All D&D 5e Weapons RANKED (by 9,000 Players) 

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I disagree with the people's views of the humble dart! The entire point (get it) of the dart is to be cheap! You can buy 20 darts for the price of 1 measly little dagger! I can arm a mob with darts, I can only arm steve with a dagger.

Daggers could have a bonus when used in a grapple or against a grappled target. Like reducing the target's AC or criting on 19. Because they were used to bypass armour usually by wrestling the armoured person and working the dagger into a gap.

Darts are already unique, people just don't know about it. Darts are ranged weapons, meaning they can be affected by Sharpshooter and Archery, while also being a thrown weapon, which means they can be affected by the Thrown Weapon Fighting Style. It also has finesse, which means it can be used with Strength instead of Dexterity. A bunch of unique interactions. Darts are clearly underrated

I've always liked the idea of giving the whip the statistics of the "Thorn Whip" cantrip, just with reduced range and only 5ft pull.

There's zero reason to use different stats for a katana, the longsword stats make perfect sense. I agree that a katana could be a finesse weapon, but the longsword historically would be equally valid as a finesse weapon.

There’s a simple fix for the lance: instead of being a one-handed weapon that needs two hands when not mounted, make it a two-handed weapon that only needs one hand while mounted. Aside from the existing rule being oddly written, this changes what feats apply. You lose dual-wielding but gain both greatweapon master, which gives a power attack option (for devastating charges) and a cleave effect (for plowing through crowds)

My favorite dagger feature is one I call "extra light." It allows you to use the dagger for a 2 weapon fighting bonus action even if the weapon you used for your first attack wasn't light.

I think that the Pike should be able to reach 15’ because these things are effing massive. They clock in at a 18’ length minimum. Make them cool. I would like to do some stuff myself on some of these weapons. Love your work.

The sickle shouldn't be removed as it is a great "found weapon" along with hand axes and clubs etc. If you want a violent mob of villagers then it is also a good weapon pick. It is also forms the basis of more complex weapons like the Kusaragima (sickle and weighted chain).

The maul is at 21? The maul is, as we speak, the strongest weapon in the game. Yes it has 2d6 like the greatsword, but it's objectively better. There are creatures that specifically resist slashing damage, but this doesn't exist for bludgeoning. On top of that, the crusher feat is also better then the slasher, though that is a bit more subjective.

The maul is statistically the best weapon in DND, as it does the same damage as the great sword, is cheaper, and with bludgeoning being the best physical damage type. It's shocking how low it is in this list.

I would reason that the club got ranked higher than the light hammer because this ranking is not about power level, it's just about if we would change it and i think it's plausible that a lot of people think the club is perfectly fine as it is, being basically the most simple weapon there is (viable or not), and same thing with the handaxe

It makes sense that the whip does less damage. Honestly, according the the "rules" behind the scenes, a rapier does more damage than it should, but the rest are pretty on par Iirc, martial weapons start with a d8, and simple a d6. If it has heavy or 2 handed, add a die size (2 for both). If it has finesse or reach, subtract one (2 for both) So a whip is martial (d8) reach (d6) finesse (d4) A glaive or Halberd is martial (d8) heavy (d10) reach (d8) two handed (d10)

So, for the Longsword-Katana matter, Katanas are actually heavier in the hand (similar actual weight) than their longsword counterparts. They tend to be slightly shorter in comparison with a further forward center of balance, leading to that feeling. So, hear me out, longsword gets the finesse property, katana does not. Especially since the dexterous elfs get proficiency with longswords as a trait. The way these weapons are used in real life reflects this as well. For erveryone wanting that ninja vibe, the swords that most people think of are actually shorter. Similar in length to an arming sword, which dnd doesn't have. Just just make them both 1d8, with slashing damage. You could easily justify it as either of these being finesse. Perhaps even light for that sick dual wielding aesthetic. These two can be marshal weapons and I would simply make the shorts word a simple weapon. I would also consider throwing the scimitar into the arming sword category.

