D&D 5E Longswords

[Elredion]

Here's an idea for a versatile feat

Crippling Strike

Your mastery of versatile weaponry lets you land maiming cuts and joint shattering blows. After making a 2-handed hit with a versatile weapon, you may use a bonus action to deal d4 damage of the weapon's type and reduce the targets AC by 1 until the start of your next turn.



I also believe the dueling fighting style should apply when a versatile weapon is used with 2 hands.

 

[Zardnaar]

How do you deal with characters who are specialized or focused on specific items?

Sometimes they will be awesome other times they will suck.

 

[S'mon]

How about rename Rapier "Sword" so it covers generic swords of all types... longsword can be retained as hand-and-a-half sword, bastard sword & historical long sword. Or if you don't like 5e's overpowered DEX stat, remove rapier and add "Sword" as a d8 non-finesse weapon cheaper than longsword.

 

[Cyrinishad]

Disclaimer: I didn't read through the entire thread.

Here's my first thought for a house-rule to make the Elves actually want to use Longswords... Have Elves treat Longswords as a Finesse weapon.

 

[Brandegoris]

The real problem is that they allow the rapier to do a D8 damage instead of the d6. If the rapier did a d6 then the problem would be solved.

 

[Bacon Bits]

The real problem is that they allow the rapier to do a D8 damage instead of the d6. If the rapier did a d6 then the problem would be solved.

If the rapier did a d6 then it would be a Shortsword.

The real problem is that Dex is leaps and bounds a better stat than Str. Str gives you athletics, strength saves, carrying capacity (and Str 8 = 120 lbs so it's essentially not relevant), and full plate (+1 AC). Dex gives you initiative, acrobatics, sleight of hand, stealth, dexterity saves and high armor class without full plate. If you have a choice between being Dex based and being Str based and it's going to cost you nothing in terms of damage output, then you choose Dex every time unless you're a Barbarian.

 

[tglassy]

If the rapier did a d6 then it would be a Shortsword.

The real problem is that Dex is leaps and bounds a better stat than Str. Str gives you athletics, strength saves, carrying capacity (and Str 8 = 120 lbs so it's essentially not relevant), and full plate (+1 AC). Dex gives you initiative, acrobatics, sleight of hand, stealth, dexterity saves and high armor class without full plate. If you have a choice between being Dex based and being Str based and it's going to cost you nothing in terms of damage output, then you choose Dex every time unless you're a Barbarian.

You know, I keep hearing that, and it just isn't true. Yes, Dex is in charge of more skills and initiative. But as for AC, Strength wins with Plate Armor. For Damage, Strength wins because it can use every weapon, including Great Swords. Athletics cancels out Acrobatics. So, in reality, the only thing Dex has on Strength is Saves, Initiative, Stealth and Sleight of Hand, and unless you're actually making a stealthy, sleight of hand, character, those skills are pretty much pointless. And as for Initiative, everybody goes every round regardless. Sure, you might go first, but everyone's gonna get to go. And even then, it's based on the roll, and adding a couple numbers to the roll isn't going to change things that much, so initiative is a non starter for me.

Dex saves is really the only good thing Dex has that you can't get with Str, IMO. That's a reason to have dex, cause they're more common than strength saves.

The day I realized I could dump Dex, grab plate armor, and use the weapons I wanted to use was the day my options opened wide.

 

[Prism]

The real problem is that Dex is leaps and bounds a better stat than Str. Str gives you athletics, strength saves, carrying capacity (and Str 8 = 120 lbs so it's essentially not relevant), and full plate (+1 AC). Dex gives you initiative, acrobatics, sleight of hand, stealth, dexterity saves and high armor class without full plate. If you have a choice between being Dex based and being Str based and it's going to cost you nothing in terms of damage output, then you choose Dex every time unless you're a Barbarian.

I disagree too. I like your list of strength options just as much as the dex ones. Athletics is one of the most useful skills in our games. Grappling is very useful. Oh, and you usually do more damage too

 

[hejtmane]

Strength is also what you use for shove and grapple which can be used to great effect on the battle field against monsters

 

[dco]

Strength also serves to lift the laundry, still DEX is better in more cases and that makes it a better stat.