D&D 5E Positing New Weapon Properties

[Satyrn]

In my games, this is the knightly/arming/viking/migration period sword/spatha, or simply "sword". It also covers swords that are or have been termed "broadsword", both the more modern weapon and whatever it was for which AD&D uses the term. Everyone that has access to rapier proficiency also has knightly sword proficiency.

Here's a weapons property I wrote as part of a rules variant for ranged attack rates of fire:

LOADING PROPERTY OF HEAVY CROSSBOWS
A heavy crossbow takes longer to load than other weapons that use ammunition and can only be fired every other round. When you are wielding a heavy crossbow and move up to one half your speed on your turn, you can use your a"ction to either load the weapon or attack, but not both.
If you move more than half your speed, you can’t load the weapon on the same turn.
The Crossbow Expert feat lets you ignore this property if you are proficient with heavy crossbows.

As I read that, I was thinking you could simplify it by simply saying "loading a crossbow requires an action."But then I don't know how the rest of your variant rules relate.

But I think "long loading: This weapon requires an action to load" is a fitting suggestion for this thread

Sure, it doesn't cover everything your rule does, such as the reduced movement, and it still provides the possibility of loading and firing in one round (through bonus actions, possibly) but its a simple 5e fit.

I wonder what the damage with such a weapon should be.

(I also wonder if this is actually already covered in the firearms rules)

 

[Hriston]

As I read that, I was thinking you could simplify it by simply saying "loading a crossbow requires an action."But then I don't know how the rest of your variant rules relate.

But I think "long loading: This weapon requires an action to load" is a fitting suggestion for this thread

Sure, it doesn't cover everything your rule does, such as the reduced movement, and it still provides the possibility of loading and firing in one round (through bonus actions, possibly) but its a simple 5e fit.

Well, I did say it takes an action to load, but maybe not as clearly as I should have. I was more focused on making the distinction that although the ammunition property allows you to draw (and load) a piece of ammunition as part of the attack, with this weapon loading and firing don't happen in the same round. I agree that focusing on the action economy will make this more clear.

I wonder what the damage with such a weapon should be.

I don't increase the damage (which is already higher than the light crossbow, for example). What I do is give it a bonus to hit against certain armor types. Compared to the light crossbow, the heavy crossbow has +1 to hit most armor types, +2 to hit chainshirt and scale, and +3 to hit chain mail.

(I also wonder if this is actually already covered in the firearms rules)

Why yes it is! It's called the reload property. I hadn't noticed it until now. It requires the weapon to be reloaded after a certain number of shots, which takes an action or bonus action. So I could give my heavy crossbow the property reload (1 shot) and accomplish most of what I'm trying to do here. Thanks.