D&D (2024) The rapier problem

[GMforPowergamers]

Depends. When the weapons table lists trident separately, some people are going to be like 'you cannot reskin a spear to be a trident, use the trident stats, which are so bad that no-one will ever use it'.

yup trident fluff on a spear is a common request at my tables too

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I keep wanting to redo the weapon table.

I like Brutal (reroll low damage tolls) more than I like higher die step.

High Crit is also good. Add a die of damage on a crit.

Vicious could add your proficiency mod to damage.

Some properties could give secondary effects to successful attacks, or do stuff like the Tasha’s feats do for a given damage type. Hooked swords help you climb, and let you trip without a free hand, as long as you’re proficient.

“Defensive” weapons add +1 AC or maybe let you do a defensive reaction.

Etc. tighten up the damage values, and use properties to differentiate most weapons. As long as the properties are fun, you’d see more variety of use.

 

[MGibster]

This isn't just a D&D problem of course. I find that in most games, having a large selection of weapons is rather pointless because you quickly find just a handful of them being used on a regular basis.

 

[Minigiant]

Brutal and High Crit would've been so easy to fit in, too.

If Crits only rereroll weapon dice, Brutal and High Crit can be uses to add more dice to cirts:

Brutal: When you roll a 1 on a damage die for an attack you make with this weapon, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1. In addition, If the attack is a critical hit, you can reroll a 1, 2, or 3 instead.

For Scimitar and khopesh

High Crit: When an attack is a Critical Hit with this Weapon or Unarmed Strike, you roll the damage dice of the Weapon or Unarmed Strike a third time time and add the third roll as extra damage to the target.

For War pick and War Scythe

Sharp: When an attack is a Critical Hit with this Weapon or Unarmed Strike, you roll all the damage dice of the attack a second time time and add the additional rolls as extra damage to the target.

For Fachion, War Axe, and Special daggers (katar, kukri, punching dagger aka super rogue daggers).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If Crits only rereroll weapon dice, Brutal and High Crit can be uses to add more dice to cirts:

Brutal: When you roll a 1 on a damage die for an attack you make with this weapon, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1. In addition, If the attack is a critical hit, you can reroll a 1, 2, or 3 instead.

I really strongly prefer “reroll until the die shows a number higher than 1”, but adding a crit effect is probably sound.

 

[Minigiant]

I really strongly prefer “reroll until the die shows a number higher than 1”, but adding a crit effect is probably sound.

4e's Brutal is too weak for 5e. Brutal 1 is just ~ +.5 damage per W for a 1d6.
However in 5e all attacks are 1W except for crits which are 2W. So I figured that make Crits Brutal 3 for +3 damage twice for +6 damage.
But that's alot and could lead to a lot of rerolls.. It works for 4e because 99.9% of the time, you only attack once.
So I figured, nerf the base buff the crit.

You lose a little on the base damage and gain a lot on te crit without bogging down play.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm not sure what the fix is.

Other attributes. Maybe bring back crit ranges for weapons. Make short swords and/or scimitars crit on 19-20. Make certain weapons faster. Or longer(longsword gets reach). Bring back proficiencies. The rapier might be better, but the longsword is much more common, so many more magic swords will be longswords.

 

[Eubani]

4e's Brutal is too weak for 5e. Brutal 1 is just ~ +.5 damage per W for a 1d6.
However in 5e all attacks are 1W except for crits which are 2W. So I figured that make Crits Brutal 3 for +3 damage twice for +6 damage.
But that's alot and could lead to a lot of rerolls.. It works for 4e because 99.9% of the time, you only attack once.
So I figured, nerf the base buff the crit.

You lose a little on the base damage and gain a lot on te crit without bogging down play.

Brutal in 4e was not just on a 1 it was on the number after Brutal some weapons for example were Brutal 2 so would roll till higher then 2.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Brutal: the rerereroll does slow things down, so maybe it should just be the minimum your die can do (with Brutal 4, you roll a 2, you do 4 dmg).

If crits no longer double every additional die (from smite/sneakattack/etc), I hope we can get expanded crit range back for some weapons...

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Personally, I like this table and might consider it for my next game. Including the suggestions for ranged. I would make versatile a boost to a weapon and make the heavy property a penalty which boosts damage by two. I’ll stat out the weapons in the phb using this method as a quick way to pick weapons or let players create their own.

I agree that simple weapons should start at a d6 and martial at a d10.