D&D (2024) New One D&D Weapons Table Shows 'Mastery' Traits

The weapons table from the upcoming Unearthed Arcana playtest for One D&D has made its way onto the internet via Indestructoboy on Twitter, and reveals some new mechanics. The mastery traits include Nick, Slow, Puncture, Flex, Cleave, Topple, Graze, and Push. These traits are accessible by the warrior classes.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Similarly, when 4e first introduced the Warlord, I was surprised to find that they could wake you up from 0. I was absolutely on board with them giving ("healing") HP, but it took me awhile to come around on them stopping you from dying by yelling at you. (Doesn't bother me anymore).

warlords really did just roll up like

 

[Parmandur]

these aren't new, though.
knocking people prone is always helpful. generating advantage on people is always helpful. doing damage even on a miss is usually helpful. and they're all more interesting then a small bit of extra damage, even if it is combined with an AC bonus and a fighting style.

Not new, but being able to get both at the same time is super new.

Maybe it's not as sexy as some of the others to you personally, but it can hang with them mechanically.

 

[tetrasodium]

okay, but again - we're not talking about 2d6/1d12 weapons when we're talking about the +1. we're talking about versatile weapons, which all cap at 1d10 when two-handed. so, i'll ask you again - how is that relevant?

If you look back at what I wrote in post144 I started it by bringing uop the 1h/2h comparisons. That singular 2d6 weapon also makes "average" meaningless & misleading at best when making comparisons between 1h & 2h weapons. It's meaningless & misleading because the difference between 1d[1-12] & 2d6 is very much not +1. & it continues the 5e trend of one weapon to rule them all & anything else it trash players will be insulted in finding in magical flavors.

Players don't make enough attacks for a simple average to work out across that kind of gap in an average session & that likely still holds true across an entire campaign.

 

[Nightfly]

It's funny that this information came out today, because I earlier today I was reading Kobold Press's book "Beyond Damage Dice" which attempts to give unique attributes to weapons in 5e. Sadly, I don't think that book is very good: lots of vague wording, and many abilities seem overpowered or underpowered, or simply too complicated.

My hope is that this 1D&D "mastery" stuff does what that book was attempting to do, but in a better thought-out way. We'll see. But I'm optimistic.

 

[Incenjucar]

The math behind the dice gets super contextual and granular. 1d12 is actually better than 2d6 when you need to hit exactly 12 to make a difference.

 

[Charlaquin]

On the one hand, yes, on the other hand that still compounds with getting the AC bonus, too.

But you’d get the shield bonus using a one-handed weapon without the flex mastery. The difference between a 1d8 weapon with a shield and a 1d10 weapon with a shield is +1 average damage per hit. That’s fine, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the strongest of these mastery properties. I’d much rather use a rapier and shield for advantage on the next attack after a hit than a longsword for +1 damage on each hit.

 

[tetrasodium]

The math behind the dice gets super contextual and granular.

indeed 100%, that's my point.

1d12 is actually better than 2d6 when you need to hit exactly 12 to make a difference.

We are talking about damage dice not tohit. 3.x style flat DR is also no longer a thing. Half of 2d6 is more reliably good than half of 1d12.

Exactly what are the circumstances in 5e where a player "needs" to hit exactly 12?

 

[Parmandur]

But you’d get the shield bonus using a one-handed weapon without the flex mastery. The difference between a 1d8 weapon with a shield and a 1d10 weapon with a shield is +1 average damage per hit. That’s fine, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near the strongest of these mastery properties. I’d much rather use a rapier and shield for advantage on the next attack after a hit than a longsword for +1 damage on each hit.

It's still more complex than a simple +1, because it changes the range.

I'm just saying, Flex weapons will do fine.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's still more complex than a simple +1, because it changes the range.

I'm just saying, Flex weapons will do fine.

I don’t think the’ll be bad by any means, I just think they’re probably the least optimal weapon mastery, at least from what we know of them so far. That’s fine, especially since it’s also the simplest option; it’s good to have a straightforward damage boost people can go for if they don’t want to mess around with trips and slows and other such stuff. Same reason we have both the Battlemaster and the champion. But I got the impression you were saying it seems like one of the strongest and I think objectively it’s actually one of the weakest, if not the weakest.

 

[Incenjucar]

indeed 100%, that's my point.

We are talking about damage dice not tohit. 3.x style flat DR is also no longer a thing. Half of 2d6 is more reliably good than half of 1d12.

Exactly what are the circumstances in 5e where a player "needs" to hit exactly 12?

The target has 12 hit points (after factoring in str etc).

11 damage doesn't cut it, so you'll need to make another attack for 1+ damage next round, for which it doesn't matter what you hit with.