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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This is honestly why I ditched DC years ago.

The problem with Superman isn’t his backstory, or motivation, it’s his out of control power set. It’s the same problem I have with “god of prep” Batman.

I like rooting for the scrappy underdog, or at least a hero who can be hurt. Kal-El…can’t. At least, he can’t be hurt without employing his well-known Achilles heel, so there’s never a question with Superman as to whether he’s going to be at real risk. The worst he can do is lose, so you have to threaten other people for there to be stakes. But Kal-El isnt just invulnerable - he’s also super strong, super fast, and has a dozen other powers. Clark is the original “Gary Stu.” So is Bruce, for the record, but we can at least suspend disbelief and accept that he could be killed. He won’t be, but he could be.

But that’s why some people prefer Superman to Batman. Me? I’m a Sider-Man/Captain America/Hawkeye/X-Men guy.

Well, good Clark stories (I refuse to call him Kal-el, his name is Clark) aren’t about him winning or losing fights. That isn’t the point of him. His point is to save people.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Which is fine except it completely runs aground once poisoned weapons enter the picture.

My character could be at fully healthy at 85 h.p. and take 1 point damage from a snake bite...but if that snake is venomous I gotta save against that venom, which means that snake had to physically injure me in order to inject the venom and thus force that save.

So just make an exception for snakes? Descriptions of what has happened when you take a point (or more) of damage do not have to be the exact same all the time. That's why it's abstract. A snake bites you for 1, it means one thing. An arrow strikes you for 1, it means another. A guy punches you for 1, it means a third. They all mean something completely different depending on if you're at 80hp or at 1hp, after all.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Does there actually need to be one? Do actual noobs want a braindead class option, or is this just something that older players are projecting onto them?

It has very little to do with being a noob or an older player. Some players enjoy (and some players need) a simple option. Funny this: We're not all the same.

 

[Parmandur]

But still only 1 extra point of damage on average over any other sword-and-board wielder. That is just inadequate compared to push or slow every round.

Remains to be seen how these traits are worded. Getting a +1 average and +2 AC is big. Any other trait is going to be balanced against that before publication.

 

[Remathilis]

Which is fine except it completely runs aground once poisoned weapons enter the picture.

My character could be at fully healthy at 85 h.p. and take 1 point damage from a snake bite...but if that snake is venomous I gotta save against that venom, which means that snake had to physically injure me in order to inject the venom and thus force that save.

The simple solution then is to not allow snakes to obtain weapon mastery with greatswords and heavy crossbows, the only two weapons on the table that do doam.

 

[Lanefan]

Did I mention spells in my descriptions? There were magic users that did not use spells in my ideas.

Cantrips are still spells.

Also, I can't think of a caster who, after about level 2, isn't using above-cantrip-level spells of some sort.

 

[Lanefan]

Does there actually need to be one?

Very, very much yes. And that class also needs to be playably balanced with the other, more complex, classes.

Do actual noobs want a braindead class option, or is this just something that older players are projecting onto them?

When first starting out, many players (including me, at the time) gravitate toward the simplest option there is in order to flatten out the learning curve a bit. Failing to provide that "simplest option" raises the entry barrier, IMO by quite a bit

 

[Lanefan]

I think one of the big issues is a lot of peopple want all hits to be contact hits and all misses to be not contact misses.

But since D&D abstracts all of the combat into 2 rolls: an attack roll and damage roll. D&D dials down it all and rolls everything together.

A true simulation of combat would roll through or compare each layer that adds toAC

1. Your Best AC 10
2. Your Dumb Luck
3. Your Armor
4. Your Shields
5. Your Easy Dodge
6. Your Hard Dodge (uses stamina)
7. Your Easy Weapon Parry
8. Your Hard Weapon Parry (uses stamina)
9. The Incoming Weapon Attack's Cleanness

10. Your Cover
11. Your Trained Skills and Abilities (i.e. things specific to your character that augment any of 2-9)

You could easily stick combat into a computer and make it each attack 10 rolls.

Online, sure. Not convinced I'd want to do this with real dice at the table, though.

 

[Lanefan]

And yet 2e calls them out as examples of fighters:

Calling Hercules and Gilgamesh out as examples of Fighters is the same as calling out Michael Jordan as an example of a basketball player or Tiger Woods as an example of a golfer; in that rather than being typical of their craft they were, in their prime, the absolute pinnacle of it.

I can go shoot hoops every day but I'll still never be MJ. I can bash a ball around a golf course all I like but I'll most certainly never be Tiger Woods. Same holds true of Falstaffe the Fighter - she might be or become pretty good at combat but she'll still never be Hercules; and telling her she will is poor advertising.

 

[Lanefan]

Ok, then the snake injured you. The cool thing about abstract hit points is the narrative can bend whenever it needs to.

The narrative can bend, sure. My point is that it shouldn't have to.