Hopefully this question will be answered once the new MM is released, but for now I'm wondering how you run things. I think at this point DMs are completely on their own (which isn't a bad thing). Take the example of a band of goblins. I think my approach is that the basic 1/4 CR Goblinprobably won't have weapon mastery. But I do think an argument could be made that the basic 1/4 CR goblin could have weapon mastery since they have weapons (and not spells, etc.) and all they do is engage in martial combat. Then as we increase in CR from the base goblin, I think it's more likely that, e.g., goblin captain, leader, and even Hobgoblin will have mastered weapon mastery.
First, what are you thoughts about giving monsters who use weapons weapon mastery? Second, if you do allow monsters to use weapon mastery, do you have a system for applying it?
I use it as a modifier similar to a commander buff
Weapon mastery communicates mastery of a weapon. So I would give it to enemies I want to appear particularly skilled with weapons. Your average goblin probably wouldn't have it but if they were militarized then they would. This means they probably have a general or other trained fighter leading them.
Similarly if they were led by a mage they might get a spell effect or if they are lead by an alchemist they may get an alchemical item.
It's hard to judge how it will effect Cr because players have gotten more powerful and it seems like CR is being adjusted to make monsters more powerful to match. Most likely adding it to monsters that are from before the 2024 will be a wash as long as you use them at a player level of power. For example with cleave, which allows an extra attack it will be more powerful on a monster because they tend to get more dice per attack than a player where as Graze will be about equal for players and monsters. So maybe just use caution giving a giant cleave.
So, I've got some experience with Pathfinder which does weapon properties very well. I'd actually be tempted to do what that system does - certain weapons have certain traits related to a creature's species. So a goblin in Pathfinder knows how best to use the weapons of their people effectively. This means that a goblin's weapon might seem clumsy or inaccurate in the hands of a human, but it's balanced and well weighted in a goblin's hands. This in Pathfinder is called 'Goblin Weapon Familiarity' which leads to 'Goblin Weapon Expertise'. Of course Pathfinder 2e is more crunchy and has a far greater array of weapons and cool items than D&D could ever dream of.
To that end, I'd actually be tempted to consider it on a case by case basis. Unfortunately, I'm not that sold on the way D&D introduces weapon masteries. I might however, implement masteries for a drow with a rapier as an example. They might get the Nick mastery. Likewise, if I was dealing with a Drow Inquisitor, I might give their death lance the Slow Weapon Mastery.
It all depends I think on what types of weapons you tend to give your characters and the level to which you include unique or custom monsters in your settings. In one prior campaign for example the antagonist group were a variety of the Inquisitor mentioned above - they were dragonborn though and not drow. Which meant that they also had the potential to use a breath weapon. Some pretty serious soldiers of an enemy army.
Generally though, I feel like the Weapon Masteries are a transparently poor way of just increasing player character power. Cleave for example was an optional rule in the 2014 ruleset. It had always been there as an option. Personally, I don't think they really add much of interest to a game. Though everyone's milage is going to vary depending on playstyle.
Just a guess, but I’m betting that we wont see many, if any, monsters in the new MM with weapon masteries. From what we have seen of the new monster designs, I suspect that we will see similar effects to what masteries do as just traits of the monster.
the hobgoblin battle lord (made up example), master of the sword, might have a “target is prone” condition on hits, or “hit target has disadvantage on next attack” built in, rather than having mastery with a weapon with those traits.
Otherwise I would go with what SolarSyphon said above: use it sparingly, just on special cases. If all the goblins have it as well as their leader then it’s not that special. But if the goblin leader’s two brute bodyguards are the only one’s that gets cleave with their great axes, that makes it stand out more.
Good point about the new monsters just incorporating some ability similar to weapon mastery. I think giving some monsters weapon mastery will depend on what the stat blocks of the new monsters look like. While I agree that weapon mastery is special (i.e., only martial classes and rogues get it, e.g., monks don't, etc.), as a DM I will give some monsters weapon mastery who don't have anything similar in their stat blocks in the new MM. I'm a believer in the "if the players can do it, so can the monsters" principle. Again, it will depend on the monsters and there will need to be a plausible explanation for how they acquired the weapon mastery, e.g., they have access to someone with weapon mastery who could train them, etc.
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Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
Weapon Mastery is not just a wepon property but feature training to use. I'd use most monster statblock as is and not give them any Weapon Mastery property effect outside perhaps some NPCs.
