orangefruitbat
Adventurer
If you want to have weapon breakage, it should be to make combat more exciting, unpredictable and cinematic, rather than just 'realistic'. 5E doesn't do realism very well at all and there are other RPGs that can create that flavour of game better (i.e., WFRP, Rolemaster, Dragonbane, etc.). I also wouldn't want my house rules to add a bunch of rules overhead or book-keeping. Furthermore, in the absence of other house rules, weapon breakage shouldn't make melee-focused classes weaker or (much) stronger.
First, I'd like to decide whether I want the trigger to happen on a hit (a mighty blow), a miss (a clumsy swing), or on a monster hit (a desperate defence against a powerful attack). This trigger choice will contribute to the 'feel' of the combat. Do I want warriors with mighty thews or a desperate struggle for life and death in the mud? Are monsters so inhumanly strong that steel can be splinted like wood?
Next, I would want to decide whether weapon breaks happen randomly, according to the dice or whether it should be a player choice. Intuitively, random breaks make more sense as a character would never choose to destroy their weapon on an attack. As an example, if it was breakage on a miss, then it might be triggered by a natural 1. For breakage on a hit, it could be on a nat 19 (since 20 is reserved for critical hits). In terms of frequency, I find that a 5% chance per roll is probably too frequent given that characters can often make multiple attacks per round. One option would be that a natural 1 forces the player to make a Reflex save to avoid the weapon being damaged/broken. Magical weapons could get advantage on the save, and it would then be easy to adjust the DC to achieve the desired likelihood of weapon breakage (I would probably go DC 10). Repairing weapons is trivial with the mending cantrip, but it could also be done using the right tool proficiency (which makes those proficiencies actually see use in a game). So there isn't too much overhead with this rule and can create moments of unpredictability, but it does make martial characters a bit weaker.
Alternatively, I have the 'gamier' option of letting players decide when a weapon breaks. I like the suggestion that was given earlier on the thread that a player could break his or her PC's weapon on a miss, but get a re-roll on the attack. If the trigger was a hit, then the player could choose to do max damage on the weapon die in return for breaking the weapon. If the trigger is a monster hit, then maybe they could negate a critical or have the damage roll be done with disadvantage. Overall, I like the player choice option over pure randomness as it makes martial characters a bit stronger.
However, I can see this house rule being abused by players - nonmagical weapons are cheap in gold and the encumbrance rules of 5E are very generous so power gamers might load up with 'disposable' weapons. Ultimately, I probably would want to include a random trigger AND player choice. So if breakage only occurs on a natural 1, then the player gets a choice, albeit at a minor cost. This version eliminates the need for the Reflex save so its faster at the table, and is less-likely to be abused since it's a choice that only comes up for 5% of rolls.
First, I'd like to decide whether I want the trigger to happen on a hit (a mighty blow), a miss (a clumsy swing), or on a monster hit (a desperate defence against a powerful attack). This trigger choice will contribute to the 'feel' of the combat. Do I want warriors with mighty thews or a desperate struggle for life and death in the mud? Are monsters so inhumanly strong that steel can be splinted like wood?
Next, I would want to decide whether weapon breaks happen randomly, according to the dice or whether it should be a player choice. Intuitively, random breaks make more sense as a character would never choose to destroy their weapon on an attack. As an example, if it was breakage on a miss, then it might be triggered by a natural 1. For breakage on a hit, it could be on a nat 19 (since 20 is reserved for critical hits). In terms of frequency, I find that a 5% chance per roll is probably too frequent given that characters can often make multiple attacks per round. One option would be that a natural 1 forces the player to make a Reflex save to avoid the weapon being damaged/broken. Magical weapons could get advantage on the save, and it would then be easy to adjust the DC to achieve the desired likelihood of weapon breakage (I would probably go DC 10). Repairing weapons is trivial with the mending cantrip, but it could also be done using the right tool proficiency (which makes those proficiencies actually see use in a game). So there isn't too much overhead with this rule and can create moments of unpredictability, but it does make martial characters a bit weaker.
Alternatively, I have the 'gamier' option of letting players decide when a weapon breaks. I like the suggestion that was given earlier on the thread that a player could break his or her PC's weapon on a miss, but get a re-roll on the attack. If the trigger was a hit, then the player could choose to do max damage on the weapon die in return for breaking the weapon. If the trigger is a monster hit, then maybe they could negate a critical or have the damage roll be done with disadvantage. Overall, I like the player choice option over pure randomness as it makes martial characters a bit stronger.
However, I can see this house rule being abused by players - nonmagical weapons are cheap in gold and the encumbrance rules of 5E are very generous so power gamers might load up with 'disposable' weapons. Ultimately, I probably would want to include a random trigger AND player choice. So if breakage only occurs on a natural 1, then the player gets a choice, albeit at a minor cost. This version eliminates the need for the Reflex save so its faster at the table, and is less-likely to be abused since it's a choice that only comes up for 5% of rolls.
