D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[mixmastashizz]

Like I said, depends on the game. If you’re talking about 2e, a spellcaster has a tough time getting their spell off at all because any physical damage wrecks their spell. If they’re hit by an area effect spell like a fireball, those scrolls and spell books they have are going up like kindling.

Again, my point is this rule is a bad fit for modern D&D. 5e D&D is not a resource management survival game. It’s a heroic fantasy game.

This is the crux of it. As much as I would love for the 1e style game to be the mainstream system (with the multitude of players and support that brings), the game hasn't been that for 25 years now.

 

[Micah Sweet]

What? No. I'm not particularly concerned with realism. Or at all, frankly.

(It's also not realistic by any stretch — while weapons are more fragile than fantasy literature would made one believe, and a heirloom sword that was forged a hundred years ago is mostly a pipedrea — they certainly don't break several times per a single fight)

I'm concerned with forcing players into using all the options in the game, and considering counterplay against bad options that one would be unlikely to encounter if everyone is always using their best.

I agree with the general concept of item breakage you suggest, but I would tone down how often it occurs because you and I have different priorities for play.

 

[Mecheon]

This is overstating your case in my opinion. First of all, hyper-specialzed builds where the player can only have fun if the one thing they put all their resources into is constantly available to them is a big part of what the OP is trying to combat I think. To me the "incentive" is playing a more versatile and well-rounded character capable of dealing with changing circumstances.

Secondly, I don't agree that said specialization is part if the fantasy D&D is designed to emulate. I've always seen the game and it's cousins simply as a method of playing a character in a fantasy world. What about that demands a pole arm fighter who immediately ceases to be fun if he can't use his pole arm right now?

That's the thread we're in, though. The Op specifically didn't like GWM, so we have to assume the replacement weapons are ones that won't work on, to deny you the benefit of picking GWM. Umbram's pointed out its effects far more succinctly than I can

I stand by my earlier comment. If you want people to use different weapons? Give each weapon a unique reason to be used outside of people just going for whatever has the highest damage range in their specific category. That'll give people incentive to switch. Breaking the player's ability to do things and expecting them to pick up the Poop Knife from the guy they were fighting just hurts

 

[Micah Sweet]

Roughly a 0.5% or higher chance per attack roll.

Cool. What if it happened in stages? Like, the item becomes damaged (with a small penalty), then broken if damaged again before repairs are made?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Is it realistic though? A well made, high quality sword isn't just going to snap all of a sudden or the unlucky 1/20 time the dice don't go your way.

Requiring regular maintenance, sure, undergoing regular wear and tear, yeah, but its not like its undergoing atypical stress and the weapon should suddenly go from "Perfect fine and usable" to "Useless and unfixable" in the span of a single attack roll.


Very first post is wanting to implement this because of Great Weapon Master specifically. Casters aren't going to be picking GWM for obvious reasons.

Its also where the 'have multiple weapons break in a fight' thing comes from which, frankly, I think is well outside of realism.

All agreed. I think the OP is pushing for this to happen far more often than I would want, because they're going for a specific type of play and my concern is simulation. As I said above, there are plenty of ways things can break that makes logical sense to me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

By martials I meant people that use weapons. You know, the ones affected by the proposed rules.

Most characters use weapons. For the ones that don't, that where spell failure and material components (or the possibility or spell focus breakage) come in.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I assume that unless specified otherwise it's D&D as published by WotC. I'm well aware that you consider many games D&D that I, and most people, would not.

TSR's D&D isn't D&D? What's the point of a D&D General thread if it only applies to 5.5? We already have a tag for that, and 5e general for that matter.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It was an attempt at humor. We don't have to be serious with every post.

Sorry. That was the second someone used an image like this, and the first time they appeared to think it was a real concern.

 

[James Gasik]

I don't understand this.

It's a strategy from one of the Fallout games. The Blade of The West is an incredible melee weapon with low durability. But there's a perk you can get with rank 90 repair that lets you easily repair an item by expending something with the same general category, in this case, a two-handed weapon. Enter the 9-iron (the golf club) a common melee weapon in the game. So you keep expending 9-irons every time the Blade would break.

 

[James Gasik]

In Level Up extradimensional spaces interact poorly with perishable items.

Ok? I know you love Level Up, but I'm not even playing that. Or are you suggesting that the problem wouldn't exist if I switched systems? I technically did, since I'm playing ToV right now, but if it actually bothered me, I'd have house ruled against it, but I didn't see the point. We'd been tracking rations for months, then a black dragon spoiled their food with a lair action, they solved the problem with magic and took precautions so that would never happen again. It just didn't feel like the juice was worth the squeeze at that point, and it's less bookkeeping on my part.