3 House Rules to CUSTOMIZE Your D&D Weapons 

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What I use: Normal Longsword: 1D8 (1-8 damage) Finely made, Elven Longsword: 1D6+2 (3-8 damage) In this way you can raise the minimum damage output while preserving the top end. Over time it will deal more damage.

„Which custom weapon would you like?“ Hexblade taking notes: „Yes“

I really like the advantage/disadvantage on damage but requiring higher stats to use.

We have it so different weapons can "damage" armor on a crit, based on the type of damage they do. Slashing damage can damage light armor. Piercing damage can damage medium armor. Bludgeoning damage can damage heavy armor. AC can only go down as far as 10, and if they aren't wearing armor then the DC isn't affected. It's a little more complicated but it at least makes the weapons more strategic.

Love the “roll two dice pick the lower” as a trait for tarnished and worn weapons.

mage hand press has a CRAFTSMAN class that dose exactly what you want. it even uses Key word like Changeable, Collapsible, Hooked, Fist, Returning. and many more. the craftsman can chage weapons into new fighting styles and properties. making moiney uysefull again and maging cool improve weapons.

I like the "Roll two dice and take the higher/lower" I idea, just like advantage or disadvantage in 5e. I can also imagine using something like those feats that let you treat any roll below a 10 as 10. A mace that always does a min of 3 or more damage because you treat everything below a 3 on the D6 as a 3, sounds to me more powerful than a "+2 mace" while being mechanically more balanced toward consistent low damage without allowing for higher damage

Exactly the kind of stuff I want to put in my own game, we’re playing a gritty realistic campaign and no using feats, that give me the freedom to give more interesting features to items

Check out Beyond Damage Dice by Kobold Press... same rules are in their Midgard Heroes Handbook. Each weapon gets two "manuevers" that anyone proficient with the weapon can use an action (some work as reactions, like the simple "parry" on the longsword.)

The damage advantage and ability prerequisites are awesome ideas that give players more options. “I attack with my sword” is an interesting option again if I chose that sword for the adjustments that my decisions called for.

I tried creating something similar. My system included a list of different materials (about 10) that had unique effects on the weapon. It also included a crafting tradition (like "Elven-made" or "Goblin-forged") that would also impact the weapon. The standard list in the PHB was assumed to be human-made and crafted from iron (or whatever standard material made sense) and had no extra properties or drawbacks or additional costs attached. I was working out an additional list of customization options, but I never got around to finishing it. This way, an elven-made mithral longsword would act just a little bit different than a dwarven-made mithral longsword, creating a massive possibility space.

Different damages for weapons doing multiple kinds of damage; stiletto dagger does 2d4 piercing, 1d4 slashing... Kerambite dagger does the opposite, with +1to grapple.

Pathfinder 2E has a great trait system for weapons that you could likely adapt over to 5e. I highly recommend it.

Personally, I like using dice configurations for weapons that make them feel super unusual. I've bought d7s and d9s before, and they lend a really cool feel to a unique weapon. As for magic items, I've always been a huge fan of the exploding dice mechanic - where, if you roll max damage on the damage die, you get to roll again and add the total to your original roll. As long as you keep rolling maximum, you get to keep rolling! it's so interesting, because it's a damage mechanic that lends itself more to lower sided dice - you're more likely to roll a 4 on a d4 than a 12 on a d12, after all. Amazing video, thanks for all the ideas!

Simple and good customizations. One thing I find annoying about D&D as a player is that the variety of default (!) weapons is often not a variety because most players - myself included - will most likely not go for a worse weapon, eventhough you might like it due to it's weapon type or how it looks. With these kind of customizations it would make sense, they'd either be on par or perhaps in damage still lower but have a nice added ability. Good stuff!

Pf2e has some really cool things that non magical weapons can do, like on crit cause bleeding and the ability to disarm with a 2 handed weapon, but it's based on which weapo. Your using

I'd love to use that tarnishing idea for combat against things like rust monsters. All good ideas here!

Pathfinder, another successor to D&D 3.5, has some pretty interesting weapon properties, and they are more or less on the same power plane as the weapons in 5e. For folks looking for some variety in the utility department, that is a decent place to look.

