Promoting the use of simple weapons...

[Terraism]

I was talking to one of my players this afternoon, who's currently gearing up for a ranger, and he mentioned that he'd like to focus on a quarterstaff, thematically. It fits his vision. Thing is, it's a simple weapon, which means that, mechanically, it's flat out not as good as martial weapons.

Now, I've been looking over the weapon lists, and, reasonably enough, many "common" weapons are in the simple category. Daggers, maces & clubs, spears, staves... things that should probably be seeing a lot of uses. Now, I'll grant, the majority of a world doesn't have proficiency with martial weapons, so they do see use. But I'm looking at this from the standpoint of PCs, who oftentimes do. Especially characters for whom their weapon choice might be an intrinsic part of the character.

As such, I'm looking for ways to improve simple weapons for characters who have access to "better." My initial line of thinking is that, since they're simpler (and the character has "greater training," as it were,) there may be a bonus to attack rolls. How crazy a concept is that?

 

[Nifft]

Quarterstaff is a great weapon, and don't let anyone tell you different.

1/ It's a double weapon. He's a Ranger. 'Nuff said.

2/ It's a two-handed weapon. He can use it for two-handed Power Attack when he charges, then switch to Two-Weapon Fighting later.

3/ It's dirt cheap. My weapon was sundered? Gosh, I'll take a whole afternoon off and make myself another one.

4/ Magic Staves... this is better for Clerics, Eldrich Knights and full-on Druids than Rangers, but the spell selection is still pretty darn good.

5/ Special Monk Weapon. Dunno how Lawful your Ranger is, but it's a valid option, and even viable with the Ascetic Hunter feat (in Comp.Adv).

-- N

 

[Terraism]

Quarterstaff is a great weapon, and don't let anyone tell you different.

You know, I almost left out that example, because I'm just as convinced it's a great weapon. 'specially since it's the only non-exotic double weapon. (For what it's worth, my group is composed of a number of people who all hate dual-wielding with a passion. And a few who are indifferent to it. In any event, this player's in the former category, so I doubt he'd take advantage of it as a double-weapon.)

 

[DanMcS]

You know, I almost left out that example, because I'm just as convinced it's a great weapon. 'specially since it's the only non-exotic double weapon. (For what it's worth, my group is composed of a number of people who all hate dual-wielding with a passion. And a few who are indifferent to it. In any event, this player's in the former category, so I doubt he'd take advantage of it as a double-weapon.)

He's playing a ranger, and wants to focus on a quarterstaff, but doesn't want to play a dual-wielder? He's nuts, not worth helping out

More seriously, we had a long discussion on this kind of topic a while back, that I don't have a link handy to at the moment. The gist was, if you're playing a warrior class, proficient in all martial weapons, there's no reason a shortspear should be a sub-optimal choice compared to a longsword or a battleaxe. It's a style difference at that point, and the player shouldn't be penalized for it, so consider just letting him use it as a 1d8 x3 weapon since he could just as easily be using a longsword or battleaxe.

A quarterstaff doesn't need that kind of upgrade, though, mechanically it's pretty good already.

 

[Nifft]

Other great simple weapons:

Daggers: Light, great crit range, ranged

Spears: Two-handed, great crit multiplier, excellent "set vs. charge" feature, ranged

Along side Quarterstaves, that's three great options for Simple-weapon PCs.

They need no improvement. But, if you wanted to improve them...

Spear Style [General]
Prereq: Weapon Focus (Spear)
Benefit: You may treat a spear as either one-handed or Finessable (one or the other, chosen on your initiative).
Why: Many people throughout history have used spears in dances, where they look all fluid and finesse-y, and many others have fought with spears & shields.

Quarterstaff Block [General]
Prereq: Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff), Dodge
Benefit: When fighting with a Quarterstaff, you gain a +1 Shield bonus to AC.
Special: You may take this Feat up to three times, and its effects stack.

Quarterstaff Finesse [General]
Prereq: Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)
Benefit: You may treat the Quarterstaff as a Finesse weapon.

There are several dagger-centric PrCs in WotC books, so I won't try to improve them.

-- N

 

[Runesong42]

Just to add more great things to the already awesome Quarterstaff:

It's a Large weapon, and thus gets a bonus against ALL Medium and Small weapons when attempting Disarm or Sunder manoeuvres. And a nice, sensible DM might allow a Trip manoeuvre to be used with this weapon as well, which is flavour taken from so many martial arts movies.

Really, nothing can go wrong in the world if you have a large shaft of wood...

Braar haar haar.

 

[Odysseus]

I was thinking of the idea of making masterwork and magic items prices proportal to the original price. Instead of +300 gp for MW, it would be x30, with a minium of 50gp. And MI x100, with a minium of 250gp. Making simple weapons cheaper, and exotic more expensive.

 

[Wolf72]

I was always a fan of Maces. MW Clubs also get my attention, sure it's a club ... but I like to think of MW ones as ornate and cool looking weapons (like the club used by the natives in The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis)

 

[Bront]

The Mourningstar is actualy a fairly nice 1 handed weapon, because it is piercing AND bludgeoning, so you can bypass 2 types of DR, and use effects that need one or the other (Sunder for example). Sure, you drop a x on a crit, but is that realy that big of a deal?

For a weak character, a crossbow is fantastic. No strength penalty to damage like a bow, and with 1 feat, you're loading it as a free action. the Light crossbow is mechanicaly similar to a longbow at that point, though you can dual wield a crossbow (Not reload, but fire).

 

[boredgremlin]

Most of the clubs are basic. If you want to promote thier use then the easiest way is to use more creatures like skeletons that have DR only overcome by bludgeoning weapons. Might not be the best but you dont have to make any new stats or feats and you will start seeing more simple weapons among your PC's pretty quick.