Werebat
Explorer
DMing OotA and in the Gracklstugh section, where there be Derro.
Buppido the derro was with the party from the start, armed only with what could be scrounged -- a shiv and a piece of piece that served as a dagger and a club, respectively. A pair of finesse weapons suitable for TWFing. Buppido did OK with these (he even killed a PC -- OOPS!)
Then the party got to West Cleft and got attacked by some derro, and I noticed -- their weapons are just dumb. Oh, they could be GREAT in the hands of the right PC, or some other monsters, but they are pretty sub-optimal for the derro.
Derro have two special weapons (that count as "martial", as near as I can figure).
They use a "repeating crossbow", which can fire six shots before it needs reloading (which requires an action to do), and have half the range of a normal crossbow. Why do they use these? They only get one attack per round anyway. A fighter or someone else who can make an extra attack with a bonus action could get some use out of these (some excellent use!), but the derro themselves can't, and can only suffer the halved range penalty.
They also use hooked shortspears, that are NOT finesse weapons and do NOT have the "versatile" feature. Thus, they have to use them with two hands, and have to use their low STR for attack and damage rolls instead of their fairly high DEX. Oh, they can forego damaging their enemy on a hit in order to force a low-middling (DC 9 STR save) chance of knocking the enemy prone, but it's not like the enemy will draw an AoO while standing up or anything. I guess a swarm of derro could sort of use this weapon to let some of its members gain advantage on melee attacks on the off chance an enemy is knocked prone (before it just stands up on its turn), but that does little more than mitigate the penalty of using their spears instead of, say, daggers (-1 STR for 1d4-1 dmg as opposed to +2 DEX for 1d4+2 dmg). And if they had TWO daggers, or (dare I think it) two SHORT SWORDS, it gets even better for them.
I know, I know, the derro are all nuts, and this might be why they regularly outfit themselves with kooky sub-optimal weaponry. But I can't help but think that what's really going on here is that whoever converted them to 5E tried to be faithful to the original derro's concept without thinking too hard about current game mechanics, and made something that uses a pair of weapons that are just stupid for them to be using. Meanwhile, certain PCs will salivate over the prospect of getting their mitts on those repeating crossbows, and one or two might even be interested in the hooked spears.
But if you want your derro to be a little less bumbling? Give 'em a pair of short swords, or heck, just shivs and makeshift bucklers.
Buppido the derro was with the party from the start, armed only with what could be scrounged -- a shiv and a piece of piece that served as a dagger and a club, respectively. A pair of finesse weapons suitable for TWFing. Buppido did OK with these (he even killed a PC -- OOPS!)
Then the party got to West Cleft and got attacked by some derro, and I noticed -- their weapons are just dumb. Oh, they could be GREAT in the hands of the right PC, or some other monsters, but they are pretty sub-optimal for the derro.
Derro have two special weapons (that count as "martial", as near as I can figure).
They use a "repeating crossbow", which can fire six shots before it needs reloading (which requires an action to do), and have half the range of a normal crossbow. Why do they use these? They only get one attack per round anyway. A fighter or someone else who can make an extra attack with a bonus action could get some use out of these (some excellent use!), but the derro themselves can't, and can only suffer the halved range penalty.
They also use hooked shortspears, that are NOT finesse weapons and do NOT have the "versatile" feature. Thus, they have to use them with two hands, and have to use their low STR for attack and damage rolls instead of their fairly high DEX. Oh, they can forego damaging their enemy on a hit in order to force a low-middling (DC 9 STR save) chance of knocking the enemy prone, but it's not like the enemy will draw an AoO while standing up or anything. I guess a swarm of derro could sort of use this weapon to let some of its members gain advantage on melee attacks on the off chance an enemy is knocked prone (before it just stands up on its turn), but that does little more than mitigate the penalty of using their spears instead of, say, daggers (-1 STR for 1d4-1 dmg as opposed to +2 DEX for 1d4+2 dmg). And if they had TWO daggers, or (dare I think it) two SHORT SWORDS, it gets even better for them.
I know, I know, the derro are all nuts, and this might be why they regularly outfit themselves with kooky sub-optimal weaponry. But I can't help but think that what's really going on here is that whoever converted them to 5E tried to be faithful to the original derro's concept without thinking too hard about current game mechanics, and made something that uses a pair of weapons that are just stupid for them to be using. Meanwhile, certain PCs will salivate over the prospect of getting their mitts on those repeating crossbows, and one or two might even be interested in the hooked spears.
But if you want your derro to be a little less bumbling? Give 'em a pair of short swords, or heck, just shivs and makeshift bucklers.