Love this! I'm a big fan of lowering the dice value, but upping the number of dice. Your 1d12 war hammer? How about 3d8 take the highest 2? You want a strength based d6 or d8 based slashing weapon to be a dexterity based weapon? No problem! Let's give it some extra flair and make it 2d4 I definitely think blending some of this with the idea of being able to "upgrade" your weapons or unlock more powerful attacks with higher ability scores is fantastic!

I'd love to see you put together a system with all these customizations! I like the way you're headed with this idea and it would be valuable to have it all written down in a single place. It does sound like it could get pretty crunchy with all the options, but some people (like me) enjoy that kind of product; it lays things out and makes it easy to see how to put things together.

This sounds pretty cool, and not as finicky as I was expecting

I'm gonna add a goblin "artificer" to my game who found a bottle of sovereign glue and makes all kinds of "new" weapons with it like the double dagger (two daggers glued together that does 2d4 damage) and the whife (a whip with a dagger glued to the handle that can be used as either weapon).

I definitely don't like the 2d8 dwarven waraxe, or the elegant/super heavy rule for one simple reason. In 99% of cases you're going to pick a weapon that's more effective for you. If you meet the requirement of a 16 in a single stat, you're going to pick one of those instead of the wider variety of choices. A better option could be a weapon focus feat that improves as your proficiency does. At prof +2 it's a +1 with said weapon, at say prof +3 it becomes +2 to hit and damage, and at +4 give it a technique, polearms could gain trip or sunder, swords could lend to ac or give advantage on certain persuasion or intimidate tests. Just adding bigger damage weapons actually limits strategic choices. For those of you who say, but RP choice is still there. I totally agree with you, rock your barbarian with those d4 daggers you heathen king, but bring your waraxe for dragon fighting. He touches on this in the middle of the video, with the same weapons with different damage dice. That's far more exciting and easily added to a game. A +1 longsword that does a d8 or a longsword that does a d10, now there's strategic and RP choice.

Some great ideas here. Oddly enough The longer I play the less I like different damage for weapons - now adding qualities like trip and poison, that seems interesting to me. I guess I just feel like the HP Cold War in 5e just leads to (IMO) boring combats everyone makes videos about avoiding 😂

It's funny to see several of the fantasy-adjacent youtube channels getting tagged as World of Warcraft by the algorithms. Also, great video as always!

I love the idea of cursed weapons, they do higher damage but take something from the user after prolonged use. this can be an RP thing or a stat thing... just adds flavor

Excellent content. No lengthy intro, no longwinded explanations. Straight to brass tacks. Subscribed.

I’ve thought about doing this, as well having the damage increase at certain lvls to make the weapon ‘grow’ with the characters to show their increasing skill/ power as they lvl up, great vid as always!

Very cool! I like exploding damage: the max damage on the die and roll again. Now daggers are dangerous!

Having dis-/advantage on damage rolls is such a good idea. That way you are so much less likely to roll an infuriating 1 on later levels. Also yes on the follow up video!

Hey Bob. I came up with the 'superheavy' ruling on my own for a player's custom sword, except instead of losing your modifier if you fell below the threshold, it was just a -X weapon, where X was the amount below the threshold you were. If you had STR 14, it was a -2 sword. STR 13, -3, etc. (For anyone curious, the weapon was just a 10 ft. long Zwei that had all the properties of a greatsword + reach.)

This is the first video I’ve seen of yours. These are some good ideas I think I’ll try out in my games. Thanks Bob!

I like the trope of having a starting weapon level up alongside the wielder, kind of like a Loyalty property or something. As long as you kept that weapon on hand, either main or off-hand, throughout an entire level up, it would gain stats alongside you. That way it can be viable for early levels, and a safe back-up for higher levels.

