D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[Micah Sweet]

I've had a lot of good experiences with public play and a handful of bad ones. I like seeing how other people approach the game and even a mediocre DM can give me insight into what doesn't work well. It was especially nice to go play when I was stuck being a forever DM. I like DMing but I enjoy playing at least now and then as well.

I don't do public games much any more, I prefer home games but my circumstances have changed.

I like home games because they generally have a longer campaign structure and are amenable to the kinds of houserules I prefer.

 

[Pedantic]

Some things that sound bad are actually good. Game design is very hard to evaluate theoretically.

And, again, it's not a question of realism, it's a question of diversity. "Each combat encounter is different and must be approached differently because weapon availability constantly changes" is, in itself, a good outcome.

I think you'd get a lot of the way there by more aggressively loading up weapons with perks and dropping specialization bonuses. If Polearm Mastery's effect is a function of wielding a polearm, you're taking out a lot of barriers to start with.

You could also get there with a bigger item level treadmill and aggressively randomized treasure. If you're only seeing magical maces that hit hard enough, that also points that way.

Your running up against loss aversion and character customization as headwinds though (weapon choice and associated features being generally the most significant martial choice). If you could drag the game a little more roguelike in general, those would be an easier sell.

 

[TiQuinn]

Your running up against loss aversion and character customization as headwinds though (weapon choice and associated features being generally the most significant martial choice). If you could drag the game a little more roguelike in general, those would be an easier sell.

I think that’s a big key. If the game is designed around players coming up with a concept of their character first like a greataxe swinging barbarian or a nimble rapier wielding bladesinger, then the concept of weapon breakage and having to swap to weapons not in line with your character concept feels punishing - the rule is misaligned with the system at that point.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think you'd get a lot of the way there by more aggressively loading up weapons with perks and dropping specialization bonuses. If Polearm Mastery's effect is a function of wielding a polearm, you're taking out a lot of barriers to start with.

You could also get there with a bigger item level treadmill and aggressively randomized treasure. If you're only seeing magical maces that hit hard enough, that also points that way.

Your running up against loss aversion and character customization as headwinds though (weapon choice and associated features being generally the most significant martial choice). If you could drag the game a little more roguelike in general, those would be an easier sell.

I've preferred a more roguelike game for years. It's not the most popular choice anymore, but I play it whenever I can.

Video games obviously aren't the same thing, but I have many fond memories of playing Nethak.

 

[loverdrive]

I think you'd get a lot of the way there by more aggressively loading up weapons with perks and dropping specialization bonuses. If Polearm Mastery's effect is a function of wielding a polearm, you're taking out a lot of barriers to start with.

You could also get there with a bigger item level treadmill and aggressively randomized treasure. If you're only seeing magical maces that hit hard enough, that also points that way.

Your running up against loss aversion and character customization as headwinds though (weapon choice and associated features being generally the most significant martial choice). If you could drag the game a little more roguelike in general, those would be an easier sell.

Oh, for sure. Some sort of a deck with very impactful weapons (and gear in general) that grant perks would be an amazing fit.

I'm running one game in a procedurally generated dungeon, where they can run away to the exit and go somewhere else (and thus generate another dungeon) any time during the session, and maybe multiple times. Very fun!

 

[Maxperson]

all i have to say about this is
Jury Rigging + Blade of the West + 9 Iron + 9 Iron + 9 Iron + 9 Iron + 9 Iro

Aragorn on the PGA tour?

 

[Pedantic]

Oh, for sure. Some sort of a deck with very impactful weapons (and gear in general) that grant perks would be an amazing fit.

I'm running one game in a procedurally generated dungeon, where they can run away to the exit and go somewhere else (and thus generate another dungeon) any time during the session, and maybe multiple times. Very fun!

Sounds halfway to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I think neutral deck searching/depletion is a bad mechanic generally, but if you could put a better game around it, that was headed that direction.

 

[Maxperson]

"Amulet of the Flame Tongue: while you are equipped with a sword, you can spend a bonus action to cause flames to erupt from it, dealing additional 2d6 fire damage with each strike"

That's a really cool magic item and I'm going to steal it. That said, unless all magic weapons are through such items, it really doesn't solve what @Hussar was talking about.

 

[Maxperson]

That's a very strange wording you have for Doom...or the Doom series of games.

I don't recall the weapons breaking all the time in Doom though you can run out of ammo...

Or maybe you meant Counter-Strike or Half-Life...same principle as Doom though with weapons and ammo.

My favorite shootem game was a Castle Wolfenstein clone where all the Nazis were replaced with Barney the Dinosaur. I found it about the time my daughter was hooked on Barney and played it over and over and over and over and over... on the TV.

 

[Maxperson]

So this begs the question, if say, breaking on a natural 1 is unviable, when should gear break down? I recently watched a video on YouTube where a guy tested out the scene from Army of Darkness where Ash breaks a sword with a shotgun blast. It didn't snap off as it does in the movie, but the blade did bend and looked pretty sorry afterwards.

During 2e my DM had a critical hit chart and fumble chart. On the fumble chart were a few numbers that broke normal weapons, and a 1% chance of rolling weapon breaks even if magical. We hit that number twice with magic weapons over a multi year campaign, and the normal breakage number a few dozen times over that period. That seemed a good amount of breakage without it being too common or rare.

Of those two magic weapons that hit that number, only one broke. That's how I found out that my sword which I knew was powerful, was actually a minor artifact and those don't break on a fumble. I did put the blade about a foot into a solid stone floor, though.