The changing them over a long rest *is* weird, thematically and in practice. Thematically since when you think of someone being a master with a weapon, you think of Inigo Montoya studying swordplay his whole life, or Robin Hood with his incredibly honed archery skills, not just like "ok *switch* I'm an ax guy now".
Practically, also, I don't usually see martial characters switching weapon types frequently anyways. If I want to play a sword user, I've usually made up my mind to be a sword user from the beginning, or an ax user or a halberdier, etc.
If I could tweak weapons mastery slightly, fighters would start out with two and gain more with levels, the feat would only be good for one, but it would be repeatable, and each weapon mastery would come with the new property (push, vex, etc) AND a single weapon maneuver. And maybe an expanded crit range/expanded crit damage, with certain weapons critting more often while doing less damage, and other weapons critting less often but doing more damage.
I agree it’s strange to switch. But I’ve been in lots of campaigns where I decide I want to a hammer guy, and then the DM starts throwing out magic swords. So, it’s mores practical reason to allow switching to match treasure drops, I think. And I still think more than 3 active mastered weapons is pretty pointless. No one is carrying around that many weapons. Really, 3 is pushing it, but I can see a melee, thrown and ranged. About the only way it makes sense, and I hope they aren’t moving toward this, is to go back to earlier editions with some creatures being resistant/vulnerable to different damage types. So if you’re fighting a skeleton or an ooze, you want something different ready. It can be cool to do that sometimes as a bit of flavor, but I really don’t want to go back to the golf bag fighters.
Agreed, which is why I think they don't need to limit it to 3, just have it be all weapons so people don't need to swap them around at a LR to match a loot drop. Because even with mastery of all weapons, I expect 99% of player will use no more than 3 different ones in a day anyway.
I believe the reason they have so many weapon mastery its because the 13th lvl features requires a mastery per effect on the weapon? it might not be explicit but i believe its the intent.
13THLEVEL:WEAPONADEPT You are a master of weapons.When you use your WeaponExpertfeature on akind ofweapon,you can givethat kind of weapontwo properties rather than one, but you then use only one property at a time; wheneveryoumake an attack roll againsta target withthat kind ofweapon, you decide which of the two properties applies to thatattack.You make this decision before the attack hits or misses. For example, you couldapply the Push and Topple properties to Longswords, and whenever you hit a target with a Longsword, you decide which ofthose properties to use against the target.
I believe the reason they have so many weapon mastery its because the 13th lvl features requires a mastery per effect on the weapon? it might not be explicit but i believe its the intent.
13THLEVEL:WEAPONADEPT You are a master of weapons.When you use your WeaponExpertfeature on akind ofweapon,you can givethat kind of weapontwo properties rather than one, but you then use only one property at a time; wheneveryoumake an attack roll againsta target withthat kind ofweapon, you decide which of the two properties applies to thatattack.You make this decision before the attack hits or misses. For example, you couldapply the Push and Topple properties to Longswords, and whenever you hit a target with a Longsword, you decide which ofthose properties to use against the target.
The way I read it, masteries apply to the number of weapons you can have actively “mastered” at one time, not the number of masteries you can know.
Cleave = good particularly if you have abilities like Improved Divine Smite that adds to it, I see it being a favourite of PAM Paladins
Flex = bad, Paladins will take Cleave instead and sword & board sucks for everyone else.
Graze is meh?, if you're attacking with DisAdv you're better off substituting your first attack with a Shove action, considering all the ways to get Adv I don't see Graze being that useful, and certainly not popular considering how players hate thinking about failing.
Nick is for rogues and melee-rangers
Push > Slow
Vex > All others so I hope everyone is super excited for all the STR-based Sword & Board characters that use a rapier! B/c rapiers are now 100x better than Longswords.
In my playtesting, Graze is AWESOME when fighting against high AC opponents. Even if you miss, you hit!
