D&D 5E Weapons and armor: Using Strength instead of class proficiencies. Using str or dex for all melee weapons.

[Horwath]

Right now we still have Str that is little unused, unless going for 2Handed melee builds.

We also have lot's of overlap in class/race proficiencies and with multiclass.

I would like to suggest a system that uses;

Minimum strength for ALL weapons and armor instead of proficiencies.

For melee weapons, you would use STR or DEX for attacks, for ranged DEX as normal.

If you do not have minimum strength for a weapon you attack with disadvantage and deal minimum damage.

If you do not have minimum strength for an armor, you have 10ft move speed penalty, disadvantage on all attacks, and on all str, dex and con saves and checks.


Armor:

Armor name	Min Str	AC bonus	Max Dex	Stealth	Weight / lb
padded	8	1	6		5
leather	10	2	5		10
hide	12	3	4		15
scale	12	4	3	Disadvantage	20
chain shirt	14	5	2		25
breast plate	14	6	2	Disadvantage	30
chain mail	16	7	1	Disadvantage	35
full plate	18	8	0	Disadvantage	40

Shields:

Name	Min Str	AC bonus	Stealth	Damage
buckler	10	+1		1d4
shield	14	+2		1d6
tower shield	18	+3	D	1d8

special for shield:
spikes: +2 min str, adds piercing damage type to shields and they can be enchanted as weapons
gauntled fixed shield: +2 min str, cannot be used for bashing attacks, can be used for holding items but not attacking, shield hand can be used for casting and using M components,

Weapons:

One handed:

Example	Min Str	damage
Waraxe	20	1d12
Mace	16	1d10
Rapier	12	1d8
Scimitar	8	1d6
dagger	6	1d4
pocket knife	4	1d3

Two handed:

Example	Min Str	damage
Great Maul	20	2d8
Great axe	14	2d6
falchion	12	1d12
greatclub	10	1d10
quarter staff	8	1d8
bo staff	6	1d6

Bows:2Handed

Example	Min Str	damage	range
dragon bone bow	20	2d6	200/800
ironwood bow	18	1d12	180/720
composite longbow	14	1d10	160/640
longbow	10	1d8	120/480
composite shortbow	8	1d6	80/320
shortbow	6	1d4	40/160

Crossbows:2Handed

Example	Min Str	damage	range
small ballista	20	2d8	150/600
great crossbow	14	2d6	120/480
heavy crossbow	12	1d12	100/400
light crossbow	8	1d10	60/240
hand crossbow	4	1d8	30/120

Special rules for weapons:

weapon deals 2 types of damage: +2 min str
weapon deals 3 types of damage: +4 min str
reach 10ft 2Handed weapon: +4 min str,
reach 15ft 2Handed weapon: +6 min str, disadvantage on attacks at 5 and 10ft,
reach 10ft 1Handed weapon: +6 min str,
thrown 30/120, 1Handed: +2 min str,

Examples:
Longsword; 1Handed, 1d10 P/S damage, min Str 18,
Greatsword; 2Hnaded, 2d6 P/S damage, min Str 16,
Pike; 2Handed, Reach 15ft, 1d10 P damage, min Str 16,
Javelin; 1Handed, Thrown 30/120, 1d6 P damage, min Str 10,
Arming sword; 1Handed, 1d8 P/S damage, min str 14,
poll-ax; 2Handed, reach 10ft, 1d10 P/B damage, min str 16,
Spear, 1Handed, reach 10ft, 1d6 P damage, min str 16,
etc...


Crossbows:
all loading is Action,
if your Str is 4 pts higher than minimum, then Loading is Bonus action,
if your Str is 10 pts higher than minimum, then Loading is free action,


If you use 1Handed weapon with min Str of 14 of higher in two hands, raise it's damage die by one step if you have sufficient min Str. Otherwise calculate your Str 4 points higher if you can use weapon without penalties.

If you use 2handed melee weapon in one hand, raise its min Str by 10 pts.


Small characters calculate their Str 2 points lower while using 2Handed weapons(except crossbows).

Elves calculate their strength 2 points higher while using Bows and 1Handed swords,

Dwarves calculate their strength 2 points higher while using 1Handed axes and hammers,

Mt. Dwarves calculate their strength 2 points higher for using armor and shields,


Two weapon attacks:
when fighting with two 1Handed melee weapons, increase min Str by 4 for both weapons. This also increases min str for shields.
Dual wielding feat removes this Str penalty.

 

[Don Durito]

I've considered something similar, although I think a lot of your sword numbers are too high.

I think this probably must have occurred to WOTC as at some point during the games development and they likely ruled out doing this? Why? Perhaps because they thought it was too fiddly for new players and they didn't want people to get to the equipment section and then realise they had to recreate their character. Something to consider, but not necessarily a problem for a home game.

I've actually been tempted at times to go even further. Give weapons a minimum Strength and/or Dex and then just remove the ability score from attack of damage any other way - but that's a lot more radical and would lead to a whole cascade of other things that also need to change.

My personal houserule (for now) is that a large shield imposes disadvantage on dexterity attacks - but a buckler does not.

 

[Xeviat]

I like the idea. I'll have to look it over when I'm home and have a bigger screen to work with.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I like it a lot. I may thinker with it a little to simplify it for my players, but I love the general idea.

 

[Arilyn]

The 18 and 20 min strength seems too high. 16 should be as high as it gets, I think.

Really like the idea other than that.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Name a real world medieval weapon that required Olympic-level strength to achieve even basic effectiveness with. The only possible candidate I can think of is the longbow. For everything else, sure, a higher strength level is good to have, but hand an average person say a mace and they're still quite capable of using it to deadly effect with the proper training. So rules like this (as seen in games like Diablo) always strain my suspension of disbelief.

On a mechanical level, this just has the effect of being a multiplier to a character's Strength bonus to damage, because the score increases the size of the damage die and then is added directly on top of that.

 

[Horwath]

Name a real world medieval weapon that required Olympic-level strength to achieve even basic effectiveness with. The only possible candidate I can think of is the longbow. For everything else, sure, a higher strength level is good to have, but hand an average person say a mace and they're still quite capable of using it to deadly effect with the proper training. So rules like this (as seen in games like Diablo) always strain my suspension of disbelief.

On a mechanical level, this just has the effect of being a multiplier to a character's Strength bonus to damage, because the score increases the size of the damage die and then is added directly on top of that.

Aim was not for perfect realism, some times it has to get the back seat because of mechanics and game balance.

As for Str getting double dip in melee and thrown damage, that was the exact intent behing this idea.
As was that it gets a part in ranged weapon damage.

 

[Horwath]

The 18 and 20 min strength seems too high. 16 should be as high as it gets, I think.

Really like the idea other than that.

most stuff you can use with 16 strength.

18 and 20 are something like 3rd/4th edition "exotic weapon category", but instead of costing a feat it requires using ASIs for Str instead of feats.
So, in a way, it costs a feat

 

[dave2008]

I am in agreement with @Arilyn : like the idea, but the strengths are two high. You shouldn't need above average strength to wear leather armor without a penalty. I have looked past the armor yet, but I think reducing your scale by 2 would be a good start.

 

[dave2008]

most stuff you can use with 16 strength.

18 and 20 are something like 3rd/4th edition "exotic weapon category", but instead of costing a feat it requires using ASIs for Str instead of feats.
So, in a way, it costs a feat

But we don't use ASIs, only feats!