D&D 5E (House Rules) All weapons do the same damage... Who has made this work?

[overgeeked]

1) What weapon die should I use for each class? How small and how large should I go? And should I differentiate for subclasses (War Wizard, Bladelock, etc)?

Just use their HD. So 1d6 for wizards on up to 1d12 for barbarians. Don’t worry about subclass.

2) Should the die be different for simple and martial weapons? Melee and ranged?

No. That just makes things needlessly complex.

3) What should then differentiate weapons, other than damage type? In other words, what narratively happens when the barbarian uses daggers instead of her greataxe?

Damage type and the normal properties of the weapons should be enough. You can throw daggers farther, they’re smaller and easy to conceal, etc whereas a great axe has shorter range, is huge and impressive, impossible to conceal, etc.

 

[Stormonu]

I think if you want to go simple, then go simple and skip all the stuff about adding properties and different dies for melee/range, or subclasses.

1d4- wizards, sorcerers
1d6- rogue, monk, warlock
1d8- cleric, druid, ranger
1d10 fighter, paladin
1d12- barbarian

I think I'd go this, but one further - if you use it with two hands, increase the damage die by one (d12 becomes d6+d8, or 2d8 to simplify). Using two weapons doesn't increase damage, but gives you advantage on the attack roll.

 

[Mannahnin]

If you're running something super-simple like OD&D and similar, d6 damage for everyone works well. Optionally I've seen a simple set of house rules for those two, usually something like +1 damage for two weapons, roll twice and take the best for two-handers, and roll twice take the worst for small concealable stuff like daggers which you could slip into a place where you're not supposed to have weapons.

Using your hit die as your damage die is also a classic. So the fightiest characters have both the most HP and do the most damage. Some games combine this with special rules. The Nightmares Underneath does this. Two handed weapons get to roll the next bigger die. Poor quality or improvised weapons roll one die smaller. Some scholarly classes can't get the bigger die rule. Other fighty classes like the Fighter and Assassin get bonus damage rules.

For 5E, if you wanted to preserve the simple/martial distinction, I could see just letting martial weapons roll one die size larger, maybe capping that at d12. Or giving a +1 to a d12 to make it a "virtual d14".

 

[billd91]

2) Should the die be different for simple and martial weapons? Melee and ranged?

If you think the ability to strike at range is a significant benefit of ranged over melee, then I think you're well-justified in knocking ranged weapons down a die size in comparison. That or be more of a stickler for ammunition.

 

[Schmoe]

Pathfinder 2 has a great take on how to differentiate different weapons aside from just damage. Weapons have traits that can do things like, for example, reduce the iterative attack penalty, or increase the damage on a critical hit, etc. You might find some inspiration from the SRD.

Equipment – PF2 SRD

 

[BookTenTiger]

Thanks for the discussion everyone, it's great to read all these different perspectives!

 

[aco175]

Using your hit die as your damage die is also a classic. So the fightiest characters have both the most HP and do the most damage. Some games combine this with special rules. The Nightmares Underneath does this. Two handed weapons get to roll the next bigger die. Poor quality or improvised weapons roll one die smaller. Some scholarly classes can't get the bigger die rule. Other fighty classes like the Fighter and Assassin get bonus damage rules.

Only thing you would need to figure out is monster damage since their hit die is based on size. All medium monsters would be dealing d8 and all large monsters deal d10. Seems like it would work fine, but most monsters being medium dealing d8 might eventually start to favor them.

 

[Quickleaf]

Do you want to have the conversation involve other ways to differentiate weapons (i.e. making daggers useful vs. the barbarian's greatsword) apart from damage?

Or are you interested in focusing the conversation around the premise that it's a foregone conclusion you want to house-rule weapons to deal same damage, and focus on the how / implementation of that?

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I think I'd go this, but one further - if you use it with two hands, increase the damage die by one (d12 becomes d6+d8, or 2d8 to simplify). Using two weapons doesn't increase damage, but gives you advantage on the attack roll.

Having advantage on all two-weapon attacks will produce much more net damage than bumping up the die size of a two-hander by one. The end result will be mini-maxers going two-weapon style whenever they can.

Heck, if you let any class dual wield weapons they're allowed to use even wizards will be getting a meaningful accuracy boost in "Can't cast, gotta melee" emergencies.

 

[ezo]

I'm running a new campaign for brand new players, and last night the Barbarian showed some boredom with using the same weapon over and over again. She started to switch to her rapier, her daggers, etc. And of course, the only effect of this was that she did less damage.

Now to be perfectly honest, she might be happier playing a spellcaster. But the experience got me thinking.

I've read house rules where weapons deal damage based on the character's class. So a wizard would always deal 1d4 damage with a weapon, while a Barbarian would always deal 1d12 (or whatever).

I'm starting to consider this idea, but I wanted to see what folks have come up with first. Some questions I'm considering:

1) What weapon die should I use for each class? How small and how large should I go? And should I differentiate for subclasses (War Wizard, Bladelock, etc)?

2) Should the die be different for simple and martial weapons? Melee and ranged?

3) What should then differentiate weapons, other than damage type? In other words, what narratively happens when the barbarian uses daggers instead of her greataxe?


For #3, I was thinking weapons could have tags that always apply on a hit. For example, some weapons might move an opponent 5 ft, or force them to roll against being tripped or disarmed. Some weapons could damage AC as well as HP. Or maybe some weapons could allow the wielder to Disengage or Dodge as a bonus action.

Anyways, those are just some wild thoughts. Has anyone had experiences with this kind of house rule, or put other thoughts into it?

I would keep it simple:

1. If using a "two-handed" weapon: weapon damage equals Hit Die.
2. When using a "one-handed" weapons: weapon damage equals one die smaller than Hit Die.

This way, "similar" classes would fight equally well against each other.

Examples:
Barbarian => 2-H: d12, 1-H: d10
Ranger => 2-H: d10, 1-H: d8
Bard => 2-H: d8, 1-H: d6
Wizard => 2-H: d6, 1-H: d4

This also nicely uses all weapon die ranges: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 (but not 2d6, of course).

EDIT: I just had a chance to read other responses, and I see my suggestion was similarly voiced.

I've never really entertained the idea, but it is simple and elegant IMO.