I agree it’s strange to switch. But I’ve been in lots of campaigns where I decide I want to a hammer guy, and then the DM starts throwing out magic swords. So, it’s mores practical reason to allow switching to match treasure drops, I think. And I still think more than 3 active mastered weapons is pretty pointless. No one is carrying around that many weapons. Really, 3 is pushing it, but I can see a melee, thrown and ranged. About the only way it makes sense, and I hope they aren’t moving toward this, is to go back to earlier editions with some creatures being resistant/vulnerable to different damage types. So if you’re fighting a skeleton or an ooze, you want something different ready. It can be cool to do that sometimes as a bit of flavor, but I really don’t want to go back to the golf bag fighters.
"Golf bag fighters". Very well said. I think I'll steal that metaphor)
I agree it’s strange to switch. But I’ve been in lots of campaigns where I decide I want to a hammer guy, and then the DM starts throwing out magic swords. So, it’s mores practical reason to allow switching to match treasure drops, I think. And I still think more than 3 active mastered weapons is pretty pointless. No one is carrying around that many weapons. Really, 3 is pushing it, but I can see a melee, thrown and ranged. About the only way it makes sense, and I hope they aren’t moving toward this, is to go back to earlier editions with some creatures being resistant/vulnerable to different damage types. So if you’re fighting a skeleton or an ooze, you want something different ready. It can be cool to do that sometimes as a bit of flavor, but I really don’t want to go back to the golf bag fighters.
"Golf bag fighters". Very well said. I think I'll steal that metaphor)
I can't take credit for it. It's been around the Internet for a while.
I went through all 36 pairs of Weapon Mastery properties looking for any synergy or combos.
On Light Weapons, only Slow, Nick, and Vex are available. Those 3 each act independently without any synergy. So a character will select weapons based on other aspects of their character.
The Dual Wielder feat (can't find the UA source currently) opens up "Medium" weapons to Two Weapon fighting. This adds Sap, Topple, Flex, and Push to the available list. Slow+Topple and Slow+Push have some mild synergy as speed reductions. But not very impressive.
The only other combination that caught my eye was Push + Cleave. If the enemies are not close enough, use the first attack to Push them close together, then the Second attack with Cleave to get a 3rd attack against the other enemy. Barbarians (and likely Paladins) can do this with Pike followed by Halberd. Fighters with Weapon Adept can do this with a single weapon, preferably with Reach.
I definitely don't want "golf-bag fighters" either. But as it currently stands, if you successfully Topple someone then Topple isn't doing anything anymore and you should probably switch to Graze, Sap, or even Flex. If the optimal strategy is to routinely do something unintuitive, that's probably unintended design.
1.Maybe the solution is two perks like ultima online used to have later on
Primary/secondary
2.Also/or change on short rest
Or Change from long rest to initiative planning for weapons
3. OneDND could introduce transmutation crafting for certain melee weapon types (xge inspired), to re-assign/craft a new favorite type of weapon with logically related variant masteries —- New weapon masteries could all be once per turn, possibly grant different mastery technique variants + 1-2 for martial to apply to additional attacks or a secondary move for each weapon from the start
make weapon masteries a level 1 non-asi feat OR an asi level 4 version
give a secondary option for each weapon but limit to x per turn or x-opponents
So for most: attack + 1 use of weapon mastery
then a reaction chance (polearm, sentinel etc)
for martial give them +1-2 additional targets to apply it to per round/attack + reaction
I went through all 36 pairs of Weapon Mastery properties looking for any synergy or combos.
On Light Weapons, only Slow, Nick, and Vex are available. Those 3 each act independently without any synergy. So a character will select weapons based on other aspects of their character.
The Dual Wielder feat (can't find the UA source currently) opens up "Medium" weapons to Two Weapon fighting. This adds Sap, Topple, Flex, and Push to the available list. Slow+Topple and Slow+Push have some mild synergy as speed reductions. But not very impressive.
The only other combination that caught my eye was Push + Cleave. If the enemies are not close enough, use the first attack to Push them close together, then the Second attack with Cleave to get a 3rd attack against the other enemy. Barbarians (and likely Paladins) can do this with Pike followed by Halberd. Fighters with Weapon Adept can do this with a single weapon, preferably with Reach.
this is fun i like both those ideas
would be neat to try my ancient orc-adin with battle axe and club with shillaeg on it
1d8 for each hand twf, dual
then topple with twf and slow with club
however to take the feat twice is a tough sell so maybe just the battle axe
I like these in theory a lot. In practice I anticipate at least two issues:
Topple is good. Topple is also clunky as hell. A saving throw every time you hit for the class that hits the most. Whenever I see this kind of thing in homebrew, I point out that this kind of mechanic slows the game down without adding a whole lot to the feel of things.
