I will be looking into what changes, if any, are needed to convert ranged and firearm weapons to be used on Strength based attacks.
Here is a walkthrough on how to create a weapon attack using all the different damage dice combinations from 1d4 up to 2d12 plus 3d6, 3d8, and even 6d8. Some of the of these damage dice combinations are tied to a particular type of weapon that cannot be changed as well as some weapon properties cannot be changed. I will list the choices below and how to make each one fit any kind of weapon.
If the weapon you want to create is a simple weapon with a damage die of 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8, then you would want to pick one of these options as your base weapon:
Picking a base weapon that has similar properties to the weapon you're trying to homebrew means less changes need to be made. Just glancing at some non-standard simple weapons, here's some examples on what would need to change to make them work:
These are a few examples of some custom simple weapons. If you want to make a simple weapon that uses something other than 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8 as it's damage die, you will have to look to the list of martial or even firearm weapons. If you have to do that, make sure to include a note in the item's text description explaining some of the things that are not able to be changed and stressing what type of weapon to add proficiency on. I'll go over that in the Martial Weapons section.
Martial weapons will probably be weapons used most to customize to fit your needs. Several classes and subclasses give proficiency in martial weapons so that should make a player using these weapons fairly seamless. See the notes at the end on what to do if the weapon type is not sufficient for the player character this item is going to. If you want to make a weapon with a damage dice combination up to 2d6, pick one of the options as your base weapon:
As with the simple weapons, pick one that has similar properties to the weapon you're trying to homebrew.
Simple vs Martial weapons
If you're wanting to make a simple weapon with a damage die that is not 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8, you'll need to use a martial (or firearms) weapon as your base weapon. The differences in simple and martial weapon is who has proficiency in them which would add your proficiency bonus to your attack rolls with it. You can add a modifier giving proficiency to all martial (or firearm) weapons inside the homebrew or give proficiency to the specific weapon. For example if you use a 1d12 Greataxe as the base for a 1d12 Cat O'nine tails, but want it a simple weapon for your squishy wizard, you would have to give that wizard proficiency in martial weapons or proficiency in a Greataxe. This can be set in the homebrew or specified in the text description. My homebrew weapons are all martial weapons and specified that in the text. I do have to do this to make martial weapons with damage dice above 2d6. I will go over that more in the Firearms section.
Firearms enable us to make homebrew weapons above 2d6 which is the highest official damage dice for martial weapons. Firearms have several weapon properties that cannot be added or removed from a base weapon. Weapons based off firearms have a text blurb automatically added to the description pages of your homebrew. In fact all homebrew weapons have a similar blurb below your custom homebrew description text:
Proficiency with a ____ allows you to add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll for any attack you make with it.
Any weapon that has the Special weapon property and all firearms have extended blurbs beyond the proficiency line. If I'm making a weapon that ignores all this extended text, I add a line to the end of my description saying to ignore everything after this point. I'll go over more specific notes I use after the list of weapons:
Firearms gives us the ability to homebrew weapons above 2d6. Now we can kinda make any weapon with the damage dice of 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 2d4, 2d6, 2d8, 2d10, 2d12, 3d6, 3d8, and even 6d8.
We do not have the ability to make homebrew weapons with any other combinations of damage dice.
Please check this thread with a video explaining this issue and one way around it.
Firearms present a challenge if we're making a melee weapon as that cannot be changed. If a base weapon has a default range, just removing the property does not change this about the weapon and that range will still show up.
All of the firearm specific weapon properties cannot be added or removed from a weapon. There is no way around this. All you can do is add a blurb to your text description like I've used:
This item adds proficiency with Firearms, this only applies to the weaveblade. This weapon will show up on your character sheet as a ranged weapon. This is considered a melee weapon with a reach of 5 ft. Ignore all references to Ammunition, Firearms, Range, or Reloading. Ignore everything after this point.
or
This item adds proficiency with Firearms, this only applies to the weaveblade. This weapon will show up on your character sheet as a ranged weapon. This is considered a melee weapon with a reach of 5 ft. Ignore all references to Firearms, Misfire, Range, or Reloading. Ignore everything after this point.