Here’s a house rule I’ve been using with my players that they’ve liked a LOT. Special Actions: The way special actions work is that depending on the weapon you’re using, you get a special action. These normally deal the same amount of damage plus a special effect and have advantage. You can only use a weapon’s special action if you are proficient with the weapon, you can use any weapon’s SA once until it recharges. For example, I can only do Hamstrung Shot With my longbow once per rest, but I can still use Backbreaker with my warhammer before you take that same rest. Special actions recharge every short OR long rest. So… that’s it. Now for the list! *Warhammers: Backbreaker.* Put extra force behind your strike to possibly knock your target Prone if your 1d20 damage roll equals the enemy’s DEX score or higher. Greatswords: Cleave. Swing your sword in a large arc to attack multiple targets at once via swinging in an arc of three hexagons. Like _-_. Greatclubs: Concussive Smash. Hit an enemy with all your might to deal damage and possibly Daze (target has Disadvantage on saving throws, can't take reactions, and loses the Dexterity bonus to their AC.) on a failed CON saving throw for 2 rounds. Greataxes: Crippling Strike. Swing at an enemy's legs to deal damage and possibly Cripple them. (Flying creatures can't be Crippled) on a failed DC 14 strength check from the target. Crippled status means that they can’t move regardless of placement for 2 rounds. Longbows: Splinter Shot. Lightly crack the arrowhead before firing to inflict a Minor Injury on a hit, and splinter on the ground if it misses, dealing 1d4 bludgeoning damage in a 10 ft. radius. Shortbows: Hamstrung Shot. Shoot an arrow into someone’s leg, hindering their mobility. The target has ½ movement and has disadvantage on dexterity saving throws for 2 rounds. Morningstars: Heartstopper. When you hit an attack, roll 1d12. On a 7 or higher, you temporarily completely stun them in place for a second. You can then use your bonus action to do a second attack for free, and said extra attack always hits. Glaives: Lacerate. Slash at an enemy to deal damage and possibly inflict Bleeding on a dc 15 CON saving throw. (Bleeding: The target takes 2 slashing damage at the start of each turn and has Disadvantage on CON saving throws.) Light/Hand Crossbows: Mobile Shot. If you Dash or Disengage on your turn, you can fire a shot as a bonus action. Heavy Crossbows: Piercing Shot. When you fire this shot, it will either hit like a normal shot. However, if there is a target behind the one you fire at, you shoot straight through target 1, leaving Gaping Wounds and hitting the target behind. (Gaping Wounds: Attacks against this creature deal an additional 3 piercing damage. Removed by healing.) Tridents: Three-Pronged Theatrical. You stab your opponent, dealing 2d4 extra piercing damage. Additionally, you can use your bonus action to throw the target to the ground with your trident and cast Vicious Mockery. Longswords: Pommel Strike. Deal no damage, but knock the target prone and stun them. (Uses a bonus action). Lances: Steed Stomp. If you’re on a mount, you can use this action to attack normally, then have your mount take an extra action on its next turn. Rapiers, Shortswords, and Scimitars: Flourish. Make three attacks, but they all have disadvantage. Additionally, the target cannot take reactions this round if at least one of the attacks hits. Warpicks: Breaker. As a free action after you attack, you can instantly break an object you can attack with your warpick (even if you throw it) as long as the object has less than 50 HP. Twinblades: Spin and Strike. Spin around twice in a 5ft. AOE, dealing 1d6 slashing damage per spin. If you only hit one target with the spin(s), you can deal out a stab for 1d4 piercing damage. Targets have advantage on reaction’s when you spin, but NOT if/when you do stab. Other Polearms: Rush Attack. Use all of your movement to attack an enemy within said movement space. You deal your regular damage +1d6 piercing damage and always knock your target prone. *Unarmed: Strike of Blazing Fury.* You strike so fast with your fist that you generate friction in the air, dealing an additional 1d4 fire damage and 1d4 force damage. In addition, you get to choose the damage type of the physical component of your strike between Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing.

Cool ideas. I think there could also be more done with the basic descriptors for damage type: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. Maybe each could do something different on a crit ... piercing do the standard crit damage, slashing can cause a character to start taking bleeding damage every turn until they're healed or stabilized, and bludgeoning might stun someone for a round on a failed CON save.

One thing that never goes wrong is split damage. I like making rusted weapons do one less die type, but add 1d4 poison damage. You can do this with a lot of things too. Like having a branding iron do 1d4 fire damage. Make things unique.

