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.

 

[Zaukrie]

I never liked DOAM with weapons. I can see this is going to be a touchy subject. Hopefully it gets substituted with something everyone can agree on.

Ninjad

 

[JohnSnow]

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


It's about time that the Fighter class should live up to that.

100% agreed. Perhaps my post wasn’t clear.

I feel that fighters emulating Beowulf, Hercules and Cu Chulainn is totally appropriate. What level at which a D&D fighter should achieve those lofty heights is going to cause a lot of debate, but I’m totally here for it.

 

[JohnSnow]

Gotta look at the build. Duelist style, shield, d10 weapon. It’s as good as you can get with a shield.

Yeah tbh it’s bunk that warhammers aren’t doing something interesting.

(This is a rant, feel free to ignore)
I’ve never understood why anyone roots for Batman over Superman.

Batman is a lowkey totalitarian that likes to beat up individual criminals to make himself feel better. Superman is motivated by a genuine desire to help.

Outside of the Injustice comics and games, Superman is pretty much always the one in the right when they fight, too.

I find the farmboy who works for a living much more relatable than the billionaire, anyway. In reality, they’re both human. There is no psychological difference between kryptonians and humans. The idea of one being more relatable because he’s less or more powerful is bonkers, to me.

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.

 

[JohnSnow]

As an aside, the best thing DC could have done for Superman would have been to have a villain actually kill Lois, Lana, Jimmy, Perry or someone else Clark really cares about, and never bring them back, Gwen Stacy style.

Then we’d believe it was possible for Clark to actually lose hard, and the stakes would be real.

 

[Vael]

How to narrate DoaM:

The clang of the warhammer against your shield sends shockwaves up your arm.

While your armor deflects the lethal strike, you still feel a bruise forming under the impact point

A flurry of swings harries you and you feel tired fending off the relentless attack

Somewhere above, you feel like Zeus is not longer betting quatloos on you

 

[Remathilis]

As an aside, the best thing DC could have done for Superman would have been to have a villain actually kill Lois, Lana, Jimmy, Perry or someone else Clark really cares about, and never bring them back, Gwen Stacy style.

Then we’d believe it was possible for Clark to actually lose hard, and the stakes would be real.

People who know how to write Superman correctly know that his real kryptonite is the people he cares for. Lois, Johnathan Jimmy, Metropolis. I don't give Injustice a lot of credit for writing Supes, but they got that right. Supes without his family is a Superman with nothing left to lose.

 

[JohnSnow]

How to narrate DoaM:

The clang of the warhammer against your shield sends shockwaves up your arm.

While your armor deflects the lethal strike, you still feel a bruise forming under the impact point

A flurry of swings harries you and you feel tired fending off the relentless attack

Somewhere above, you feel like Zeus is not longer betting quatloos on you

In other words, we narrate damage on a miss the same way we narrate 90% of hits. Got it.

 

[Vael]

In other words, we narrate damage on a miss the same way we narrate 90% of hits. Got it.

Precisely. Hitpoints are lost in both cases

 

[JohnSnow]

People who know how to write Superman correctly know that his real kryptonite is the people he cares for. Lois, Johnathan Jimmy, Metropolis. I don't give Injustice a lot of credit for writing Supes, but they got that right. Supes without his family is a Superman with nothing left to lose.

Given his power set, they need to actually let him lose for the stakes to be 100% believable, or show us the pathos Clark feels for innocent bystanders. I’ll also fully own that Christopher Reeve totally sold that. Most Supes actors since? Not so much.

Which they also heavily damaged by allowing him to lose, but then just reset time.

But that’s a different gripe. Or the same one, because it’s partly “given his power set.”

 

[Minigiant]

100% agreed. Perhaps my post wasn’t clear.

I feel that fighters emulating Beowulf, Hercules and Cu Chulainn is totally appropriate. What level at which a D&D fighter should achieve those lofty heights is going to cause a lot of debate, but I’m totally here for it.

A noble squire is Tier 1 Fighter
A noble knight is Tier 2 Fighter
The best knight of the Order of the XYZ is the Tier 3 Fighter
The knight who perfected Master Germin's Hundred's Strike and sees the world in slo mo is Tier 4

Gimli and Eddard Stark is Tier 2
Kenshin Himura are Lady Shiva are Tier 3
Hercules and Beowulf is Tier 4