In many groups, there can be tension around magic item drops. Yes, the fighter "can" use that sword, but they already have an awesome axe and that sword could be sold for the rest of the party to get stuff they want. My worry is that weapon mastery will feed even more into this phenomenon, with the more - let's be nice and use the word "assertive" - players wanting to hold on to every magic weapon they see because they might have a use for it sometime in the future. So not just a golf bag, but a golf bag where a good chunk of the party loot sits idle and mostly forgotten by the fighter.
I dont think the golf bag analogy really holds up when you break it down by the fighting style.
For Fighters, you're only talking pre-level 7. At 7 you can long rest adjust the masteries and will likely have a single 'primary' weapon (Magic Longsword for instance). Anything else is likely a side-action piece of equipment. From 1-6 you're likely looking for Graze in the two handers and Sap or Topple in the One handers. Two weapon is always Vex+Nick.
For Barbarians, it's pretty much the same, but it's really going to be all about what sort of powerful face smasher falls into their hands since swapping masteries isnt an option. Early game Graze is still good, though Reckless Attack shores up a lot of early accuracy issues. Cleave makes a pretty strong case along with Topple for them. While the fighter is going to change things up on the fly, the Barbarian is more of the 'if all you have is a hammer, then the world is a nail' sort of mindset.
Rangers and Rogues, assuming they are dex based, are going to be working with Archery or Two weapon and those mastery options are extremely limited. Which actually works out best for them since they can split their mastery attention Vex+Nick and Slow for the ranged weapon. Paladins are going to want to go with the Topple option for the knock down to Crit Fish or Sap for added Control. Cleave might be useful as well as you might be able to get away with Killing one target with the main hit, and then using a smite on the one that got hit with the cleave, but that's an edge case scenario and not something I'd be aiming to set up on the regular without the added defense of the raging barbarian.
Artificers and Blade Warlocks wont really care as they can make whatever item they want be the one they are going to need anyway.
I'd say the closest Golf Bag Fighter might be the Duelist style Fighter as they will have access to the largest number of Masteries to swap around to multiple items. But they'd still have their primary weapon with some little added things like perhaps a Topple Trident, Vex Darts, and Slow Javelins for versatility of assigning effects with thrown weapons.
The other potential synergy to remember is feats. Take slasher, and your longsword effectively has slow already, take crusher and your hammer has push.
Combining feat-based effects with masteries can open up some pretty cool options. Especially when you can switch things around from native masteries, and lay multiple masteries on a weapon. Like have slasher, add vex to your longsword, and get advantage, so you’re more likely to proc the crit effect on slasher. Or topple, and get advantage that way.
Yeah, the limitation on amount of weapons you can master is redundant, especially given that you can change them during long rest. It's not like you need to juggle 4-5 melee weapons every fight, looking like a Christmas tree with weapons instead of toys.
Also, the way they handled Light property, locking behind Nick mastery the ability to make an offhand attack as a part of attack action is just frustrating. Who's even going to dual wield the old way, with bonus action? This nuance right here seems very raw.
A rogue would if rogues don't get weapon mastery, also a Warlock might.
A rogue can get weapon mastery trough feats.
I would also not be surprised if some of the more fighting style focused subclasses like Swashbuckler might have limited access to weapon mastery.
Sure but it's not necessarily worth a whole feat to get it for a rogue, having advantage on your first attack is better than dual wielding for them anyway and if you hit with your first attack you don't need the BA attack. So personally I probably wouldn't bother with weapon mastery on a rogue until level 10.
Vex (rapier/short sword) plus Nick (dagger) could be useful for a Rogue that finds themselves separated from allies and a good way to get advantage. They could (hopefully) hit with the Vex weapon to provide advantage and then get sneak attack with the Nick weapon while still leaving their bonus action open.
The other potential synergy to remember is feats. Take slasher, and your longsword effectively has slow already, take crusher and your hammer has push.