The whip : If you attack a creature with 4 or less Intelligence (animals, mostly) the creature is disoriented and get disadvantage against you for the next round.

The dart is okay in low tier play, if you need to buy all your weapons it's more expensive to buy 10 daggers than 10 darts.

Just my take on certain weapons in the list: 36 ) Whip ~ Having been in the BDSM community, I can attest that the */damage/* for the whip is appropriate, but there are other aspects which are commonly overlooked. Foremost among these is the ability to inflict pain (rather than damage), which would make it seriously effective against spellcasters trying to maintain concentration on a spell. It would also be highly effective in 'subdual damage' (perhaps adding a 1d6 of such to the usual damage roll) against opponents who are unarmored or lightly armored. And let's not forget just how many cool tricks Indiana Jones taught us in utilizing the insane versatility of whips. 35 ) Flail ~ The 'classic' fantasy flail (a spiked ball on a length of chain) never actually existed - actual flails were more like a nunchuku on steroids; a club attached to the end of a short staff, originally used as a farming tool for threshing grains. The fantasy flail and the classic mobster length of chain are more closely related to the manriki-gusari, which was a length of lighter chain (lengths varied, but typically around 5') with heavier weights on the ends. Though it could be used as a bludgeoning weapon (with reach, in 5e parlance) it's primary purpose is to restrain an opponent's more traditional weapon (variation of grappling) and/or attempt to disarm them. 33 ) Trident ~ I would argue that a trident is better treated as multiple daggers (though lacking Finesse) - 2d4 base damage, 3d4 damage as 2-handed melee. The construction makes it wholly impractical for 'catching' an opponent's weapon, though I could see it having an inherent +1 attack bonus (increasing to +2 vs Small opponents and +3 vs Tiny ones). 24 ) Scimitar ~ No, it is *NOT* mechanically identical to the Short Sword: the Scimitar (or Cutlass) is a slashing weapon while the Short Sword is a piercing weapon. Remember that each damage type has its own separate Resistance (some creatures like Skeletons are/should be harder to damage with Piercing weapons, though this confers no benefits against Slashing weapons - by some metrics, Skeletons should be more susceptible to Bludgeoning damage) and quite a number of Feats specifically apply bonuses to weapons of certain damage types. On a related note, there is one specific category of weapon which is wholly absent from D&D 5e... There are Strength-based weapons and Dexterity-based (Finesse) weapons of every damage type (slashing/piercing/bludgeoning) and general power (d4, d6, d8) */EXCEPT/* for a d8 Slashing Finesse weapon - this is where Falchions, Sabers, Katanas, and the like stand apart from both the Rapier (d8 Piercing Finesse) and Longsword (d8 Slashing Strength). (There */technically/* isn't a d8 Bludgeoning Finesse weapon either, though I would argue that the humble Flail is ideally suited for this role. It weighs less than the Scimitar [3lb, Finesse, Light] and the chain portion most certainly makes dexterous control the dominant aspect for effective use.)

Really surprised with the dart hate. It's a unique weapon in that it's the only ranged weapon with the thrown property, this allows it to make use of the Archery and Thrown Weapon fighting styles on top of Sharpshooter, as well as the Battle master's Quick Toss maneuver. A straight up underutilized weapon in my opinion

Scimitar is an ascetic choice. It has a good arabian/subcontinent/asian feel to it as it can represent everything from a mameluke to a shao lin sword

A Battle Master Fighter with a Whip means you can do all your Maneuvers with Reach and still wear a shield and be entirely Dex based. Take the Sentinel feat plus the Brace Maneuver with Reach and you will likely have the option to do an AoO every round while not giving up a shield.

Greatbows technically exist in dnd. There a npc with a 2d6 longbow that works an dex to hit and str to dmg. It is a weapon and it even shows up sometimes on dnd beyond when you want to add stuff in your inventory.