I have tried making some of the lighter armors more useful to players even without high dexterity. For padded armor consider giving players advantage to saving throws versus cold damage or reducing cold damage by 1 point per die rolled. And for leather armor doing the same against fire damage.

This is the first video Ive ever watched of yours. The calm vibe you give off and the warm tone you have really makes it feel like "Hey man, let's talk about this and have fun while we're doing it." Got my sub with that intro and definitely kept it by the end of the video. Keep up the good work dude!

I had the idea of each weapon having an associated standard action that you can take as a bonus action while you wield them. Polearms let you dash to charge the enemy; hammers can push enemies prone; swords push away; axes can make one attack as a bonus action against a target you haven’t attacked that round like a cleaving attack. I think I had some weapons like scimitars and short swords make an additional attack when you dual wield so you get two attacks on your bonus action, but only if you’re dual wielding. Sickles, whips, and light hammers can take the help action as a bonus action; sickles and whips grab at an enemy’s arm or shield and pull them into a disadvantageous position and light hammers stun them a little when you clonk a person on the head with them so the smaller damage dice weapons still have a powerful support effect to make up for their lack of damage. Thrown weapons can be thrown and rapiers can disengage to let you step in and out of melee range easily like a fencing duelist. I came up with something for every weapon but I don’t remember all of them off the top of my head. These certainly make martials more powerful than they were before, but I think they kinda deserve it.

Makes sense, add flavour to weapons and equipment not just the characters and enemies. So not only do the players get to deal with an amphibious swamp dwelling goblin variant, those boglins also wield non-magic, rust and filth covered weapons that do less base damage but extra poison damage.

I *love* this. I can't wait to use this stuff for my game!

Bob this is one of my favorite D&D videos I have come across in a long time. Truly just open my imagination on all that we could do with just weapons and add more flair and fun to weapons.

Love the short, straightforward videos packed with cool ideas and tips. Will definitely try this out!

Wonderful idea! I'll try implementing this in my future sessions and see what my players think...

This gives me some awesome ideas for next sessions loot table! I wanted to give my lvl 4 players some new and interesting toys. Being in a horrific gritty campaign, battling eldritch abominations. Currently within an inner sanctum for some cult, we ended off in the main chamber, 2 Maddened Argos surrounding them. These weapons will mesh wonderfully with an "upgrade" item I'm about to introduce. And here I was wondering about new fun things to add to my campaign. Thank you, please do another video expanding on this.

Awesome customization options. I've trying to get more people into D&D and this helps. The different weapons in Valds' Spire of Secrets seems like exactly the stuff that i would home brew in my games.

Bob's voice recording is so good in this video. Radio DJ smooth, relaxing but not monotone. This is the first Bob video I've seen that's not recorded outdoors so maybe all the indoors ones are like this. Keep it up!

I dunno, I feel like if I wanted that level of complexity out of an RPG, I'd just go play Pathfinder. 5e's simplicity is actually a big ease-of-use consideration for me. (Not knocking Pathfinder by the way, lots of fun, but I've been replaying kingmaker before diving into wrath of the righteous and my god, the complexity verges on overwhelming, and that's in a simplified CRPG form!)

I know it can seem sacrilegious for D&D players to consider other systems but I recommend the Witcher TRPG system - their weapons all have inherent qualities that make them pretty different in action and can even change up tactics versus some enemies.

I love these mechanics, and have used some of of them in home games previously! When I was running Lost Mines of Phandelver, i switched up the loot in Wave Echo Cave to match the PCs fighting styles. One of my favorites was a Katar-style push dagger. It had a 1d6 damage die but lost the thrown property. Your system for poor/standard/fine weaponry sounds super fun.

I found this channel a little while back with the strength score video. Absolutely loving it

I love some of these ideas for more interesting weapons, especially advantage/disadvantage on damage dice or higher damage options for higher str/dex. However it does have a greater possibility of slowing combat down when that’s already a big problem in the game.

I have a kensei monk that uses a blowgun, though when I picked it I made sure my dm was cool with me having the ability to buy poisons for it.

