 20/x3, medium but takes both handsSaw: 1d6, 20/x3, mediumRake: 1d6, 20/x2, large, has reachFor him, it's a real question.  He's got options and choices.  On the other hand, this guy is already playing at a disadvantage because he doesn't have his longsword with him -- something he spent a feat in order to get good with.  If he DID have his longsword with him, would there be any kind of question?  It's a better weapon, hands-down, than anything in the shed.Making the shed-weapons archaic and not quite as good gives the untrained person something to use in desperation, but the penalty is likely to make it no better than a club.  For the guy who IS trained, these are decent fallback weapons, so that his archaic-weapon-trained character is still a bit better off than the untrained guy when the two of them walk into a shed.  They both have options.  The guy who spent more feats on melee combat has better ones.  Both people can make the choices and see what happens.Anyway, that was my reasoning.As for the saws... I thought of those when I stopped to get something in a hardware store.  The saws these days are just absurd... There's one that folds out like a giant swiss army knife, and the blade is rigid, thick, and wickedly sharp.  It's crazy.  I wouldn't make them specially usable in combat, but I would let them bypass hardness on wood or something when used out of combat. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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