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Hopefully this question will be answered once the new MM is released, but for now I'm wondering how you run things. I think at this point DMs are completely on their own (which isn't a bad thing). Take the example of a band of goblins. I think my approach is that the basic 1/4 CR Goblin probably won't have weapon mastery. But I do think an argument could be made that the basic 1/4 CR goblin could have weapon mastery since they have weapons (and not spells, etc.) and all they do is engage in martial combat. Then as we increase in CR from the base goblin, I think it's more likely that, e.g., goblin captain, leader, and even Hobgoblin will have mastered weapon mastery.
First, what are you thoughts about giving monsters who use weapons weapon mastery? Second, if you do allow monsters to use weapon mastery, do you have a system for applying it?
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
I use it as a modifier similar to a commander buff
Weapon mastery communicates mastery of a weapon. So I would give it to enemies I want to appear particularly skilled with weapons. Your average goblin probably wouldn't have it but if they were militarized then they would. This means they probably have a general or other trained fighter leading them.
Similarly if they were led by a mage they might get a spell effect or if they are lead by an alchemist they may get an alchemical item.
It's hard to judge how it will effect Cr because players have gotten more powerful and it seems like CR is being adjusted to make monsters more powerful to match. Most likely adding it to monsters that are from before the 2024 will be a wash as long as you use them at a player level of power. For example with cleave, which allows an extra attack it will be more powerful on a monster because they tend to get more dice per attack than a player where as Graze will be about equal for players and monsters. So maybe just use caution giving a giant cleave.
So, I've got some experience with Pathfinder which does weapon properties very well. I'd actually be tempted to do what that system does - certain weapons have certain traits related to a creature's species. So a goblin in Pathfinder knows how best to use the weapons of their people effectively. This means that a goblin's weapon might seem clumsy or inaccurate in the hands of a human, but it's balanced and well weighted in a goblin's hands. This in Pathfinder is called 'Goblin Weapon Familiarity' which leads to 'Goblin Weapon Expertise'. Of course Pathfinder 2e is more crunchy and has a far greater array of weapons and cool items than D&D could ever dream of.
To that end, I'd actually be tempted to consider it on a case by case basis. Unfortunately, I'm not that sold on the way D&D introduces weapon masteries. I might however, implement masteries for a drow with a rapier as an example. They might get the Nick mastery. Likewise, if I was dealing with a Drow Inquisitor, I might give their death lance the Slow Weapon Mastery.
It all depends I think on what types of weapons you tend to give your characters and the level to which you include unique or custom monsters in your settings. In one prior campaign for example the antagonist group were a variety of the Inquisitor mentioned above - they were dragonborn though and not drow. Which meant that they also had the potential to use a breath weapon. Some pretty serious soldiers of an enemy army.
Generally though, I feel like the Weapon Masteries are a transparently poor way of just increasing player character power. Cleave for example was an optional rule in the 2014 ruleset. It had always been there as an option. Personally, I don't think they really add much of interest to a game. Though everyone's milage is going to vary depending on playstyle.
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Just a guess, but I’m betting that we wont see many, if any, monsters in the new MM with weapon masteries. From what we have seen of the new monster designs, I suspect that we will see similar effects to what masteries do as just traits of the monster.
the hobgoblin battle lord (made up example), master of the sword, might have a “target is prone” condition on hits, or “hit target has disadvantage on next attack” built in, rather than having mastery with a weapon with those traits.
Otherwise I would go with what SolarSyphon said above: use it sparingly, just on special cases. If all the goblins have it as well as their leader then it’s not that special. But if the goblin leader’s two brute bodyguards are the only one’s that gets cleave with their great axes, that makes it stand out more.
Good point about the new monsters just incorporating some ability similar to weapon mastery. I think giving some monsters weapon mastery will depend on what the stat blocks of the new monsters look like. While I agree that weapon mastery is special (i.e., only martial classes and rogues get it, e.g., monks don't, etc.), as a DM I will give some monsters weapon mastery who don't have anything similar in their stat blocks in the new MM. I'm a believer in the "if the players can do it, so can the monsters" principle. Again, it will depend on the monsters and there will need to be a plausible explanation for how they acquired the weapon mastery, e.g., they have access to someone with weapon mastery who could train them, etc.
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
Weapon Mastery is not just a wepon property but feature training to use. I'd use most monster statblock as is and not give them any Weapon Mastery property effect outside perhaps some NPCs.