This can cause some new things you have to pay attention to with certain classes. For example, a Pact of the Blade Warlock will still need a minimum of 13 Strength when attacking with a Greatsword pact weapon or they will have disadvantage, even though they are using their Charisma for the attack and damage rolls.
There is a sidebar in the Equipment chapter which touches on this briefly . . . it's called: "Variant: Equipment Sizes". However, it mostly discusses armor and other equipment and it's left sort of up to interpretation about whether the discussion there also relates to weapons. Even within this discussion, the main point is that the DM can dictate more or less realism as seen fit as related to this topic.
It seems like the intent is that weapons are pretty much interchangeable between small and medium creatures but that weapons meant for larger creatures are generally just unusable to small and medium creatures.
When looking at stat blocks for monsters, it seems like there is a somewhat consistent overall design where larger creatures wielding weapons do more damage than a PC would do. This seemingly has to do with the fact that it is likely wielding a larger weapon.
For example, the PC can wield a standard Greatclub which does 1d8 bludgeoning damage before modifiers. But an Ogre can take an action called "Greatclub" which generates a melee attack that does 2d8 + 4 bludgeoning damage. The (+4) portion of this damage seems to be related to its strength score, but the fact that the die roll is 2d8 instead of 1d8 seems to have to do with the fact that an Ogre is a Large creature and would likely be wielding a version of a Greatclub that is proportional and suitable to a Large creature. So, this is not necessarily the same Greatclub weapon that is listed as equipment for PCs.
Likewise, a Hill Giant can take an action called "Tree Club" (in the 2014 version, it was called Greatclub) which generates a melee attack that does 3d8 + 5 bludgeoning damage. The (+5) portion of this damage seems to be related to its strength score, but the fact that the die roll is 3d8 instead of 1d8 seems to have to do with the fact that a Hill Giant is a Huge creature and would likely be wielding a version of a Greatclub that is proportional and suitable to a Huge creature.
Another point to consider comes from the rules which describe the general properties of a monster stat block -- the 2024 stat blocks have a parameter called "Gear" which is related to equipment that can be used by small/medium PCs.
Gear
. . . If a monster has equipment that can be given away or retrieved, the items are listed in the Gear entry. The monster’s stat block might include special flourishes that happen when the monster uses an item, and the stat block might ignore the rules in “Equipment” for that item. When used by someone else, a retrievable item uses its “Equipment” rules, ignoring any special flourishes in the stat block.
. . .
Equipment mentioned outside the Gear entry is considered to be supernatural or highly specialized, and it is unusable when the monster is defeated.
Interestingly, from the above examples, the Ogre actually does have a Gear entry called Greatclub, so that weapon actually could be used by a small/medium PC, but if so, it would only deal 1d8 + modifiers damage instead of the amount listed for when the Ogre uses it. In contrast, the Hill Giant does not have a Gear entry, so whatever weapon is actually being used in its "Tree Club" attack is simply unusable by the small/medium PCs. (Even if the PC was Large or Huge for some reason, the Hill Giant's equipment is deemed by the rules to be unusable no matter what.)
When Gear is not present, since "melee weapon" or "ranged weapon" does not appear in the 2025 MM actions, it’s not always possible to infer from the specific actions in the statblocks whether a weapon (the object) is even involved.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So in 2024 are there no restrictions to weapon use? No weapon sizes anymore? For example can a halfling barbarian use a great sword?
That is correct. The Heavy property, for example, now keys off of having a strength score of 12 or less for the disadvantage.
Or Dexterity for the heavy ranged weapons.
pronouns: he/she/they
This can cause some new things you have to pay attention to with certain classes. For example, a Pact of the Blade Warlock will still need a minimum of 13 Strength when attacking with a Greatsword pact weapon or they will have disadvantage, even though they are using their Charisma for the attack and damage rolls.
There is a sidebar in the Equipment chapter which touches on this briefly . . . it's called: "Variant: Equipment Sizes". However, it mostly discusses armor and other equipment and it's left sort of up to interpretation about whether the discussion there also relates to weapons. Even within this discussion, the main point is that the DM can dictate more or less realism as seen fit as related to this topic.
It seems like the intent is that weapons are pretty much interchangeable between small and medium creatures but that weapons meant for larger creatures are generally just unusable to small and medium creatures.
When looking at stat blocks for monsters, it seems like there is a somewhat consistent overall design where larger creatures wielding weapons do more damage than a PC would do. This seemingly has to do with the fact that it is likely wielding a larger weapon.
For example, the PC can wield a standard Greatclub which does 1d8 bludgeoning damage before modifiers. But an Ogre can take an action called "Greatclub" which generates a melee attack that does 2d8 + 4 bludgeoning damage. The (+4) portion of this damage seems to be related to its strength score, but the fact that the die roll is 2d8 instead of 1d8 seems to have to do with the fact that an Ogre is a Large creature and would likely be wielding a version of a Greatclub that is proportional and suitable to a Large creature. So, this is not necessarily the same Greatclub weapon that is listed as equipment for PCs.
Likewise, a Hill Giant can take an action called "Tree Club" (in the 2014 version, it was called Greatclub) which generates a melee attack that does 3d8 + 5 bludgeoning damage. The (+5) portion of this damage seems to be related to its strength score, but the fact that the die roll is 3d8 instead of 1d8 seems to have to do with the fact that a Hill Giant is a Huge creature and would likely be wielding a version of a Greatclub that is proportional and suitable to a Huge creature.
Another point to consider comes from the rules which describe the general properties of a monster stat block -- the 2024 stat blocks have a parameter called "Gear" which is related to equipment that can be used by small/medium PCs.
Interestingly, from the above examples, the Ogre actually does have a Gear entry called Greatclub, so that weapon actually could be used by a small/medium PC, but if so, it would only deal 1d8 + modifiers damage instead of the amount listed for when the Ogre uses it. In contrast, the Hill Giant does not have a Gear entry, so whatever weapon is actually being used in its "Tree Club" attack is simply unusable by the small/medium PCs. (Even if the PC was Large or Huge for some reason, the Hill Giant's equipment is deemed by the rules to be unusable no matter what.)
When Gear is not present, since "melee weapon" or "ranged weapon" does not appear in the 2025 MM actions, it’s not always possible to infer from the specific actions in the statblocks whether a weapon (the object) is even involved.