I really really like the quality advantage damage idea. Gives some needed nuance to the D&D weapon system and encourages players to use weapons of higher quality rather than what they find just lying around in a dungeon on a corpse. At the same time though, it is a two-edged sword (haha pun) for the DM because of that added complexity. It also probably won't be too great for new players. Experienced ones however?

Sometime I did for my games was modify the dice and the weapons damage types. For example, a greatsword when half-swording (gripping the blade) can do piercing damage or use a mordhau grip (holding by the blade and striking with the guard) can do any of the 3 bludgeoning slashing or piercing. In return however, it only uses a d12. A maul however can only do bludgeoning but does 3d4 damage. The greataxe is in the middle. I also have similar rules for 1 handed weapons but you get the idea. I find it helps break the mold and make it so that you won't always automatically use one weapon over the other because it has a slightly better damage range (looking at you 2d6)

"There's no reason that a dagger can't be a D6" Well I mean, if you want to throw out, all of the existing legitimate rules that say it can't then yeah. Game balance/Class proficiency balance/weapon availability balance/weapon weight and or material cost and or versatility balance. The issue I see with the "dice damage freedom" and the "weapon tier upgrade" methods are the "arms race" scenario that will likely follow. If someone could make a dagger that did 1d8 then why would they also not enchant it with +1, or why stop there? Why didn't they make a 2d12 dagger? Again you're free to do whatever you want in your game, that makes it YOUR game. Having fun at your table should be the most valued aspect of the game you all play. If you're not having fun playing D&D because of the combat, there are tons of other RPGs out there with much more involved or much less involved combat/conflict resolution. I think the last tally I heard was something like 78% of all of the "rules" in D&D pertain to combat and how to adjudicate it. A lot of the rest of it is just lore and setting. There are games and tables where Role-playing is the core focus and dice are second fiddle to a good player performance. There are games and tables where exploration is key and you have no idea what you'll find. Neither the players nor the "GM" fully knows what will happen next.

I will again suggest Beyond Damage Dice by Kobold Press. It's a great little pdf that adds small maneuvers to each weapon that anyone can use if they're proficient with the weapon.

I implemented two things for modifying weapons into my game. The first is a simple system of "tags" that either increase our decrease the damage a weapon does. For example "dull" decreases the damage and "fine" and "serrated" increase it. The damage changes are as simple as switching the damage dice to the next larger or smaller size (decreasing d6s to d4s or increasing d6s to d8s, for example). The other thing is special materials that can have a verity of effects from further changing the damage to pseudo-magical effects. (I based the materials in those sprinklered throughout other editions, but modified to better for 5e and to help with balance).

I’m really in love with the advantage for the damage weapons. Earned my sub and like!

so basically, characters that have high stats which come with their own bonuses for attack and damage gain exclusive access to weapons with even more base damage. Yep, very easy to add to any campaign with no draw backs.... oh, those great unearthed arcana rules. XD

Im so lost now. DDO and neverwinter has ruined my real game perception... At 50, there are no more players around from my younger days, and no new players to mingle. So, DDO and neverwinter is all i get 😂

1. A big part of it is the lack of mechanical variance in armor. The base armor types (plate, chain mail, etc.) should either have resistance/weakness against certain physical damage types or impose disadvantage/advantage on certain physical attacks, like their real-world counterparts. This will immediately make the kind of weapon you use against an armored individual matter. 2. Physical attacks should utilize aspects of a character’s dexterity _and_ strength, with some options on variation. DEXmod should always be added to the attack roll, and STRmod should always be added to the damage roll. All weapons should be able to make a regular attack, a finesse attack (double DEXmod to attack roll, no STRmod to damage roll), or a power attack (no DEXmod to attack roll, double STRmod to damage roll). Finesse weapons will get _triple_ the DEXmod bonus to attack on a finesse attack, and two-handed weapons (or versatile weapons being wielded with two hands) will get _triple_ the STRmod bonus to damage on a power attack. 3. Certain weapons should be able to deliver a variety of attacks with varying damage potentials. For example, longswords should all be able to deliver their 1d8 slashing attack (blade edge) along with a 1d10 piercing attack (blade tip) and a 1d4 bludgeoning attack (pommel).

