D&D 5E Odyssey of the Dragonlords Available Weapons and Armor

[MonkeezOnFire]

So the other day I was paging through my copy of Odyssey of the Dragonlords that had recently been delivered. For those that aren't aware Odyssey of the Dragonlords takes place in a setting heavily inspired by ancient Greek mythology. There is a section that describes how weapons and armor are primarily made of bronze but function as well as their iron counterparts due to secret techniques, which to me just signifies to use the table in the PHB.

It further describes cultural weapons the xiphos, kopis, dorata, and makhaira but it just says to use existing PHB entries (short sword, short sword, spear, long sword respectively). It introduces one new weapon: the chakram which is a martial melee weapon with 1d6 slashing damage, thrown 60/120, light, finesse, special: it returns to you when thrown unless the attack roll is a nat 1. Typical ranged weapons used are javelins, slings, short bows and longbows but academy tinkerers have recently created crossbows. Great axes and glaives are called out as being looked upon with disdain for being barbaric. There are some magic great swords and plate armor mentioned. There are 0 mentions of rapiers.

So that leaves me a bit torn on whether or not I should ban certain weapons and armor to fit the setting. I want to encourage players to use the cultural weapons but at the same time I'm not sure if the more mechanically minded of them will really want to pick from a pool of weapons that is not exactly optimal for all types of martial characters. I'm aware the some folks here have shared their re-balanced weapon and armor tables but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with modifying the table in order to suit a different era. If so what did you do to encourage the fighting styles of that era? Can the game handle taking out some of the go to weapons like great swords and crossbows?

 

[Salthorae]

Poll your players and see what they want in a session 0?

I often find if the players have the ground rules/expectations set at session 0 or earlier if you do pre-session 0 character creation, that there isn't usually any issues with limiting things for the sake of in-setting verisimilitude.

I'd go with the setting concepts.

The game can absolutely handle taking out some of the "go-to weapons".

 

[pukunui]

I've told them they can't purchase heavy armor to start with but may be able to find / commission some later in the game.

I'm not banning any particular weapon but there is a handy section detailing various cultural preferences (as you have noted).

One thing that I found a little confusing is how the book talks about the special advantages of the Greek-inspired weapons (the xiphos, makaira, etc) but those advantages are only applied if the weapon is magical.

Also: I did a search of the pdf version and discovered that the vast majority of magical armors to be found in the adventure are breastplates.

 

[Zardnaar]

For that sort of thing rapiers won't exist.

Neither will longswords and greatswords.

Finesse stuff will default to short swords and daggers.

Everyone's in the same boat.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Poll your players and see what they want in a session 0?

That's usually a good option. But alas I haven't even started my Descent into Avernus campaign so running Odyssey is mostly a thought experiment at this point. I was just curious what other people's thoughts were on the subject.

One thing that I found a little confusing is how the book talks about the special advantages of the Greek-inspired weapons (the xiphos, makaira, etc) but those advantages are only applied if the weapon is magical.

I haven't read through the adventure yet to get an idea of the distribution but I'd imagine that the magical versions of the Greek weapons would be easier to obtain. Straight up telling the players that "it will be difficult to find magical versions of other gear" can be a good motivation in choosing weapon styles.

There also are new subclasses provided in the adventure that encourage certain choices. For example the hoplite fighter gets a feature that makes spears absolutely incredible. Increase damage to 1d8 (1d10 versatile), reach to 10 ft, and you get the bonus action d4 damage attack from PAM. All that at level 7.

But there are others where I'm less sold. The fluff for the Amazonian ranger says they favor kopis (short sword) and chakram (1d6 thrown weapon) , but because so much of the subclass features are tied up in a bird companion I don't see them using those over a longbow. There's only one feature that requires a chakram.

 

[pukunui]

For that sort of thing rapiers won't exist.

Neither will longswords and greatswords.

Finesse stuff will default to short swords and daggers.

Everyone's in the same boat.

It's worth noting that Odyssey of the Dragonlords is a campaign inspired by ancient Greek stories. Since it's not actually set in ancient Greece, it makes allowances for all sorts of anachronistic things. It's a lot like the remake of Clash of the Titans, where Liam Neeson and the other gods are all dressed in shiny plate armor.

Part of the setting involves settlers / shipwreck survivors from outside the Greek-inspired islands. They have brought with them things that aren't typically ancient Greek in theme.

The fact that the majority of the civilized settler peoples prefer to stick to breastplates and leather skirts while wielding spears and short swords is very much an aesthetic choice on their part rather than because more advanced weapons and armor don't exist. (A bit like how Obi-Wan disdains blaster pistols because they're "so uncivilized" compared to lightsabers.)

I haven't read through the adventure yet to get an idea of the distribution but I'd imagine that the magical versions of the Greek weapons would be easier to obtain. Straight up telling the players that "it will be difficult to find magical versions of other gear" can be a good motivation in choosing weapon styles.

