D&D 5E Fighting Style for Melee Knife/Dagger Use

[Kobold Avenger]

Due to the nature of rules a dagger is the weakest weapon around, something that's only used as a last resort weapon by most classes, and only effective (in it's versatility as something that can be thrown) by Rogues and Monks of a high enough level. But a dagger in the hands of someone who knows how to use one effectively can be a very deadly. I don't want to bother for now in a Fighter subclass that specializes in dagger fighting. So my ideas so far are.

Knife Fighting
When attacking with a dagger in melee it does 1d6 damage, while grappling an opponent the dagger does 1d8 damage instead.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I also felt like the d4 weapons needed some love, but I went in a different direction with my fighting style.

Swift Strike
You can make one additional attack when you take the attack action. You only gain this benefit while you are wielding only the following weapons: Club, Dagger, Dart, Light Hammer, Sickle, Sling, or Whip.

Sorry. Half my post got cut out. I think your fighting style does address the issue with a dagger's underwhelming damage, and it has a nice rider for when grappling. But you are only increasing the average damage by +1, +2 when grappling. You can achieve the same effect (arguably better because it is more consistent damage) by taling the Dueling Style to get a +2 damage bonus. Of course, yours would allow a damage boost for those who choose to dual wield daggers, but then they wouldn't be able to grapple since both hands would be occupied.

Personally, I think it is more interesting to try and design a fighting style that is different from the others. Since other styles grant bonuses to damage or attack, I would try and find something fitting for daggers that avoids straight bonuses to damage or attack.

 

[Shiroiken]

Due to the nature of rules a dagger is the weakest weapon around, something that's only used as a last resort weapon by most classes, and only effective (in it's versatility as something that can be thrown) by Rogues and Monks of a high enough level. But a dagger in the hands of someone who knows how to use one effectively can be a very deadly.

I've got to disagree here... the dagger is by far the best of all the 1d4 damage weapons (except maybe the sling, just because of range). Is your concern with the dagger or a dislike of 1d4 weapons in general? Because all of them are pretty much just intended as backup weapons.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I've got to disagree here... the dagger is by far the best of all the 1d4 damage weapons (except maybe the sling, just because of range). Is your concern with the dagger or a dislike of 1d4 weapons in general? Because all of them are pretty much just intended as backup weapons.

I can see where @Kobold Avenger is coming from. There are cool concepts involving knife fighters or warriors specializing in things like whips or hammers. As an example in media, my mind goes to Taryn from Nightmare on Elm Street 3. But those concepts can be hard to replicate. As you said, daggers and such are typically backup weapons, and to use them as primary weapons is a suboptimal choice. Some people are ok with suboptimal characters, but I definitely understand wanting mechanics to allow for a concept to be on par with the power of other more mainstream builds.

 

[Blue]

For a while I was fiddling around with the house rule that if you knew all martial weapons, the damage of all simple weapons increased by a die size. It made them generally usable so that players could have a lot more variety in play.

Another rule I've seen is giving certain weapons (like daggers) an Offhand keyword. They work for two weapon fighting even if the main weapon is not light. So you can do rapier and main gauche (dagger) and the like.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I can see where @Kobold Avenger is coming from. There are cool concepts involving knife fighters or warriors specializing in things like whips or hammers. As an example in media, my mind goes to Taryn from Nightmare on Elm Street 3. But those concepts can be hard to replicate. As you said, daggers and such are typically backup weapons, and to use them as primary weapons is a suboptimal choice. Some people are ok with suboptimal characters, but I definitely understand wanting mechanics to allow for a concept to be on par with the power of other more mainstream builds.

Also, in fiction they aren’t necessarily suboptimal, and many of us care approximately 100% more about that than we do about realism.

 

[aco175]

I have had several thieves use just a dagger and skip the shortsword and even the rapier. Most are halflings for thematic reasons though. They also tend to get a magical dagger that returns when thrown at some point.

I can see something with the small light weapons where you can an extra attack. Instead of the old speed factor penalizing the large weapons, you just reward the small ones. Does the two-weapon fighting already this though?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I based on the fighting style on concepts of martial arts with knife fighting, which is why there's the idea of doing even more with grappling.

 

[ad_hoc]

Using the Dueling or Two Weapon Fighting feat will make you do more damage than this feat.

 

[Salthorae]

Hey, if a naked monk can be just as hard to hurt with weapons as a fully armored knight, there’s no reason that a dagger can’t be a primary melee weapon!

I like the idea of A fighting style that increases it to a d6, but I think pumping it to a d8 in a grapple might be a bit too much?

Since grappling requires a hand, and you cant normally do two weapon fighting while grappling, maybe allow all the fighting style to make a dagger attack as a bonus action even while grappling?