Imo, I think the biggest failings of the Maul, Warhammer, etc (less loved versions of the short/long/great swords, with different damage types) is that they just don't have the magical weapon options. Swords just get so much more love. For example, on DDB the maul has 10 magic variants, including +1, +2 etc, only one of which is named and specific to the maul. The battleaxe does better with 16, 4 of which are specific to Battleaxes. The greatsword has 37, 7 of which are named. Most of that difference are the variants of magic items that specifically say "Weapon (any sword), [rarity]" I'd so much rather that they'd move towards having classes of weapons like they do for armor. There'd be a featherweight/light/medium/heavy ammunition (d4-d10's) weapons, and featherweight/light/versatile/heavy melee (d4-d12's). Slap on a trait like thrown, thrown-only, finesse, stealth, reach, tripping, silvered, Gun (which ups damage, but adds misfire and ammo cost) etc. to build your common weapon. And let the boons of magic weapons apply to all the relevant weapons. It would mean 4 ranged piercing weapons and 12 melee weapons to cover all the flavors that WotC can't possibly do with the current system. It'd be nice to have a structure to make the weapons we want instead of needing to homebrew things like a moon-touched maul, a katana being a slashing rapier, and adding features to make forgettable weapons usable.

For the whip, i actually vote for a small rules change. Include the optional disarming action from the dmg, but change it to only be usable by melee attacks instead of weapon attacks. Then give the whip the feature to be able to grab objects and bring them to you within its reach so long as you are proficient.

75% of this video was like “I don’t understand why people rated this weapon so strange” and I could only agree. A big factor is that many people forgot about many of the weapons. Additionally, the mechanically similar weapons are often ranked close to each other, if one were to be removed the other might be bumped up. However, with different people voting, that would never be the outcome.

You can add your ability score to the dagger's damage when two weapon fighting, or you can always use two weapon fighting by default when using two daggers Your fast and accurate when using two daggers

I liked the idea in Pathfinder of different gods having representative weapons that clerics can wield and get class-specific bonuses from. It really expanded the idea of what weapons were available. I ended up using a Starknife (like a big throwing star) because it was favored by my god and it was very rewarding as a character.

Congratulations to you and Grace on getting married. My daughter and I enjoy watching your videos. She is very pleased by this turn of events. On a weapons note, my wife likes to poi. We invented a rope dart mechanic to incorporate her love of poi into the game. It has range 5 or 10 and an opportunity to do damage as someone enters the spot next to her or completely keep them back. Rolls 18+ start these mechanics and she had to trade a magic potion to be taught these techniques at level 2 by a master. I like the thought of adding your tripping idea into it as well. The damage is currently 1d4 as a rogue but I plan on upping it once she "finds" a better blade to attach or uses it and gets "better".

1 ) A REAL sling should definitely do more damage - they were used by shepherds to drive away LIONS. In addition, they could be used to do things like throw vials of acid or Alchemist's Fire, or other magical items normally thrown, and yes, like you said, have the Concealable property - a true sling was just a 4 foot section of leather. 2 ) The Pike should DEFINITELY be in the game - Rennaissance tactics were built ENTIRELY around it. And it should have Extra Reach AND the ability to set against a charge. This is one of the most important weapons of military history from the 1400s to the 1700s. One of the most legendary mercenary units were the Swiss Pikemen for crying out loud. 3 ) Repeating crossbows are a real weapon in history - but they were quite weak in comparison to similar sized "regular" crossbows. HOWEVER, there is no reason mechanics wise to include it - except as a reskin of a Shortbow. 4 ) Many weapons could be described explicitly as reskins of other weapons. Weapon damage type is enough reason to keep the scimitar as that makes it different from the shortsword, but you could then declare the grossmesser, falchion, and such as reskins of the saber. The Shortsword could have reskins of the Court Sword and Chinese "Willow Leaf" saber (a la Green Destiny in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"). 5 ) There is still room for an Arming Sword for aesthetics. Specifically, a weapon that is otherwise identical to the Longsword, but without the Versatile property - this would represent the classic Viking sword, the swords of the Norman Conquest, and so on. Honestly, the main reason for it.. is aesthetics.