I found your channel through this video and have just subscribed and watched a few more like the lockpicking video! You're really knowledgeable, you seem like a great guy, and you've got lot of great ideas that I'd love to bring to my campaign! Keep up the awesome work! :D

I just had an idea based on this video (great one by the way!) How about the pc says I swing extra hard, gets a -2 on attack, but does one level dice higher damage with the roll. Or, I swing precisely, get a +2 on my attack roll, but the damage dice is one lower. Thoughts?

Double-Bladed Scimitar gang, where you at?!

I love the simplicity but usefulness of this. It’s making me want to run a campaign again! Thank you!

Something I saw a while back is that you can also just mix around the already existing keywords. Give a battleaxe the thrown property, give finesse to a longsword, give a flail reach etc. Just things that makes the weapons different from their generic versions.

There is actually a reason for type of dice for damage, for example gnawing teeth is represented by a lot of D4s, a dagger is a D4 because Wizards of the Coast are extremely unfamiliar with actual medieval weaponry and assumes a dagger to be like a knife which tells me probably none of them held a real dagger before in their life but is represented by a D4 because it is assumed that you will need more stabs to do a killing blow to a normal person on average a lot like a knife. Just changing the type of dice for weapons shouldn’t be haphazard and whimsical I think, since dice type does indeed tell a micro story of how the damage is done. A D8 dagger suggests a dagger that is homing towards vital parts or something, or a dagger that is long enough to be a sword. While I agree that a dagger should be a D6 not a D4 based on how real daggers are, they are in no way a D8 weapon that will kill all commoners with one stab on average. I am seriously thinking about doing a supplement for 5E called “The Fighter Expanded” which expands on the fighter mainly in the form of weapons and damage types, preferred weapon, and custom fighting styles (as in the player makes up the fighting style that their fighter is trained in, which is by the way a world wide historical thing not just an east Asia thing). There is so much to unpack and actually make the fighter’a weapons training actually shine, not just give the rogue a deadlier dagger than a long sword on an average hit. Sorry if I seem condescending but I firmly believe that damage dice really are part of the story told during the landing of the hit, having a super dagger that somehow mundanely is slicing necks left and right (again always think of commoner as the average here) is not really the way to go about it.

Definitely would like to see more variety with weapons. There is a lot of magic weapons that do different things, but the different damage dice is really cool.

Dude, seriously another great vid with great suggestions, I'm so glad RU-vid found your channel for me. 😎🤘

**cough*Pathfinder2e Weapon Traits*cough**

Hey :D I just wanna say how inspiring your videos are! I have been watching them for ages and they have inspired me to start creating my own :3 thank you!

In the Iron Kingdoms system, weapons have a modifier to accuracy besides the damage. Some of them also have special effects, like a crit with a mace can knock out a living foe (the foe has to make a test based on the strength of the attacker and also this system doesn't increase damage in critical rits, unless something specifically says), in this system, you have a resource called "feat points" (you can have up to 3 and there are many uses and ways to recover it during and outside combat), a rapier has low damage, but you can use a feat point to roll +d6 on attack and damage (in this system, nearly every test uses 2d6), a spear or a halberd give you bous in defence against charge attacks (besides the longer range), and other things.

I have 5 kinds of weapon tiers Broken: lower damage dice, disadvantage on damage roll (if a d4 it 1 damage) Sturdy: disadvantage on damage Normal: normal damage Sharpened: advantage on damage. Perfectly made: advantage on damage, higher weapon dice (if d12 it +1d4)

Oh wow I really like that weapon tier/advantage on damage rolls system. That's a really good way to explain why the rusty shortswords my adventurers pick up off of goblins aren't worth all that much but still have the same stats. Had a party who wanted a side hustle as scrap metal dealers or something haha.

Great video, well explained and easy to understand everything

Great ideas, Bob. Would love to see more on this weapon customization system.

At my table tridents are listed as 1d4/1d6 versatile weapons with the following special property: if an attack roll beats the target AC by 2 or more, it deals 2d4/2d6 damage instead. If it beats the target AC by 4 or more it deals 3d4/3d6. So the weapon tends to underperform vs high AC opponents and overperform vs low AC opponents.

