I suppose we could extend the discussion to armour too. Also, does anyone have any homebrew/additional rules for weapons & armour? I'd be interested in more granularity.
Spear is a favourite of mine & in use by my current level 1 fighter. Two successful one-hit kills wielded in two hands in the first combat of the campaign.
I always have a number of character ideas floating around, and I always match the weapon to the personality... I have pretty much run the gauntlet and come up with a character for most weapons. but the weapon that sneaks in there the most:
Morningstar! it is just so BA. like do you even try to parley with a guy wielding a Morningstar?
the character is a hobgoblin sword(star) and board dueling type.
War picks. To make sure that skull is broken and the brain turned to scrambled eggs.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
I'm all for spears. My first character for 5e was a farmer's son who struck out as a Merc for some gold and adventure. Spear and shield were a lot of fun to play. I felt like a penniless nobody with aspirations of adequacy rather than the endless stream of orphans who ran away from home and made deals with various devils. Seriously, in that party there were 3 warlocks with the exact same backstory.
I also enjoyed a halberdier character. Tough old soldier, formerly a captain in war times, played him as a battle master. Holding the line with a polearm is very fun, makes for a very thematic character.
I'm all for spears. My first character for 5e was a farmer's son who struck out as a Merc for some gold and adventure. Spear and shield were a lot of fun to play. I felt like a penniless nobody with aspirations of adequacy rather than the endless stream of orphans who ran away from home and made deals with various devils. Seriously, in that party there were 3 warlocks with the exact same backstory.
I also enjoyed a halberdier character. Tough old soldier, formerly a captain in war times, played him as a battle master. Holding the line with a polearm is very fun, makes for a very thematic character.
That's great! I'm considering going down battle master too when the time comes, and taking the polearm feat. I'd really like a sword to be his backup in the event of a natural 1 (our DM seems the type to have us drop weapons). Armour wise... plate armour would eventually give the best protection, but I can't imagine Argyll ever having worn it before (he's led a fisherman's life). I might go suboptimal and stick with chain mail, hope the DM gives out a magical version.
I don’t know if I missed something about this only being melee weapons, but I really like the longbow in 5e. It can be really cool with a fighter because Second WInd lets you take 2 actions, so you can use that, along with multiattack, to get some cool rapid-fire combos.
Gravity, dropping people from heights. But weapon wise I feel a little bit broken up by them. A lance doesnt feel like a lance at all - you charge 80' on your mounts turn with a held action to lance your foe and you do the same damage as if you poked them in the face sitting still. That is dafter than a Conjured daft elemental.
Whips - great(ish) there flexible, they have reach - if your allowed to grapple targets with them all well and good, if your allowed to then reverse push (ie pull) and drag them even better. If you can use it on a horse (or an actual lasso) and hit someone and drag him behind you till there flesh is abraded from his bones woo hoo.
Daggers - if they are concealable and you can attack by sleight of hand quickdrawing to benefit from a sneak attack (adv the opponent didnt see the weapon so was blind to it) then sure daggers!
Greataxe - half orc barbarians man, halforc barbarians - they dont crit often but when they do crit the splash zone makes seaworlds whale show seem like a minor splash halforc champions also rate on the nope nope nope runaway scale.
Sadly spears cant be set to receive a charge dealing double damage anymore so there out for now.
Polearms with reach and polearm mastery and sentry feats. For fighters with low armour who arent front line these are great, But with the two feats your a nightmare. If the tunnel fighter fighting style is ever stupidly made core you might be almost unkillable by melee.
If you can con your DM into allowing you to use monster weapons (they arent martial weapons apparently as they arent on the martial weapon list) - lizardman spiky shield. (dual wielding does not allow two shield to ac bonuses...for players. oh I see you monsters who can get those bonuses. I see you and I covet that power.)
And flail, good old trusty flail, cheaper than a longsword, double damage to skeletons and fond memories of my old relationship with Baldurs Gate 2 (we were together a long time and made each other happy - dont judge) always make me smile.
I like going for historical European weapons (and techniques from actual manuscripts), so for open field fighting I love spears and halberds. Reach is great to use and with Spear / Polearm Mastery you can get the extra kick out of it. Sword & buckler is my favourite backup weapon set. Sadly, D&D only knows one type of shield, but that you can solve with a homebrew & the GM.