After fiddling with the homebrew tool and explaining to other players how a weapon works, all we want it to do is work. We want the information shared in the Game Log to looks like it's supposed to belong in the game log.
This is ultimately what we want everyone to see. The rest of the homebrew might be held together with duct tape and bailing wire, but as long as that Game Log displays the right roll with the right modifier, then we should be happy. If you're as obsessive as me though, it needs some spit and shine. Here's a few things I've learned about homebrew weapons
You can't change a simple weapon into a martial weapon, or a martial weapon into a firearm weapon or vice versa on any of these.
You can't change the distance of the Range or Thrown properties.
You're stuck with all of the firearms weapon properties displaying on your character sheet. Blurbs in your text description are the only way in homebrew to add a reminder. A player can customize the converted firearm weapons with Notes such as these as this text will appear on their character sheet:
"Reach 5', Ignore (Firearms, Ammunition, Reload, Range) weapon properties" or
Homebrew description pages have Notes sections of their own. They show all the modified properties, the NOTES section from a homebrewed item's Additional Information, any MAGIC ITEM TAGS from Additional Information, and finally the weapon properties of the base weapon.
The order it places each of these sections is annoying because one of the earlier things in the notes is the modifications, such as Ignore Weapon Property happen well before the base weapon property is listed.
You can only add or ignore weapon properties from the basic rules, all of them except Ammunition. If you want this Notes section on the homebrew's description page to reflect the RAI changes you intend to make, you have to use the NOTES section from Additional Information. By adding "Ignore Weapon Property: Ammunition (Firearms), Ignore Weapon Property: Reload" In NOTES, the homebrew description page displays it's Notes correctly for my 2d8 homebrew weapon:
I hope this information is helpful for anyone wanting to make a homebrew weapon using the limited tool we have to make them in. I will update this how-to as further information is learned.
If you want to see the same weapon created using each of the possible damage dice combinations, check my list of homebrew magic items. The 6d8 version has a different name, picture, and text, but is mechanically identical to all of the weaveblades.
I had made an artificer specialist called the Weaveblade. Based on this, I made homebrew version of it's scaling laser sword, going from 1d6 to 1d12 through the subclass's level progression. Expanding on creating the weapon with several different damage die, I looked into all of the possibilities for different weapons. Here I will provide screenshots and links to each version of this weapon. The goal is to make a martial weapon with a reach of 5 ft., deals radiant damage, and has the finesse and light properties. Each will have the following magic item tags: Combat, Damage, and Focus.
If you click on the 2d4 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Double-Bladed Scimitar. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 2d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Revolver. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 2d10 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Rifle, Hunting. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 2d12 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Bad News (Exandria). I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 3d6 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Laser Pistol. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 3d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Laser Rifle. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
If you click on the 6d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Antimatter Rifle. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
You could also create a custom attack feature of the weapon in your character sheet by clicking "Manage Customs", if you are having a hard time in creating the Magic Weapon / item later but setting it as an Wondrous item; You can have it noted as an weapon with its weight and cost and all of that. But this is also really helpful to those that want to use the homebrew. Basically the custom action grants you the ability to make the range, reach, damage type, and attack modifiers of the weapon manually.
Custom Actions can be useful for a lot of things but even they have their limitations.
One example is you can't make one for a bonus action offhand attack because the Custom Action will add the ability modifier to the damage. You would think you could just add a negative number in the Fixed Value field, but it changes it to a 1 every single time.
Maybe I'm an idiot here, but how did you get it to add the damage into the actual roll?
The damage is from your ability score: STR for melee weapons, or DEX for finesse melee weapons, and DEX for any ranged weapons. I didn't add it, it is automatic for any weapon attack. Nothing in this thread adds any extra damage above what the dndbeyond does automatically. This thread just spells out changing things like weapon properties or damage type.
