D&D (2024) Which Weapon Mastery is Your Favorite?

[CleverNickName]

Versatile has always been a ribbon ability. As I've mentioned elsewhere the only time I've actually seen it used as anything other than a once in a blue moon thing was by a 4e brawler fighter who went in with a longsword they used two handed - or one handed when they had someone in a headlock.

And I'd never use it but I'm glad Flex exists for people who want to ignore the whole weapon properties system. Just bump your die size and never think about it again.

That's an interesting way to look at it. A mechanic that rewards you for ignoring it...

I suppose it would be a good choice for folks who like a hands-off approach to the game mechanics.

 

[OldSchoolGamerGirl]

Sap and vex are the most interesting

 

[Vaalingrade]

That's an interesting way to look at it. A mechanic that rewards you for ignoring it...

I suppose it would be a good choice for folks who like a hands-off approach to the game mechanics.

There seems to be a cottage industry for people who really want to play D&D without playing it. Guess it works for games where the players are on a shot clock and not allowed to check their phone or talk to the other players.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

In every edition, popular character builds would appear based on game mechanics, which can change the expectations of a campaign setting.

For instance, if longswords are simply the best-designed 1-handed weapon in the rules, that will be the most popular weapon during play.

That said, if the playtest equipment chapter survives as is... going forward, how many people are going to just choose Trident over other 1d8 versatile weapons? It has a thrown range, and it can topple, which is more tech than the other versatile weapons get.

Does this mean that Tridents are now the "meta," and weapon experts of the world will focus on it? Is it time for tridents to steal the show from longswords?

• "The bandits each flourish their tridents, spreading out and approaching you, eager to bring you down."
• "You are no match for me, whelp," states Lord Gravenjaw the Death Knight, as he points his infernal military fork (trident) at you.
• "Your mother was a paladin of Pelor, and she left her trident to you. It is your destiny to take up her mantle and bring light to the world."
• "I seek the treasures of White Plume Mountain. It is said that the last wielder of Wave entered, and never returned. I want that legendary trident."

 

[James Gasik]

Vex, because I hate missing and who hates extra accuracy?

 

[CleverNickName]

In every edition, popular character builds would appear based on game mechanics, which can change the expectations of a campaign setting.

For instance, if longswords are simply the best-designed 1-handed weapon in the rules, that will be the most popular weapon during play.

That said, if the playtest equipment chapter survives as is... going forward, how many people are going to just choose Trident over other 1d8 versatile weapons? It has a thrown range, and it can topple, which is more tech than the other versatile weapons get.

Does this mean that Tridents are now the "meta," and weapon experts of the world will focus on it? Is it time for tridents to steal the show from longswords?

• "The bandits each flourish their tridents, spreading out and approaching you, eager to bring you down."
• "You are no match for me, whelp," states Lord Gravenjaw the Death Knight, as he points his infernal military fork (trident) at you.
• "Your mother was a paladin of Pelor, and she left her trident to you. It is your destiny to take up her mantle and bring light to the world."
• "I seek the treasures of White Plume Mountain. It is said that the last wielder of Wave entered, and never returned. I want that legendary trident."

Sadly, I know players who would just look at the trident and say something like, "well if one spear is good, a trident must be three times as good. That's just simple math, people. Can I make a quaddent? How about a dodecadent? It's twelve spears on a single handle!"

 

[James Gasik]

Sadly, I know players who would just look at the trident and say something like, "well if one spear is good, a trident must be three times as good. That's just simple math, people. Can I make a quaddent? How about a dodecadent? It's twelve spears on a single handle!"

Back during the 90's, a friend of mine bought X-Force #1, where Rob Liefeld, in his eternal quest to make things look "cool" and ignore all the laws of physics, gave one character, Shatterstar, a two-bladed katana- that is to say, one hilt, and two blades side by side. He said he wanted to use a weapon like that in D&D, so it would do "double damage".

"That would be like me saying I'm going to Sovereign Glue a bunch of dagger blades to a shield and then shield bash someone for like, 10d4 damage or something. Weapons don't work like that!"

Never no mind how a blade like that wouldn't just snap off, as it's tang wasn't a part of the hilt, lol. Though I guess it might be theoretically ok at disarming?

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Yeah, Flex is probably the weirdest one.
"Only works on weapons with the Versatile property, and it lets you ignore the Versatile property of weapons."
Um, what?

It's probably the only one I like less than Graze, and that's saying something.

My assumption is that it represents just being that much better with a longsword. I don't think it's any different than in 1e when you might choose a weapon based on its damage when they did damage based on the target's size (Small-Medium/Large) or worrying about what weapons went faster in initiative

All it will do is make a fighter do a d10 with a longsword and most others do a d8. I'm pretty sure in 4e, rogues had an ability that let them do a d6 damage with a dagger and everyone else did a d4. Why? I assume to beef them up and to also model the fiction that they wanted - the trope of the knife-fighting thief.

 

[Vael]

I'm going to rank them all:
1. Sap. I like 4e Fighters, and they were Defenders. Also, I've seen many a miss generated from Vicious Mockery. Plus, I can call all my targets saps, and so there's fun for me and the whole party!
2. Cleave. Because even more attacks are fun and Cleave-age jokes write themselves.
3. Graze. How appropriate, you fight like a cow.
4. Push. Repositioning strikes are solid, and while some abilities really want the fighter to either focus fire or spread out their multiple attacks, this can work both, I like the idea of a fighter driving back a big monster and fending off a horde.
5. Nick. Only because there's one in my playgroup ;-). No, I'm just not sure this is the best way to "fix" two-weapon fighting. It's good, but narrow.
6. Slow. I dunno, I mainly play spellslingers, and I've rarely seen my Ray of Frost have much impact on enemy positioning. Maybe this'll be better in combination, multiple slow effects could do some major battlefield control.
7. Vex and Flex. They had to go together, they rhyme. I'd be happier with Vex if it was more party friendly, whoever attacks next gets advantage, though I know that's a battlemaster maneuver. And while Flex jokes also write themselves, it's an uninteresting ability.
8. Topple. Okay, seriously, this should be higher on a pure power level here, it's only last because I don't like having to resolve a save on every attack.

 

[mellored]

That's an interesting way to look at it. A mechanic that rewards you for ignoring it...

I suppose it would be a good choice for folks who like a hands-off approach to the game mechanics.

There should be a simple option for those who don't want complications.

Note that those people are probably not on forums discussing game mechanics.