I was perusing the Paizo boards, blasphemy I know, and came across a thread that I found to be pretty interesting and made me have nostalgic feelings. The thread was about introducing weapons speeds into Pathfinder. After reading it, I was thinking how it could apply to 4e.
For those who aren't familiar with 2nd edition, weapons (and spells) had a speed factor that applied to your inititative roll. The idea was that if you were using a small, light weapon you generally were quicker and if you were using a bigger bulkier weapon (that generally did more damage) you often were slower. 2e also was the last edition to have players roll initiative round after round and thus weapons speeds played a big factor in when you went.
4e seems to encourage build types, particularly with regards to fighters, your choice of weapons is very important. If you have a high con, str or dex you are more apt to choose certain types of weapons. I like this idea. They even took it a step further by encouraging choices in powers. For example, certian powers give you bonuses if you are using a certain type of weapon such as extra damage or extra effects.
While I am not proposing rolling initative every round like 2e, I do think that weapons/implement speeds could be applied in 4e or perhaps in future editions.
Keep in mind, this proposal hasn't had any concrete rules thoughts behind it, just perliminary thinking, but using weapons speeds would give designers or players another element in character design or creation and can be used as a blancing factor to some of the builds out there.
Basically, at its simplest, all weapons/implements (maybe even holy symbols) have an init mod from +0 to +5. Quick weapons give +5, slow weapons give +0. Players using 2 weapons take the average weapons speed of the weapons. Players changing weapons in mid-fight have their init adjusted on the following turn to the new weapon speed modified by a penatly, say a -2, for the time it took to swap weapons.
This idea opens up some new dynamics in play, want to hit harder? On average you will go later. Want to hit sooner? Use a less damaging weapon. Want to move you init around without delaying or readying or possibly go before the bad guy who is just before you to hopefully kill him before he attacks you? Change weapons. It will also give more flavor to DM monsters as those that hurt more (brutes) will be slower and those that deal less may get an extra turn out of this system because they will more often go sooner in the round. I understand that the W die is pretty small in 4e compared to the static damage bonus you can get from ability mod, enhancement, feats, etc but this is really about differentiating weapons/implements a bit more than they are now.
The biggest issue I can see is power durations that trigger at the end of your next turn (or things of that nature) but I am sure they can be worked around.
I think this could be pretty cool in play, though not sure the added complexity is worth it.
So how about it, is this something that you think could fit into 4e? Would you want to see this in future editions? Do you have any other thoughts or comments? Let's hear them!
For those who aren't familiar with 2nd edition, weapons (and spells) had a speed factor that applied to your inititative roll. The idea was that if you were using a small, light weapon you generally were quicker and if you were using a bigger bulkier weapon (that generally did more damage) you often were slower. 2e also was the last edition to have players roll initiative round after round and thus weapons speeds played a big factor in when you went.
4e seems to encourage build types, particularly with regards to fighters, your choice of weapons is very important. If you have a high con, str or dex you are more apt to choose certain types of weapons. I like this idea. They even took it a step further by encouraging choices in powers. For example, certian powers give you bonuses if you are using a certain type of weapon such as extra damage or extra effects.
While I am not proposing rolling initative every round like 2e, I do think that weapons/implement speeds could be applied in 4e or perhaps in future editions.
Keep in mind, this proposal hasn't had any concrete rules thoughts behind it, just perliminary thinking, but using weapons speeds would give designers or players another element in character design or creation and can be used as a blancing factor to some of the builds out there.
Basically, at its simplest, all weapons/implements (maybe even holy symbols) have an init mod from +0 to +5. Quick weapons give +5, slow weapons give +0. Players using 2 weapons take the average weapons speed of the weapons. Players changing weapons in mid-fight have their init adjusted on the following turn to the new weapon speed modified by a penatly, say a -2, for the time it took to swap weapons.
This idea opens up some new dynamics in play, want to hit harder? On average you will go later. Want to hit sooner? Use a less damaging weapon. Want to move you init around without delaying or readying or possibly go before the bad guy who is just before you to hopefully kill him before he attacks you? Change weapons. It will also give more flavor to DM monsters as those that hurt more (brutes) will be slower and those that deal less may get an extra turn out of this system because they will more often go sooner in the round. I understand that the W die is pretty small in 4e compared to the static damage bonus you can get from ability mod, enhancement, feats, etc but this is really about differentiating weapons/implements a bit more than they are now.
The biggest issue I can see is power durations that trigger at the end of your next turn (or things of that nature) but I am sure they can be worked around.
I think this could be pretty cool in play, though not sure the added complexity is worth it.
So how about it, is this something that you think could fit into 4e? Would you want to see this in future editions? Do you have any other thoughts or comments? Let's hear them!