PS: If you like to spice up you descriptions on how to attack/defend, take a look at medieval treatises, like the I.33 (sword & buckler), Leckkücher (Messer fencing), Lichtenauer, Meyer & Talhoffer (mostly German longsword and dagger) or Fiore Dei Liberi (Italian longsword and dagger).
Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Countershere(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
Longsword is my preferred weapon as I prefer sword and board builds. Something about knowing how to wield a sword speaks to me. Takes much more practice to master the sword in real life.
I once created a dual wielding Goliath that had a sword in one hand and a warhammer in the other for some good ol’ slash and smash.
Two handed, I prefer either the glaive for reach, or the great sword for up close and personal.
Out of curiosity: Are you guys considering the "D&D Longsword" to be a primary single handed (cut and thrust) sword, or are you envisioning a historical European type Longsword, which was around 4 feet long, mainly used two handed + half swording vs. heavily armoured foes.
Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Countershere(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
I always think of a D&D longsword as a bastard sword anywhere on the scale between a two hander and a shortsword. I'm not learned about medieval weaponry and I'm not too bothered about educating myself further given my players don't engage well with that kind of detail in our games.
my understanding is that they will not come out with new content. the idea being you the player use an existing table entry and rename it. i.e. if you have a farmer that has decided to only use farm implements to fight evil, a pitch fork could adopt the trident states. or maybe you want to use Lucille from the walking dead, perhaps that is a warhammer, perhaps a morningstar or greatclub. essentially they are saying the table is balanced, try to work with it. of course... I gotta admit... I made some changes to the table for my games lol.
I like the longsword with a shield but I also like the image of someone dual wielding handaxes. The dual wielder feat makes it more awesome by using battleaxes but I don't know if I would use the asi/feat for that build.
Also, I think the yklwa is pretty sweet for a simple weapon. Lets my warlock do a little bit of melee damage.
As the title says.
I suppose we could extend the discussion to armour too. Also, does anyone have any homebrew/additional rules for weapons & armour? I'd be interested in more granularity.
Spear is a favourite of mine & in use by my current level 1 fighter. Two successful one-hit kills wielded in two hands in the first combat of the campaign.
I always have a number of character ideas floating around, and I always match the weapon to the personality... I have pretty much run the gauntlet and come up with a character for most weapons. but the weapon that sneaks in there the most:
Morningstar! it is just so BA. like do you even try to parley with a guy wielding a Morningstar?
the character is a hobgoblin sword(star) and board dueling type.
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
War picks. To make sure that skull is broken and the brain turned to scrambled eggs.
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
that is how I like my eggs!!!
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
Good stuff. I realise weaponry is largely cosmetic in 5e... but it's interesting to discuss.
Anyone watch Scholagladiatoria on YouTube?
I'm all for spears. My first character for 5e was a farmer's son who struck out as a Merc for some gold and adventure. Spear and shield were a lot of fun to play. I felt like a penniless nobody with aspirations of adequacy rather than the endless stream of orphans who ran away from home and made deals with various devils. Seriously, in that party there were 3 warlocks with the exact same backstory.
I also enjoyed a halberdier character. Tough old soldier, formerly a captain in war times, played him as a battle master. Holding the line with a polearm is very fun, makes for a very thematic character.
That's great! I'm considering going down battle master too when the time comes, and taking the polearm feat. I'd really like a sword to be his backup in the event of a natural 1 (our DM seems the type to have us drop weapons). Armour wise... plate armour would eventually give the best protection, but I can't imagine Argyll ever having worn it before (he's led a fisherman's life). I might go suboptimal and stick with chain mail, hope the DM gives out a magical version.
I don’t know if I missed something about this only being melee weapons, but I really like the longbow in 5e. It can be really cool with a fighter because Second WInd lets you take 2 actions, so you can use that, along with multiattack, to get some cool rapid-fire combos.
I stole my pfp from this person: https://mobile.twitter.com/xelart1/status/1177312449575432193
Gravity, dropping people from heights. But weapon wise I feel a little bit broken up by them. A lance doesnt feel like a lance at all - you charge 80' on your mounts turn with a held action to lance your foe and you do the same damage as if you poked them in the face sitting still. That is dafter than a Conjured daft elemental.
Whips - great(ish) there flexible, they have reach - if your allowed to grapple targets with them all well and good, if your allowed to then reverse push (ie pull) and drag them even better. If you can use it on a horse (or an actual lasso) and hit someone and drag him behind you till there flesh is abraded from his bones woo hoo.