Combining feat-based effects with masteries can open up some pretty cool options. Especially when you can switch things around from native masteries, and lay multiple masteries on a weapon. Like have slasher, add vex to your longsword, and get advantage, so you’re more likely to proc the crit effect on slasher. Or topple, and get advantage that way.
Unfortunately, I don't think that would work. Vex requires the Light or Finesse property, and the long sword has neither. In fact to pull off the combo you'd have to drop to at most a D6 weapon (Scimitar/hand axe). I'd also be wary of those feats now because of how they lock you into a particular damage type and you're basically begging the fates to hand you a fantastic weapon that will make you regret the feat choice (or maybe thats just my own luck?)
But it does show how the system has quite a bit of depth and tactical styling, especially for the fighter if they wish to embrace their weapon related versatility.
Oh, random thought. Vex + Cleave on a rapier would be so cinematic. Slicing through two people in one swing. Would you have the Vex active for any further attacks against the second person? I'd have to check the wording.
One piece of feedback I'll have to give is to clarify the way they wrote the properties. for example it says you have to meet ANY of the prerequisites to put the effect on. If it has 1 pre-req thats fine, and the ones with 3 pre-reqs use the word 'or' which seems to indicate that any of those work....but the ones with only 2 pre-reqs just have a comma so in the case of Cleave, does it have to be "Melee Weapon AND Heavy Property" or "Melee Weapon OR Heavy Property". I think they meant that any melee weapon could get Cleave in the hands of a fighter, but it could use some clarification before release.
No replacement for the -5 to hit and +10 damage per hit SS/HWM (I can live with that but not happy).
Do not GIVE non-Warrior classes Mastery. (From blurb at start of Mastery section) You created the Mastery Feat. If a member of a non-warrior class wants to be able to use a weapon mastery feature, then let them take the feat to reflect their focus on using the weapon. And if you want them to be able to change the Mastery let the wait till, they get a new ASI to change the Mastery.
MASTERY – Does not really seem to simplify weapons. Use of some weapons may slow down combat (resolve effects / Make DC checks) -- When they say kind, what do they mean? Swords, Slashing weapons, a specific weapon or a specific weapon with a default mastery.
Light Property: Need two weapons to make the extra attack and the extra attack is now a bonus action. Back to origins
Cleave: The weapon attack against the second target is PART of the original attack. “Against the hoard.” Is there any way to add damage to the second attack? – Make it within weapon range not just 5 feet from the first target. GWM Cleave feature allows a bonus attack, so you hit a target and move and make a bonus attack on another target. Since the Mastery feature is giving a free attack right after the main one, why not just make it against another target in weapons range as long as you do not move to reflect a WIDE SWING of the weapon.
Flex: Extra 1-2 damage? BAD. Increases to not terrible if you can dually wield Long Swords or have a lot of weapon attacks.
Graze: No way to increase damage past Stat Mod. 3-5 damage?
Nick: Replaces OLD Light Weapon Property. – Needed by two weapon rogues. And the weapon with NICK will need to be the second attack. Rogue needs to free up bonus to disengage/Hide.
Push = No DC. – Make it horizontally from you.
SAP= Give target disadvantage on their next attack (Before start of your next turn) – Situational. – Protection vs Attack of Opportunity.
SLOW= Reduce speed by 10 till the start of your next turn.
TOPPLE= Please replace CON with STR (resist topple) or DEX (Avoid topple) – WOW – No Size restriction. – Now a saving throw required on every attack. May slow combat.
VEX = Gain perpetual Advantage after first attack. – Crit Fisher-
EQUIPMENT: -NET- in gear instead of weapons and use only uses one attack (good if have multi-attack or Bonus action attack.
I'm honestly glad 5e is keeping its fewer weapons philosophy. I don't need katanas and gladiuses and dogslicers and nightsticks and kukris and adzes and nunchucks etc etc. The way you get those is by flavoring an existing weapon.
I'm honestly glad 5e is keeping its fewer weapons philosophy. I don't need katanas and gladiuses and dogslicers and nightsticks and kukris and adzes and nunchucks etc etc. The way you get those is by flavoring an existing weapon.
