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D&D 5E Why does the club do d4?

I would have a hard time choosing what I prefer between being hit with a baseball bat or stabbed with a dagger, so both of them doing the same damage seems fine to me.

While either one can kill you, I'd definitely take the baseball bat. A hit on a limb with a bat will break the bone. A similar hit with a dagger can easily kill if it hits an artery. It all depends on where you get hit.
 

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Yeah I really don't see the issue here either. If a club did more than 1d4, why would anybody bother to make shortswords, daggers or many other weapons when they could just pick up a decent stick and call it a day. Mechanically, it helps distinguish between a poorly armed rabble and basic soldiers.
 

Two pounds is about the weight of a baseball bat, so, that's a pretty good measure. Yes, you can certainly kill someone with a bat, but, it's generally going to take you a while. Certainly a lot longer than what you can do with a six inch double bladed knife, which is what a dagger roughly is. At d6, you make the damage equal to a 4 pound mace or a quarterstaff, for that matter.

I'm having a big of difficulty seeing why a 2 pound bat would do the same damage as a 4 pound mace and a 4 pound quarterstaff. Never mind that at d6, you make a club equal to a spear and that's just not right at all. I know clubs used to be d6, but, really, they were probably a bit too high damage really. Why would a club do the same damage as a quarterstaff?
 

A club is a stick. It's not well weighted or meant for serious fighting. A police truncheon would NOT be a club – it would be a mace.

Each listed weapon covers a category of weapons. Just as long swords easily include a katana, so daggers and short swords together cover the range of short blades from simple knives to a long parrying blades (a two-weapon fighter with two short swords would likely actually have one blade longer/larger than the other, but the system doesn't go that granular). The distinction of club vs. mace, like Simple vs. Martial in general shows one of workmanship and how meant a weapon is for war/guard duty/serious fighting vs. hunting or home protection.
 

Could you maybe have more of a artisan-crafted club - hafted with a heavy ball and knobbly bits. Works like a mace (d6), but its wooden and its a "club".

I'm really enjoying having a character (3.5e spirit shaman) that clobbers people with a club. It just seems more brutal and unusual than a mace. Even the name..."Club". I am going to club you to death. Ouch.
 

Could you maybe have more of a artisan-crafted club - hafted with a heavy ball and knobbly bits. Works like a mace (d6), but its wooden and its a "club".

I'm really enjoying having a character (3.5e spirit shaman) that clobbers people with a club. It just seems more brutal and unusual than a mace. Even the name..."Club". I am going to club you to death. Ouch.

Have you considered Shillelagh?

Every time I scroll past the thread title in the forum I think, "Because it's a stick." In the grand scheme of things, it is 1 point of damage difference.
 
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You could use shillelagh as mentioned above, but also, I *believe* ( away from books, speaking from memory) when you use an improvised weapon the dm may say a weapon that it is close to. Many improvised weapons ( table legs, or anything that is bat like) could be considered like a club. Thus club is setting the base for a large swath of improvised weapons as well.

( again I'm speaking from memory away from books)
 



I'm pretty sure clubs were d4 weapons in the earlier editions, so they didn't actually change it. They reverted it back to where it should be.
 

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