Daggers - if they are concealable and you can attack by sleight of hand quickdrawing to benefit from a sneak attack (adv the opponent didnt see the weapon so was blind to it) then sure daggers!
Greataxe - half orc barbarians man, halforc barbarians - they dont crit often but when they do crit the splash zone makes seaworlds whale show seem like a minor splash halforc champions also rate on the nope nope nope runaway scale.
Sadly spears cant be set to receive a charge dealing double damage anymore so there out for now.
Polearms with reach and polearm mastery and sentry feats. For fighters with low armour who arent front line these are great, But with the two feats your a nightmare. If the tunnel fighter fighting style is ever stupidly made core you might be almost unkillable by melee.
If you can con your DM into allowing you to use monster weapons (they arent martial weapons apparently as they arent on the martial weapon list) - lizardman spiky shield. (dual wielding does not allow two shield to ac bonuses...for players. oh I see you monsters who can get those bonuses. I see you and I covet that power.)
And flail, good old trusty flail, cheaper than a longsword, double damage to skeletons and fond memories of my old relationship with Baldurs Gate 2 (we were together a long time and made each other happy - dont judge) always make me smile.
I like going for historical European weapons (and techniques from actual manuscripts), so for open field fighting I love spears and halberds. Reach is great to use and with Spear / Polearm Mastery you can get the extra kick out of it.
Sword & buckler is my favourite backup weapon set. Sadly, D&D only knows one type of shield, but that you can solve with a homebrew & the GM.
PS: If you like to spice up you descriptions on how to attack/defend, take a look at medieval treatises, like the I.33 (sword & buckler), Leckkücher (Messer fencing), Lichtenauer, Meyer & Talhoffer (mostly German longsword and dagger) or Fiore Dei Liberi (Italian longsword and dagger).
Longsword all the way. I love the versatility. Glaive can be fun, too.
Subclass Evaluations So Far:
Sorcerer
Warlock
My statblock. Fear me!
Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Counters here(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
Longsword is my preferred weapon as I prefer sword and board builds. Something about knowing how to wield a sword speaks to me. Takes much more practice to master the sword in real life.
I once created a dual wielding Goliath that had a sword in one hand and a warhammer in the other for some good ol’ slash and smash.
Two handed, I prefer either the glaive for reach, or the great sword for up close and personal.
Out of curiosity: Are you guys considering the "D&D Longsword" to be a primary single handed (cut and thrust) sword, or are you envisioning a historical European type Longsword, which was around 4 feet long, mainly used two handed + half swording vs. heavily armoured foes.
I was considering a 4-4.5 foot sword that can be used with one hand or two.
Subclass Evaluations So Far:
Sorcerer
Warlock
My statblock. Fear me!
Hosted a battle between the Cult of Sedge and the Forum Counters here(Done now). I_Love_Tarrasques has won the fight, scoring a victory for the fiendish Moderators.
I always think of a D&D longsword as a bastard sword anywhere on the scale between a two hander and a shortsword. I'm not learned about medieval weaponry and I'm not too bothered about educating myself further given my players don't engage well with that kind of detail in our games.
A few choices for me, and in no particular order:
Flails - because attempting to dual weild these just sounds so hilarious i just had to.
Trident or spear - medium damage, throwing range, great in the water too!
Which reminds me, i wouldnt mind seeing more weapon variety in future content.
my understanding is that they will not come out with new content. the idea being you the player use an existing table entry and rename it. i.e. if you have a farmer that has decided to only use farm implements to fight evil, a pitch fork could adopt the trident states. or maybe you want to use Lucille from the walking dead, perhaps that is a warhammer, perhaps a morningstar or greatclub. essentially they are saying the table is balanced, try to work with it. of course... I gotta admit... I made some changes to the table for my games lol.
Jesus Saves!... Everyone else takes damage.
I like the longsword with a shield but I also like the image of someone dual wielding handaxes. The dual wielder feat makes it more awesome by using battleaxes but I don't know if I would use the asi/feat for that build.
Also, I think the yklwa is pretty sweet for a simple weapon. Lets my warlock do a little bit of melee damage.
Dril-lvl 4 Wizard-Forest Gnome-The Bounders https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/HumbleHubris86/characters/3314145
Croak- lvl 3 Fighter- Half-Orc- The Wizard's Challenge https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/HumbleHubris86/characters/3773609
Barbara: lvl 3 Ancestral Barbarian- Red Skies Mourning https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/HumbleHubris86/characters/4593374
Yklwa. There. That is it.
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.