Custom Actions can be useful for a lot of things but even they have their limitations.
One example is you can't make one for a bonus action offhand attack because the Custom Action will add the ability modifier to the damage. You would think you could just add a negative number in the Fixed Value field, but it changes it to a 1 every single time.
For anyone confused by this answer (as I initially was), he means that you cannot make a custom attack that does include modifiers to the attack roll, but not to the damage roll. Offhand attacks are entirely unique in this way - to my knowledge, no other feature does that.
Does anyone know if it is possible to change the reach distance of a weapon? I tried adding Weapon Property: Reach with a fixed value but it doesn't seem to work. Instead of setting the reach to the value it just adds another 5 feet to the original reach.
Is it possible to make a range weapon or firearm that uses a different Ability Score other than DEX, like WIS or CHA? If so how? I have been scratching my head about this for a week now.
One of the major reasons I got DnDbeyond was for the ease of keeping track in one place of both official D&D things and stuff I want to homebrew and add. It's very disappointing to me that the weapon homebrew is so convoluted and restrictive. I've been beating my head against a wall trying to figure out how to make my homebrew magic weapons in DnDbeyond to give to my players, and the fact that I can not use the homebrew tools to create my own non-magic items or weapons is frustrating.
I will be looking into what changes, if any, are needed to convert ranged and firearm weapons to be used on Strength based attacks.
Here is a walkthrough on how to create a weapon attack using all the different damage dice combinations from 1d4 up to 2d12 plus 3d6, 3d8, and even 6d8. Some of the of these damage dice combinations are tied to a particular type of weapon that cannot be changed as well as some weapon properties cannot be changed. I will list the choices below and how to make each one fit any kind of weapon.
đź”—Simple weapons
If the weapon you want to create is a simple weapon with a damage die of 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8, then you would want to pick one of these options as your base weapon:
Picking a base weapon that has similar properties to the weapon you're trying to homebrew means less changes need to be made. Just glancing at some non-standard simple weapons, here's some examples on what would need to change to make them work:
These are a few examples of some custom simple weapons. If you want to make a simple weapon that uses something other than 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8 as it's damage die, you will have to look to the list of martial or even firearm weapons. If you have to do that, make sure to include a note in the item's text description explaining some of the things that are not able to be changed and stressing what type of weapon to add proficiency on. I'll go over that in the Martial Weapons section.
đź”—Martial Weapons
Martial weapons will probably be weapons used most to customize to fit your needs. Several classes and subclasses give proficiency in martial weapons so that should make a player using these weapons fairly seamless. See the notes at the end on what to do if the weapon type is not sufficient for the player character this item is going to. If you want to make a weapon with a damage dice combination up to 2d6, pick one of the options as your base weapon:
As with the simple weapons, pick one that has similar properties to the weapon you're trying to homebrew.
Simple vs Martial weapons
If you're wanting to make a simple weapon with a damage die that is not 1d4, 1d6, or 1d8, you'll need to use a martial (or firearms) weapon as your base weapon. The differences in simple and martial weapon is who has proficiency in them which would add your proficiency bonus to your attack rolls with it. You can add a modifier giving proficiency to all martial (or firearm) weapons inside the homebrew or give proficiency to the specific weapon. For example if you use a 1d12 Greataxe as the base for a 1d12 Cat O'nine tails, but want it a simple weapon for your squishy wizard, you would have to give that wizard proficiency in martial weapons or proficiency in a Greataxe. This can be set in the homebrew or specified in the text description. My homebrew weapons are all martial weapons and specified that in the text. I do have to do this to make martial weapons with damage dice above 2d6. I will go over that more in the Firearms section.