I'm playing Pathfinder Kingmaker right now and by Cthulhu does it have a metric ton of weapons. And in order to use any of them to the maximum potential, you have to take like 3-5 feats that pigeonhole you into exactly one weapon out of a hundred. Good luck with loot tables then...
I'm honestly glad 5e is keeping its fewer weapons philosophy. I don't need katanas and gladiuses and dogslicers and nightsticks and kukris and adzes and nunchucks etc etc. The way you get those is by flavoring an existing weapon.
I'm playing Pathfinder Kingmaker right now and by Cthulhu does it have a metric ton of weapons. And in order to use any of them to the maximum potential, you have to take like 3-5 feats that pigeonhole you into exactly one weapon out of a hundred. Good luck with loot tables then...
That was 3.x’s big problem. The illusion of choice.
I like the idea behind the mastery system, but I'd prefer to see it adjusted somewhat:
I think every weapon should have two masteries rather than just one.
Both masteries should be usable, but some will naturally represent a choice of effects that you may not use in the same turn.
Fighters would still gain the ability to swap masteries, so you can customise your weapons all you like.
Personally I'd retire fighting styles in favour of masteries; have Nick (or a second mastery) eliminate the off hand penalty, and with masteries on shields there isn't really much need for the other fighting styles. Archery has always been weird as it helped cement the potential supremacy of ranged (especially when Duelling and Two-handed Fighting aren't exactly huge damage boosts anyway).
I'd like to see some extra masteries:
Bleed: Hit target takes a small amount of extra damage per hit at the start of its next turn (half proficiency?)
Block: Bonus action for +1 AC until next turn, if on a weapon, weapon can't be used to attack. Intended for shields and mastery swapping onto an off hand weapon.
Feint: Can use bonus action for advantage on one attack.
Hook: Allows you to trade damage for grappling (as with an unarmed strike). Intended for handaxe and warpick, maybe also halberd. Basically the idea is you're grabbing the opponent's shield or similar to pull them into a grapple.
Protection: When an ally within 5 feet is attacked, can impose disadvantage as a reaction. For shields.
Sweep: Can use action to attack every creature within 5 feet with no modifier to damage (as for a two handed attack).
Thrust: If you miss you can use your bonus action (or maybe reaction) to repeat the attack. Intended for rapiers specifically (because Vex is useless to anyone with a single attack like a Rogue) but might make sense on spear and/or pike.
There's definitely the core of a cool system there, and most masteries seem good. I just think it needs a bit more to it if it's to compete with spellcasting.
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Agreed, which is why I think they don't need to limit it to 3, just have it be all weapons so people don't need to swap them around at a LR to match a loot drop. Because even with mastery of all weapons, I expect 99% of player will use no more than 3 different ones in a day anyway.
I believe the reason they have so many weapon mastery its because the 13th lvl features requires a mastery per effect on the weapon? it might not be explicit but i believe its the intent.
13 TH LEVEL: WEAPON A DEPT
You are a master of weapons. When you use your
Weapon Expert feature on a kind of weapon, you
can give that kind of weapon two properties
rather than one, but you then use only one
property at a time; whenever you make an attack
roll against a target with that kind of weapon,
you decide which of the two properties applies
to that attack. You make this decision before the
attack hits or misses.
For example, you could apply the Push and
Topple properties to Longswords, and whenever
you hit a target with a Longsword, you decide
which of those properties to use against the
target.
The way I read it, masteries apply to the number of weapons you can have actively “mastered” at one time, not the number of masteries you can know.
In my playtesting, Graze is AWESOME when fighting against high AC opponents. Even if you miss, you hit!
"Golf bag fighters". Very well said. I think I'll steal that metaphor)
I can't take credit for it. It's been around the Internet for a while.
I went through all 36 pairs of Weapon Mastery properties looking for any synergy or combos.
On Light Weapons, only Slow, Nick, and Vex are available. Those 3 each act independently without any synergy. So a character will select weapons based on other aspects of their character.
The Dual Wielder feat (can't find the UA source currently) opens up "Medium" weapons to Two Weapon fighting. This adds Sap, Topple, Flex, and Push to the available list. Slow+Topple and Slow+Push have some mild synergy as speed reductions. But not very impressive.
