D&D 5E Dual wielding and improvised weapons. Technically broken?

[Blue]

In other words, you have a personal response to everything I cited, so it doesn't count? You asked for some rules that support my position, and I gave them to you. Not sure why you think you don't wield your holy symbol? But, now that Crawford's answered I am fine with his answer.

Thank you for a good debate. At this point I think we are just rehashing the same points again and again which hasn't won over either of us. Good gaming!

 

[Sunseeker]

Well, the wizard is always considered armed then, and able to make Opportunity Attacks and the like.

But it also really takes something away from the monk. One of the monk's big class features is that they can punch people for 1d4. You're pretty much just giving that to everyone, which makes the monk feel far less special. It's a little like allowing everyone to deal an extra 2 damage on melee attacks whenever they're really, really pissed off.

The Monk gets a special unarmed attack which upgrades as they level up. Okay, at 1st level a Wizard can hit for 1d4+str. At 1st level a Monk can hit for 1d4+str or dex. As the monk levels up, they also get to hit more often and harder, while at 20th level, a wizard will still hit for 1d4+str, once. To compensate, I wouldn't be against allowing a monk to take the Dual Wield feat if they want that +1 to their AC, though I suspect they'd rather improve their Dex or Wis.

 

[fewilcox]

I was going to just read the first page then go on my merry way, but I just had to highlight these two:

Well, since it is not, nothing is really broken. Worry less, play more.

The philosophy of 5E says do not worry about these corner cases so much. I am on board with that.

I could not agree more. That's always been my philosophy as a GM. The DMG-equivalent in GURPS has a sidebar titled "When in Doubt, Roll and Shout" (B497) that basically says that when these situations pop up mid-session just do whatever's the most fun for everyone and keep the game moving. Along similar lines is my favorite sidebar I've ever read in any book, roleplaying or otherwise: "Damn the Rules, Full Speed Ahead!" (B489). It basically says that if the rules are bogging down play or getting in the way of fun then ignore them and get on with the game.

I would allow all AC to stack as a nod to the amount of damage the player is giving up in order to do this. You're doing 1d4+mod damage, which means you're going to be looking at maybe 6 damage per hit in exchange for being quite possibly the most unhittable thing on the battlefield (at low levels at least). I'm also imagining the player using one of these shields Captain America style. Combine this with Eldritch Knight with a weapon bond with your shields so that you could have them immediately return to you after throwing. It eats your bonus action, but bypasses the donning/doffing time, and makes for epic visuals.

That visual is so entertaining that I may have to try it out eventually. 8o)

 

[jadrax]

Well, the wizard is always considered armed then, and able to make Opportunity Attacks and the like.

Because Unarmed Strike is a weapon, everyone is always considered armed and able to make Opportunity Attacks and the like.

Also note that Improvised Weapons do d4 damage only if they bear 'no resemblance to a weapon'. You could, I think quite reasonably, argue that Knuckle Dusters, gauntlets and the like bare a resemblance to unarmed strike and thus have the same stats. Although personally I am tempted to add them to my list of additional weapons and have them do either 1d2 or 1d3.