đź”—Firearm Weapons
Firearms enable us to make homebrew weapons above 2d6 which is the highest official damage dice for martial weapons. Firearms have several weapon properties that cannot be added or removed from a base weapon. Weapons based off firearms have a text blurb automatically added to the description pages of your homebrew. In fact all homebrew weapons have a similar blurb below your custom homebrew description text:
Any weapon that has the Special weapon property and all firearms have extended blurbs beyond the proficiency line. If I'm making a weapon that ignores all this extended text, I add a line to the end of my description saying to ignore everything after this point. I'll go over more specific notes I use after the list of weapons:
Firearms gives us the ability to homebrew weapons above 2d6. Now we can kinda make any weapon with the damage dice of 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, 2d4, 2d6, 2d8, 2d10, 2d12, 3d6, 3d8, and even 6d8.
We do not have the ability to make homebrew weapons with any other combinations of damage dice.
Please check this thread with a video explaining this issue and one way around it.
Firearms present a challenge if we're making a melee weapon as that cannot be changed. If a base weapon has a default range, just removing the property does not change this about the weapon and that range will still show up.
All of the firearm specific weapon properties cannot be added or removed from a weapon. There is no way around this. All you can do is add a blurb to your text description like I've used:
or
đź”—Final Thoughts
After fiddling with the homebrew tool and explaining to other players how a weapon works, all we want it to do is work. We want the information shared in the Game Log to looks like it's supposed to belong in the game log.
This is ultimately what we want everyone to see. The rest of the homebrew might be held together with duct tape and bailing wire, but as long as that Game Log displays the right roll with the right modifier, then we should be happy. If you're as obsessive as me though, it needs some spit and shine. Here's a few things I've learned about homebrew weapons
Homebrew description pages have Notes sections of their own. They show all the modified properties, the NOTES section from a homebrewed item's Additional Information, any MAGIC ITEM TAGS from Additional Information, and finally the weapon properties of the base weapon.
The order it places each of these sections is annoying because one of the earlier things in the notes is the modifications, such as Ignore Weapon Property happen well before the base weapon property is listed.
You can only add or ignore weapon properties from the basic rules, all of them except Ammunition. If you want this Notes section on the homebrew's description page to reflect the RAI changes you intend to make, you have to use the NOTES section from Additional Information. By adding "Ignore Weapon Property: Ammunition (Firearms), Ignore Weapon Property: Reload" In NOTES, the homebrew description page displays it's Notes correctly for my 2d8 homebrew weapon:
I hope this information is helpful for anyone wanting to make a homebrew weapon using the limited tool we have to make them in. I will update this how-to as further information is learned.
If you want to see the same weapon created using each of the possible damage dice combinations, check my list of homebrew magic items. The 6d8 version has a different name, picture, and text, but is mechanically identical to all of the weaveblades.
How to: Replace DEX in your AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Build a (Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system) | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
Check out my: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading A PERMANENT WORKAROUND!!! (thank you Jay_Lane)
I had made an artificer specialist called the Weaveblade. Based on this, I made homebrew version of it's scaling laser sword, going from 1d6 to 1d12 through the subclass's level progression. Expanding on creating the weapon with several different damage die, I looked into all of the possibilities for different weapons. Here I will provide screenshots and links to each version of this weapon. The goal is to make a martial weapon with a reach of 5 ft., deals radiant damage, and has the finesse and light properties. Each will have the following magic item tags: Combat, Damage, and Focus.
1d4 Base weapon: Whip
1d6 Base weapon: Shortsword
1d8 Base weapon: Rapier
1d10 Base weapon: Glaive
1d12 Base weapon: Greataxe
2d4 Base weapon: Double-Bladed Scimitar
If you click on the 2d4 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Double-Bladed Scimitar. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
2d6 Base weapon: Greatsword
2d8 Base weapon: Revolver
If you click on the 2d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Revolver. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
2d10 Base weapon: Rifle, Hunting
If you click on the 2d10 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Rifle, Hunting. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
2d12 Base weapon: Bad News (Exandria)
If you click on the 2d12 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Bad News (Exandria). I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
3d6 Base weapon: Laser Pistol
If you click on the 3d6 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Laser Pistol. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
3d8 Base weapon: Laser Rifle
If you click on the 3d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Laser Rifle. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
This entry in NOTES under Additional Information completes all the information in the Notes: from the description page.
