D&D General Weapons should break left and right

[W'rkncacnter]

I don't understand this.

Aragorn on the PGA tour?

it's a fallout new vegas reference. jury rigging is a repair perk, the blade of the west is a unique two handed melee weapon, and the 9 iron is a generic (actually it might not be but i was trying to invoke a generic one and the 9 iron seemed like the funniest at the time) two handed melee weapon.

jury rigging is considered one of the best perks in the game because it lets you repair an item with any other item of the same category (instead of just the same or very similar items). the player is thus repairing the blade of the west with multiple 9 irons because they can.

the point i was making is that if you introduce durability as a mechanic, players will do everything they can to minimize its effect on gameplay, to the point of making the mechanic redundant if possible.

aragorn on the PGA tour is pretty funny, though, i won't lie

 

[bloodtide]

What old editions are you playing? Weapon durability isn't a thing in any of editions I know of, and while I don't follow the OSR that closely I'm not aware of it being in most of the mainstream ones there either. You'd lose weapons due to stuff like rust monsters or the rare creatures with weapon destruction effects, but that was very specific to those limited creatures and not a widespread thing

Well, for D&D 1E-3E, plus BECMI D&D. It is also a big feature for the Dark Sun setting.

Disamring and sundering weapons, armor and equipment used to be common.

In the more gritty, harsh, unfair, unbalanced meatgrinder type gameplay it is also very common.....you see this in Old School games. Where at the end of a session a PC looks more like John Mclaine at the end of Die Hard..all beat up and bloody, not like the more modern 5E view where a PC looks like the demigod Neo perfect at the end of the Matrix.

 

[CreamCloud0]

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

okay, this is fine and i can agree with this part,

because weapon availability constantly changes" is, in itself, a good outcome.

this however, is i feel a bad method to get to that solution,

and i must ask, and i apologize if you have already stated this in the thread already and i missed it, but what is your definition/threshold to qualify for an encounter 'being approached differently'? would a fighter with a pike, halberd and quarterstaff to switch between which all qualify for polearm master and their respective masteries be enough to qualify for you? would they need a pike for reach, a flail and shield for 'sword' and board and a pair of scimitars for dual wielding? or would they need to go further?

 

[Stormonu]

Time to pull out the Rolemaster crit/fumble charts?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Time to pull out the Rolemaster crit/fumble charts?

All day long.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wasn’t there one about tripping over an imaginary tortoise?

 

[Azzy]

Doesn't really sound fun.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Doesn't really sound fun.

Not for the tortoise at any rate.

 

[Azzy]

Not for the tortoise at any rate.

No, I meant the OP's suggestion.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No, I meant the OP's suggestion.

So did the tortoise.