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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 8255971" data-attributes="member: 20564">Which, to put in context, is effectively already only a very few option because players really only play best in class.  When was the last time you've seen a character who was primarily about weapons wielding a trident unless it was something special?  My guess would be "never" for most tables, because it's one of the also-rans.  Most of the simple weapon list is also the same.So the idea is to expand the narrative of what weapon wielders can do by having categories and allowing reskinning. So it opens up the possibility of the character wielding any weapon they want to, within the categories, because they are all the same. As opposed to only wielding a few, best in class weapons and mechanically penalizing characters who want to use other weapon types.Every time we've gone to a new edition, we've cut down the spell lists.But these aren't apples to apples.  Weapons are by and far primarily used mechanically in a single pillar of play, combat.  Spell on the other hand are more applicable to different pillars of play, so need to have more because they are applicable in so many more situations.Also we have different styles of casters with limited overlap in the types of spells they have.  It's like if we had classes "bluntmaster", "pokielord" and "slashhacker" that each needed there own full spread of weapons.  However, we've seen from 3.x that over-specializing characters on specific weapons was harmful to play, requiring DMs to customize magical items very specifically to the character.  It's something they have intentionally gone away from in 5e.Finally, one of the sacred cows of D&D is spell levels.  So we need to populate each level.  The idea of spells that natively can be upcast using higher level slots for more effect is new to 5e (though it was back in the old d20 Wheel of Time RPG), I expect that by the next edition that may cut down, but picture if the weapon list needed to have nine levels worth of weapons, accessible as the characters leveled up.  That would need a lot more weapons to cover the niches.Basically, once you get beyond the most superficial simularities that they are both lists, it becomes apparent that they aren't really comparable in this way.We've already gone through about how the spells differ, so I won't repeat that.If you want to bloat the game with weapon lists that only certain classes can use, and then break them up that you don't get access to them until certain levels, and then make that they all have varied non-combat uses.  This one is good for diplomacy, this one is good for transportation, then it's compatible.But, when you put it like that, it's already done.  The list of magic items has pages and pages of unique weapons, with interesting powers that sometimes are about other pillars of play.  Add those onto your weapon lists in your head.</blockquote>

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