The only other combination that caught my eye was Push + Cleave. If the enemies are not close enough, use the first attack to Push them close together, then the Second attack with Cleave to get a 3rd attack against the other enemy. Barbarians (and likely Paladins) can do this with Pike followed by Halberd. Fighters with Weapon Adept can do this with a single weapon, preferably with Reach.
I definitely don't want "golf-bag fighters" either. But as it currently stands, if you successfully Topple someone then Topple isn't doing anything anymore and you should probably switch to Graze, Sap, or even Flex. If the optimal strategy is to routinely do something unintuitive, that's probably unintended design.
1.Maybe the solution is two perks like ultima online used to have later on
Primary/secondary
2.Also/or change on short rest
Or Change from long rest to initiative planning for weapons
3. OneDND could introduce transmutation crafting for certain melee weapon types (xge inspired), to re-assign/craft a new favorite type of weapon with logically related variant masteries
—-
New weapon masteries could all be once per turn, possibly grant different mastery technique variants + 1-2 for martial to apply to additional attacks or a secondary move for each weapon from the start
make weapon masteries a level 1 non-asi feat OR an asi level 4 version
give a secondary option for each weapon but limit to x per turn or x-opponents
So for most: attack + 1 use of weapon mastery
then a reaction chance (polearm, sentinel etc)
for martial give them +1-2 additional targets to apply it to per round/attack + reaction
this is fun i like both those ideas
would be neat to try my ancient orc-adin with battle axe and club with shillaeg on it
1d8 for each hand twf, dual
then topple with twf and slow with club
however to take the feat twice is a tough sell so maybe just the battle axe
I like these in theory a lot. In practice I anticipate at least two issues:
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I dont think the golf bag analogy really holds up when you break it down by the fighting style.
For Fighters, you're only talking pre-level 7. At 7 you can long rest adjust the masteries and will likely have a single 'primary' weapon (Magic Longsword for instance). Anything else is likely a side-action piece of equipment. From 1-6 you're likely looking for Graze in the two handers and Sap or Topple in the One handers. Two weapon is always Vex+Nick.
For Barbarians, it's pretty much the same, but it's really going to be all about what sort of powerful face smasher falls into their hands since swapping masteries isnt an option. Early game Graze is still good, though Reckless Attack shores up a lot of early accuracy issues. Cleave makes a pretty strong case along with Topple for them. While the fighter is going to change things up on the fly, the Barbarian is more of the 'if all you have is a hammer, then the world is a nail' sort of mindset.
Rangers and Rogues, assuming they are dex based, are going to be working with Archery or Two weapon and those mastery options are extremely limited. Which actually works out best for them since they can split their mastery attention Vex+Nick and Slow for the ranged weapon. Paladins are going to want to go with the Topple option for the knock down to Crit Fish or Sap for added Control. Cleave might be useful as well as you might be able to get away with Killing one target with the main hit, and then using a smite on the one that got hit with the cleave, but that's an edge case scenario and not something I'd be aiming to set up on the regular without the added defense of the raging barbarian.
Artificers and Blade Warlocks wont really care as they can make whatever item they want be the one they are going to need anyway.
I'd say the closest Golf Bag Fighter might be the Duelist style Fighter as they will have access to the largest number of Masteries to swap around to multiple items. But they'd still have their primary weapon with some little added things like perhaps a Topple Trident, Vex Darts, and Slow Javelins for versatility of assigning effects with thrown weapons.
The other potential synergy to remember is feats. Take slasher, and your longsword effectively has slow already, take crusher and your hammer has push.
Combining feat-based effects with masteries can open up some pretty cool options. Especially when you can switch things around from native masteries, and lay multiple masteries on a weapon.
Like have slasher, add vex to your longsword, and get advantage, so you’re more likely to proc the crit effect on slasher. Or topple, and get advantage that way.
Vex (rapier/short sword) plus Nick (dagger) could be useful for a Rogue that finds themselves separated from allies and a good way to get advantage. They could (hopefully) hit with the Vex weapon to provide advantage and then get sneak attack with the Nick weapon while still leaving their bonus action open.