I haven't actually checked the distribution of magic weapons myself. I only did armor because I wanted to see whether breastplates were the most common (and they very much are). I will have to do that soon, as my session 0 is tomorrow night!

But there are others where I'm less sold. The fluff for the Amazonian ranger says they favor kopis (short sword) and chakram (1d6 thrown weapon) , but because so much of the subclass features are tied up in a bird companion I don't see them using those over a longbow. There's only one feature that requires a chakram.

That whole subclass is a bit of a mess. It appears to have been built on the UA revised ranger chassis, which is why it gets a feature at level 5. I've house ruled it that Bracer Reflection replaces Extra Attack at level 5. The Amazon ranger gets its extra attacks through its stimfay companion.

 

[Zardnaar]

It's worth noting that Odyssey of the Dragonlords is a campaign inspired by ancient Greek stories. Since it's not actually set in ancient Greece, it makes allowances for all sorts of anachronistic things. It's a lot like the remake of Clash of the Titans, where Liam Neeson and the other gods are all dressed in shiny plate armor.

Part of the setting involves settlers / shipwreck survivors from outside the Greek-inspired islands. They have brought with them things that aren't typically ancient Greek in theme.

The fact that the majority of the civilized settler peoples prefer to stick to breastplates and leather skirts while wielding spears and short swords is very much an aesthetic choice on their part rather than because more advanced weapons and armor don't exist. (A bit like how Obi-Wan disdains blaster pistols because they're "so uncivilized" compared to lightsabers.)

I haven't actually checked the distribution of magic weapons myself. I only did armor because I wanted to see whether breastplates were the most common (and they very much are). I will have to do that soon, as my session 0 is tomorrow night!

That whole subclass is a bit of a mess. It appears to have been built on the UA revised ranger chassis, which is why it gets a feature at level 5. I've house ruled it that Bracer Reflection replaces Extra Attack at level 5. The Amazon ranger gets its extra attacks through its stimfay companion.

Ah. Modern gamers think the best weapons should have the best enchantments.

In that setting magical variants will kinda default to spear, shortswords, breastplate.

It's like +3 armor isn't such a big deal if its hide or chainmail.

I have players use spears etc. Just make them a bit better than longswords or whatever. One if my PCs has a spear that deals an extra 1d6 lightning damage and can fire a lightning bolt 1/long rest.

Full plate can't be made or bought but perhaps you can find it from the ancients who had better tech.

I think Odyssey of the Dragonlords counts as a themed game. I'm running Egypt myself, the PHB stuff exists but good luck finding it locally espicially magical versions.

I also allow a 3pp feat which allows strength and dex to stack but only with light weapons not rapiers so that means daggers and shortswords.

 

[Unwise]

Why care about official weapon names and descriptions at all though? I'd just have people pick the stats they want for a weapon from the PHB and dictate what it looks like and is called.

Want a martial d8 finesse weapon? Fine, that can be a thick-handled short-spear.

Different techniques can mean people do different damage with the same weapon. A Paris the bard can pick up a great club and do d8 damage with it. Hercules the barbarian picks it up and does 2d6 and counts it as Heavy.

 

[pukunui]

Magical weapons (by type) that can be found as loot in the adventure:

Spoiler

Shortswords
adamantine shortsword
shortsword of quickness
mithril kopis +1
nine lives stealer shortsword

Daggers
mithril xiphos +1
xiphos of slaughter

Longswords
mithril makhaira +1
Titansbane
Sword of the Grandmaster (honorblade)

Axes
Axe of Xander
berserker greataxe

Bows
shortbow of cupidity
shortbow +1

Other
Pythor's Hammer
vicious greatclub +1
mace of smiting
javelin of lightning x6
Glaive of Sydon
Scythe of Lutheria
trident of fish command
The Promethean Fire
greatsword of vengeance

Armor as above:

Spoiler

Breastplates
mithril breastplate x3
breastplate +1 x4
adamantine breastplate
breastplate +2
Breastplate of Mytros

Shields
Golden Shield of Volkan
shield +1
shield of missile attraction

Other
mithril ringmail
mithril chain shirt
mithril plate armor x3
mariner's scale mail
adamantine half plate
plate mail of vulnerability

These lists do not include any randomly generated magic items, items specific to the Epic Paths, items that can be created by the Mithral Forge or hag loom, or items listed in the treasure section of the adventure that nevertheless do not appear anywhere in the adventure itself (such as the greatclub of the cyclopes).

I may have missed a few but I think that's the bulk of them.

 

[Von Ether]

Even though a majority of D&D setting over the years have treated the equipment list as open season, there has been a exception or two.

And for my own world building, I have considered the entire equipment list as completist but not mandatory.

In my perfect gaming life, the equipment list would be a living document that included the DMG's laser guns and then I'd curate it for my campaign. Boom! Here's my Dark Age equipment list. Boom! Here's my John Carter of Mars equipment list!