I love these ideas and will incorporate all of them, along with some from the comments. Good vid. I just subbed.

I have this suggestion and i talked it over our dm and it basically adds these mechanics (which are "unique moves" and "signature moves") that make that made every weapon a bit more unique and we have a table that lists every weapon in the game and we added 2 "unique moves" and 2 "signature moves" to each weapon, a unique move in our table is the "if strength reaches x then you can do y" and our signature moves is the "reach level 10, pick one weapon, and you pick 1 out of the 2 offered signature ability". It is fun making it and we felt like we customized the weapons.

Advantage/Disadvantage on damage dice is genius! I'll definitely incorporate it in my campaign. Thanks!

This is a really interesting idea! I had actually homebrewed a Great Cleaver weapon for my barbarian (based on a character of mine known for Herculean strength and a big ass sword) that required 15 Strength to use, dealt 2d8 slashing damage but reduced your speed by 10ft. I really liked the "tattered" and "strong" weapon quality where you basically roll damage with dis/advantage, definitely want to incorporate that in my games.

I'm glad to see you talking about different damage die for weapons. Back in my 3.5 days I homebrewed a quick quality system for weapons, poor quality would reduce the dmg die by one, while Great would raise the damage die by 1. So a 1d6 would become either a 1d4 or 1d8. There was more crunch to it but this was the only aspect to it that affected damage directly. I enjoyed your thoughts on the subject, and maybe your video will inspire someone to try something new to help make their table more unique.

At the risk of sounding contrarian, the Author of 'Oubliettes, Sorcery, + Reavers' (OS+R; yes, that was a deliberate pun on the Author's part) proposed that Damage dice should be based on the **Character's Class**, rather than the weapon itself - the Author (M. Scott Welker), having spent time serving in the Armed Forces, says that a soldier is trained to be just as lethal with a pair of scissors or a boxcutter as they would with a combat knife or machete (by acknowledging and being trained in the strengths and limitations of a given weapon, and knowing which parts of the target's body to focus that weapon on for maximum effect and efficiency, etc). Hence, a Medieval/Fantasy Warrior (who would receive specialist combat training vs what a Wizard or Thief might be taught) rolls a d8 for damage whether they use a dagger, sword, or warhammer; while a Wizard **can** use a sword, but can only inflict d4 damage per strike as they simply don't know how to wield it as well as the Warrior does; Furthermore, only the Warrior can add their STR Mod to their weapon's damage (the other classes are assumed to not have the combat training to know how to apply and leverage their Strength correctly with their weapon). Meanwhile, the choice of weapon is more *Tactical* in nature, rather than being about the range of damage potential - firstly, the weapon affects your Initiative (heavier and bulkier weapons like Two-handed Swords and Polearms take longer to ready and are slower to recover from a swing, and tend to 'telegraph' their attack to the opponent vs a smaller, less obvious/bulky weapons like a Dagger or Hand Axe, than can be used much faster), and can have specific effects based on the situation: eg a Polearm can use the weapon's *Reach* to keep their opponent at bay (functionally granting a +1 to their AC vs a specific opponent, but if that target is wielding a Dagger and is somehow able to get **within** the Reach of that Polearm, they can make a number of *Rapid* strikes equal to 1 + their DEX Mod (but with Disadvantage on all strikes rolled). This rationale re: weapons and damage does make the slightly bizarre suggestion that a Warrior with a Battleaxe and a Warrior who has picked up an improvised weapon (like a tankard of ale from a nearby table) both have the same damage-dealing potential (mind you, it might make sense if you're considering someone like Conan the Barbarian 😅 ), but as a means of therefore differentiating between weapons based on their *Tactical Benefits and Flaws* instead of simply adjusting their Damage Die values, it's certainly a school of thought that's worth considering (though it would obviously be more fitting for certain game styles than others, of course).