Unfortunately, I don't think that would work. Vex requires the Light or Finesse property, and the long sword has neither. In fact to pull off the combo you'd have to drop to at most a D6 weapon (Scimitar/hand axe). I'd also be wary of those feats now because of how they lock you into a particular damage type and you're basically begging the fates to hand you a fantastic weapon that will make you regret the feat choice (or maybe thats just my own luck?)
But it does show how the system has quite a bit of depth and tactical styling, especially for the fighter if they wish to embrace their weapon related versatility.
Oh, random thought. Vex + Cleave on a rapier would be so cinematic. Slicing through two people in one swing. Would you have the Vex active for any further attacks against the second person? I'd have to check the wording.
One piece of feedback I'll have to give is to clarify the way they wrote the properties. for example it says you have to meet ANY of the prerequisites to put the effect on. If it has 1 pre-req thats fine, and the ones with 3 pre-reqs use the word 'or' which seems to indicate that any of those work....but the ones with only 2 pre-reqs just have a comma so in the case of Cleave, does it have to be "Melee Weapon AND Heavy Property" or "Melee Weapon OR Heavy Property". I think they meant that any melee weapon could get Cleave in the hands of a fighter, but it could use some clarification before release.
FROM MY NOTES WHILLE I READ THE UA.....
WEAPONS:
No New Weapons????
No new or changes to armor –
No replacement for the -5 to hit and +10 damage per hit SS/HWM (I can live with that but not happy).
Do not GIVE non-Warrior classes Mastery. (From blurb at start of Mastery section) You created the Mastery Feat. If a member of a non-warrior class wants to be able to use a weapon mastery feature, then let them take the feat to reflect their focus on using the weapon. And if you want them to be able to change the Mastery let the wait till, they get a new ASI to change the Mastery.
MASTERY – Does not really seem to simplify weapons. Use of some weapons may slow down combat (resolve effects / Make DC checks) -- When they say kind, what do they mean? Swords, Slashing weapons, a specific weapon or a specific weapon with a default mastery.
Light Property: Need two weapons to make the extra attack and the extra attack is now a bonus action. Back to origins
Cleave: The weapon attack against the second target is PART of the original attack. “Against the hoard.” Is there any way to add damage to the second attack? – Make it within weapon range not just 5 feet from the first target. GWM Cleave feature allows a bonus attack, so you hit a target and move and make a bonus attack on another target. Since the Mastery feature is giving a free attack right after the main one, why not just make it against another target in weapons range as long as you do not move to reflect a WIDE SWING of the weapon.
Flex: Extra 1-2 damage? BAD. Increases to not terrible if you can dually wield Long Swords or have a lot of weapon attacks.
Graze: No way to increase damage past Stat Mod. 3-5 damage?
Nick: Replaces OLD Light Weapon Property. – Needed by two weapon rogues. And the weapon with NICK will need to be the second attack. Rogue needs to free up bonus to disengage/Hide.
Push = No DC. – Make it horizontally from you.
SAP= Give target disadvantage on their next attack (Before start of your next turn) – Situational. – Protection vs Attack of Opportunity.
SLOW= Reduce speed by 10 till the start of your next turn.
TOPPLE= Please replace CON with STR (resist topple) or DEX (Avoid topple) – WOW – No Size restriction. – Now a saving throw required on every attack. May slow combat.
VEX = Gain perpetual Advantage after first attack. – Crit Fisher-
EQUIPMENT: -NET- in gear instead of weapons and use only uses one attack (good if have multi-attack or Bonus action attack.
I'm honestly glad 5e is keeping its fewer weapons philosophy. I don't need katanas and gladiuses and dogslicers and nightsticks and kukris and adzes and nunchucks etc etc. The way you get those is by flavoring an existing weapon.
I'm playing Pathfinder Kingmaker right now and by Cthulhu does it have a metric ton of weapons. And in order to use any of them to the maximum potential, you have to take like 3-5 feats that pigeonhole you into exactly one weapon out of a hundred. Good luck with loot tables then...
That was 3.x’s big problem. The illusion of choice.
I like the idea behind the mastery system, but I'd prefer to see it adjusted somewhat:
There's definitely the core of a cool system there, and most masteries seem good. I just think it needs a bit more to it if it's to compete with spellcasting.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.