6d8 Base weapon: Antimatter Rifle
If you click on the 6d8 link above, you'll see the bottom of the description page it includes the text from the Antimatter Rifle. I add a note at the end of my description to ignore everything after it.
How to: Replace DEX in your AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Build a (Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system) | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
Check out my: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading A PERMANENT WORKAROUND!!! (thank you Jay_Lane)
You could also create a custom attack feature of the weapon in your character sheet by clicking "Manage Customs", if you are having a hard time in creating the Magic Weapon / item later but setting it as an Wondrous item; You can have it noted as an weapon with its weight and cost and all of that. But this is also really helpful to those that want to use the homebrew. Basically the custom action grants you the ability to make the range, reach, damage type, and attack modifiers of the weapon manually.
Custom Actions can be useful for a lot of things but even they have their limitations.
One example is you can't make one for a bonus action offhand attack because the Custom Action will add the ability modifier to the damage. You would think you could just add a negative number in the Fixed Value field, but it changes it to a 1 every single time.
How to: Replace DEX in your AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Build a (Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system) | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
Check out my: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading A PERMANENT WORKAROUND!!! (thank you Jay_Lane)
Maybe I'm an idiot here, but how did you get it to add the damage into the actual roll?
The damage is from your ability score: STR for melee weapons, or DEX for finesse melee weapons, and DEX for any ranged weapons. I didn't add it, it is automatic for any weapon attack. Nothing in this thread adds any extra damage above what the dndbeyond does automatically. This thread just spells out changing things like weapon properties or damage type.
How to: Replace DEX in your AC | Jump & Suffocation stats | Build a (Spell & class effect buff system | Wild Shape effect system) | Tool Proficiencies as Custom Skills | Spells at higher levels explained | Superior Fighting/Martial Adept Fix | Snippet Codes Explored - Subclasses | Snippet Math Theory | Homebrew Weapons Explained
Check out my: FEATS | MAGIC ITEMS | MONSTERS | SUBCLASSES Artificer Specialist: Weaveblade
Dndbeyond images not loading A PERMANENT WORKAROUND!!! (thank you Jay_Lane)
For anyone confused by this answer (as I initially was), he means that you cannot make a custom attack that does include modifiers to the attack roll, but not to the damage roll. Offhand attacks are entirely unique in this way - to my knowledge, no other feature does that.
Why has this not been addressed? I can change the damage dice on a weapon in roll20...
Does anyone know if it is possible to change the reach distance of a weapon? I tried adding Weapon Property: Reach with a fixed value but it doesn't seem to work. Instead of setting the reach to the value it just adds another 5 feet to the original reach.
No, it is not possible to set a custom reach because the Reach specifically only adds 5 feet.
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Is it possible to make a range weapon or firearm that uses a different Ability Score other than DEX, like WIS or CHA? If so how? I have been scratching my head about this for a week now.
Short answer, not exactly. Please see the Homebrew Items & Equipment FAQ #10 for additional information: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/homebrew-house-rules/131411-a-homebrewers-how-to-faq).
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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Thank you! This was exactly what I needed.
I am in awe both in how lovely and detailed your post is but also at how insanely convoluted D&D beyond backend must be for this to be still an issue.
One of the major reasons I got DnDbeyond was for the ease of keeping track in one place of both official D&D things and stuff I want to homebrew and add. It's very disappointing to me that the weapon homebrew is so convoluted and restrictive. I've been beating my head against a wall trying to figure out how to make my homebrew magic weapons in DnDbeyond to give to my players, and the fact that I can not use the homebrew tools to create my own non-magic items or weapons is frustrating.