Thanks for the videos man. You’re helping me a lot

Here's a couple weapon ideas in no particular order: Piercing Weapons: Treat the AC of the opponent as being 1 less than it is. Scales with +1, +2, +3 magical weapons to a total of 4 AC less than it actually is. Slashing: A creature with Natural Armor is considered vulnerable to this weapon (if it has resistance, then deal normal damage) Bludgeoning: When you hit with this weapon, you can make the creature you hit make a Strength saving throw with a DC equal to 10+ the damage die. On a failed save, it moves 5 feet away from you in a direction of your choice. Multi-Pool: If the creature wielding this weapon has the Multi-Attack (or similar) feature and uses all of their attacks on a single creature in one round of combat, roll all of the damage dice at once and arrange them from highest to lowest. For every attack that hits, count the damage dice this weapon uses starting with the highest damage dice first and descending to the lowest until no more hits remain to take from the pool.

I am currently playing a Wookie in a SW5E game and we created a bladestick for him. It is a traditional Wookie weapon. We gave it the following properties at level one Versatile and Thrown. At level one it dealt 1d6 + mods and bonus action 1d6 with the second blade. And two handed 1d8 + mods and 1d8 BA. We added abilities to it using the enhancements that were in the game for vibroblades and vibrospears, which added a +2 to hit. Currently at level 5 it adds the mods to the bonus action. At level 6, after seeing your video, I will ask the DM to move the damage up to a d8 and d10 respectfully. So at level 14 we should be at a d12 and maybe two handed 2 d12's given that progression. I believe I will need to up his DEX as now his STR is 20. This makes a great progression for the Character and his primary weapon.

Even if I don't use all the information, it feels like I am listening to Bob Ross when I have you on in the background while I am making maps. Always a happy coincidence to stumble on one of your videos in my recs.

I’ve been wanting to make weapon and armor brands for my game inspired by the borderlands gun brands. This is the exact way I’ve been looking to differentiate them. I think I’ll make some have advantage on the damage. An older out of business brand that made very powerful items before the deep snow about a thousand years ago. And stuff like that. Thank you!! My little brother is excited lil

Amazing video! Great work! ^^

Last session I threw in a couple "extended-blade daggers" that are awkward to throw (no "short range"), but have "advantage" on their damage dice in melee. They were wielded by an assassin - and now that he's dead, the party has the daggers. Thanks Bob! This was a good way to introduce a little "huh, that's interesting" without really introducing any craziness or power to the PCs.

VERY fresh DM here. I'm eating up all the D&D content that I can so I know what's in my toolbox, but I'm quickly learning that the game is whatever I/we want to make it! Love this idea of small tweaks to really customize the game and add so much depth to the possibility of what loot the party might encounter or how they can interact with NPCs to have them work on their equipment, for example. Love the videos, keep them coming.

Love to see that champions of norrath callback. I'm actually running an everquest ttrpg right now and I like a lot of these ideas! Might throw some in.

bob, you're a genius. im using this for sure, really great tips!

Very similar to what I do, with a few extra ideas I can use. Love it!

Love the idea. In fact, I've already Incorporated it into my world. Now all weaponss are defined with weapon quality, condition, & characteristics Quality (crude, basic, fancy+, mastercraft++) Condition (broken, worn/rusty, well maintained, mint) +Characteristics (light, balanced, keen, heavy) The characteristics are generally defined with flavor, based on whomade it, or who it was made for.

Oo I like the idea of quality of the weapon= advantage/disadvantage. I’ll be using that for sure! Since you mentioned Two Weapon Fighting: Something I’ve done as a new DM for my PC’s is I’ve allowed heavy melee weapons to be used for two weapon fighting. Everything is the same rules-wise, the only exception is that they have to halve their damage. This means in a single turn they can’t do more damage they would have done if they wielded it with the regular two handed style of fighting, so it really doesn’t change much, but it lets them feel super badass being allowed to wield, say, two great axes, and I find my players like being able to choose to attack once and risk missing, but deal more damage, or choose to attack twice, upping the likelihood of dealing at least some damage, even if it’s a smaller amount. So far I’ve had no issues changing this small detail. :)

This video is pure gold. Great job!

I really like the idea of advantage/disadvantage on the damage. Might try that out.