The Riddle of Steel
In the original two-part post, I’d
already wondered aloud if I might be fretting overmuch over differentiating
sharp pieces of metal mounted on sticks. Though short of a categorical answer,
this post treads at least part of the way.
Once I actually got down to
experiment rolling up some opposition to a party in the shape of a warband
decked with different weaponry types it quickly turned into a journey across
the bridge of sighs and onto the land of temple-rubbing. And it had been myself
who’d written the damnable thing, too.
Ironically, given my wish to
avoid the redundance present in the PHB list, I fell into the same sort of
potholes, cross-polinating properties across the table in exotic combinations,
often using that as justification for new weapon entries. The truth is, many of
the properties that seemed so exciting a year ago were just convoluted ways of
dealing additional damage, loaded down with rerolls and time consumming
cross-comparisons to boot. But all goes according to plan, for this is why I
keep an online presence: to fail better.
An effort at simplification,
then, is in order, trying to keep hold of some form of variety without
sacrificing one’s natural hair colour.
“Careful with that axe, Eugene!”
This post is to serve as an
update: I obviously still am not fond of the book’s redundance-laden weaponry
list, meaning that I’m not about to jettison all of my work and just fall in
line instead. But I do need to linearize, simplify, make attractive. I feel one
should aim more for ‘apples to oranges’ type of properties, and discard the
ones that read more like solvable math problems of damage yield.
Another thing
that was avoided were calls for comparison with the adversary’s stats other
than AC, as this not only increases time spent looking up numbers, it would
also get in the way of the ruleset further embracing OSR minimalism later, if I
wish it to. Erring on the side of simplicity is for the best, even if the end
result is not always that exciting, at least until a better crop of ideas
presents itself.
As weapon rules got added, pruned
and mulled over, the list became lighter, less redundant and I started gaining
a better appreciation on how the original list had at least been a success of
distillation: many properties that I regarded as interesting to add (Lashing, Minor) ended up only featuring in a couple of entries, signalling
that they’d be better off being special rules rather than full-blown
properties, making the whole table simpler to parse.
For the moment I am waving away
any potential problematic interactions with feats or class features which,
knowing myself, probably won’t end up entirely resembling those presented in
the corporate version of the game anyway.
List of Weapon Properties
Meat for the plate: there's some reworked stuff, some that was folded into other properties and much that has been kept from the original posts, italics for a one-line description and stuff in brackets is commentary.
Ammunition
Expended for ranged attacks.
Drawing ammunition from a quiver costs the round’s free action.
Chargebreaker
Readied attacks against charging foes roll the weapon's damage die
twice.
Concussive
Missed attacks against armoured targets resulting from an unadjusted
roll of 16 or higher deal half damage instead.
[I know what I
want from this property: for certain weapons to ignore high non-dexterous armour values as bludgeons were historically used to overcome the piled layers of armour that were proof against edged weapons. Translating it into a format that is easy to assess in
play, doesn’t break the combat model and flows naturally is trickier.]
Finesse
Can use Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls.
Fleshbiting
Critical hits with
this weapon always roll an additional damage die.
[I’ve settled on this proven classic for Axes and related weaponry.
Doesn’t really break the game (or come up all that often, for that matter) and
it’s easy to remember.]
Heavy
Unsuitable for Small creatures.
Costs an extra inventory slot.
Light
Small,
concealable and easy to handle. Ideal for use with the off hand and usable in a
clinch.
Loading
Requires a full dedicated round
to reload between shots for every damage die that the weapon deals.
Range
(normal range/maximum range)
Missile attacks past normal
range made at Disadvantage and impossible beyond maximum range.
Reach
Longer effective reach. On weapons where this property exceeds 10', Disadvantage
against targets at a closer reach, unless weapon’s staff is used (d4 damage).
Shield (s)
Adds one plus character’s
Strength bonus to AC in melee, up to the number in parenthesis. Against missile
attacks, flat number is added instead.
Special
Has unusual rules, explained in the weapon’s
description.
Swift
Bearer may expend reaction to make an additional attack at Disadvantage as bonus action.
Thrown
Throwable, using Dexterity for the ranged attack
roll and Strength for the damage roll.
[Added back this bit of complexity, as I feel
it emulates thrown weaponry better and combats over-reliance on a single
physical stat. Conversely, all of the better ranged weapon choices have some
significant downside unless the character happens to be both strong and
dexterous.]
Two-Handed
Requires two hands to use.
Versatile
Can be used with one or two hands. Damage in
parentheses for two-handed use.
Improvised
Object that can be wielded or thrown as a
weapon. Deals 1d4 damage; if throwable has a range of (20/60).
Special Weapons
Bows. (*)
Using a bow requires a minimum
Strength rating of 5 plus the weapon’s damage die (i.e STR 11 for a Shortbow).
Cestus.
Improves the damage from Unarmed
strike by +1. Does not take up the hand slot while worn but prevents tasks requiring fine manipulation.
Crossbows. (**)
Heavier versions of this
weapon cannot be loaded by hand, requiring a cranequin to reset the firing
mechanism. Repeating crossbows sport an integrated cranequin and a ten-round
magazine that takes d4 minutes to
reload.
Flail.
Attacks with a flail ignore AC
bonuses from shields and may not be parried.
Lance.
Requires two hands to wield when unmounted. On a mounted charge deals
triple damage and shatters.
Net.
Attacks with a net target touch AC. A Large or smaller creature hit by a net is restrained.
Removal requires a successful DC 10 Strength check, dealing 6 slashing damage
to destroy the net (no to-hit roll needed) or two other characters dedicating
their full turn to freeing the target.
Trident.
If a weapon attack misses the wielder and rolls under his Dexterity
modifier, he may expend his reaction to attempt to disarm the attacker.
Whip.
If maximum damage is rolled, wielder may use a bonus action to attempt
to disarm, trip or grapple the target.
The Table
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| Unsheathe. |
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