D&D 5E Rebalancing melee weapon damage.

[The Crimson Binome]

Heavy is put as some kind of penalty for playing "small" character.

You need lighter weapon, that means smaller damage.

The penalty is just that you don't get the normal benefit of it being Heavy: that it qualifies for a certain feat which only applies to Heavy weapons. If you make Heavy weapons inherently deal more damage, then every non-small character would choose the heavy version of their normal weapon because it does extra damage and there's no downside for them.

You have a war-axe and a great-axe, and the only difference is that the great-axe is Heavy and does more damage, so every dwarf ever will choose the great-axe over the war-axe because the great-axe is just better. There's no interesting choice here. You might as well just make a rule that says non-small characters do +1 damage with two-handed weapons.

 

[jaelis]

A general fix for those who hate Dex fighters:

Finesse: When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack roll. If you use Dexterity, then you apply your choice of your Strength modifier or half your Dexterity modifier to the damage roll.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I have a hard time picturing throwing spears as having any better reach than a wide sweeping blade. At least, at the level that D&D measures reach, where a dagger is the same reach as a sword.

You can throw pretty much any spear, not just a "throwing spear". Yes, a full twenty-foot battle pike might be a bit much, but your basic one-handed "spear"? Sure.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

A general fix for those who hate Dex fighters:

Finesse: When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack roll. If you use Dexterity, then you apply your choice of your Strength modifier or half your Dexterity modifier to the damage roll.

An easier fix for those who hate Dex fighters:

Note that wearing full plate is better than maxing out your Dexterity. Now go be the tank you want to see in the world and stop trying to spoil the swashbucklers' fun.

 

[GlassJaw]

Weird thing about the Heavy and Two-Handed properties:

The only weapon that isn't both Heavy AND Two-Handed is the Greatclub, which is only Two-Handed. From a design standpoint, this is overkill.

I would drop Two-Handed and only use Heavy, which is nice analog to "Light".

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The only weapon that isn't both Heavy AND Two-Handed is the Greatclub, which is only Two-Handed. From a design standpoint, this is overkill.

Look at the ranged weapons.

 

[Zardnaar]

I would probably overhaul armor a bit so heavy armor users end up with an AC +2 over dex based light armor.

I would also consider using something like 3E armour where some heavy armor let you apply +1 dex for example and I would tweak medium armor as well.

 

[5ekyu]

i think this would go a long way towards helping to pull the underperforming great weapon fighting builds to at least minimal viability.

 

[Zardnaar]

i think this would go a long way towards helping to pull the underperforming great weapon fighting builds to at least minimal viability.

With feats strength is a bit better but then you have sharpshooter+ CBE.

 

[jaelis]

An easier fix for those who hate Dex fighters:

Note that wearing full plate is better than maxing out your Dexterity. Now go be the tank you want to see in the world and stop trying to spoil the swashbucklers' fun.

I'm with you on the idea that I don't think Dex is an actual problem. But telling that to people who do is a bit like telling people who hate chocolate that they are wrong.