I know when i wanted to use an anime sword, i didn't feel the need for any new options. I just reflavored the Halberd.

For scimitars and many other curved one handed swords like sabres and cutasses, their advantage is they are easier to parry with on a horse (or other animal) or in a tight space because turning the sword hand sweeps the belly of the blade through quite a bit of space without moving the point of the sword much. Don't know how to make a good rule around that.

Yay, my comment made it to one of your videos, that alone made my day! Also, I think a Finesse Longsword would be totally game-breaking, because Dexterity's already the most OP stat, it gives you one of the most commonly used Saving Throws, AC, bonus in a lot of skills, ranged damage, initiative, etc. Plus, rogues could sneak attack with a finesse long sword, and that looks kinda weird, I guess. Other than that, katanas are already longswords, as the book mentions: in real life, katanas are not lighter than longswords at all, this is an anime/Japanese culture trope. If you're interested in learning about medieval weapon "mechanics" including weight, length and reach, I'd recommend taking a look at Skallagrim's channel, it might be a source for creativity regarding alternative weapon uses, or maybe even give you ideas for real life multi-attack tests, which might be cool too. As always, thank you for the great content, including this video and your hard work on surveys and whatnot. This is my favorite D&D channel. Cheers from Brazil.

So I have some notes about the Longbow. The English Longbow which is what most people think of was often over six feet long. That is *wildly* impractical for adventuring life - which makes sense! The longbow was a military weapon. In my games, with archers, I give them the option of a "horsebow" aka, a recurve composite bow. These can achieve the same or better ranges, accuracy, and penetration power that english longbows can achieve, but are often much smaller, and able to be used while mounted (hence "horsebow"). They achieve the same or better properties by putting in curves, and compositing materials to create different tensions. (IE, bone and wood. Bone is stiffer than wood, while wood lets the bow bend without breaking.) Recurve composite bows have been used everywhere, especially in places lower in wood growth, like the Mongolian Steppe, and enable certain societal structures, such as nomadic movement.

Darts a very interesting weapon honestly, its the only ranged weapon with finesse to start with meaning it can be used with strength, though i think a dagger would work almost identically though its a melee weapon with the thrown property so the only difference between them is what feats or class features that key of specific weapon types they interact with e.g. sharp shooter, cost and weight are another thing thats good compared to having lots of daggers but most DMs really gloss over such things

You mentioned wanting a sword with the ability to trip opponents, so I'm surprised you didn't put it in this list. The historically accurate Chinese Hook Sword has been a weapon available in D&D since long before 5e. The weapons are the one thing that basically don't change between editions so it should be fair game. -A Whip is less of a weapon than a multipurpose utility item. Indiana Jonesing your way over chasms and pits never gets old. -"A sickle is just a dagger you can't throw" You can throw any weapon in D&D. Sometimes even NPCs too. Sometimes you can wield an NPC as a weapon while already in flight towards your enemy. If anything a sickle as a weapon is designed to cut off your opponents weapon hand at the wrist when they attack you. -A blowgun has only one purpose. It's not a weapon, it's a delivery system for poison. -A sling is by far the worst weapon on this list. It's just stats slapped on throwing a pebble. If slings used ammunition that could do actual damage I'd consider them more than an annoyance. -Trying to claim the dagger needs to be taken out of D&D is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard concerning this game. It's basically the only actual weapon all spellcasters can use. Unless you count a staff, which I don't because you still require a free hand to cast. Not to mention the usefulness of the dagger when farming for free spell components. Granted "One D&D" is introducing an Arcane Focus that replaces all but the most expensive spell components, so maybe that last bit isn't such a selling point anymore.

For the Whip, I can think of two things on top of just straight out raising its damage: Giving it a Grappling feature with a DC of 8+ STR mod + proficiency bonus. Giving it the Light property so you can dual wield along with it. Dual wielding whips is used in performances and fulfills the Trevor Belmont-esque fantasy of a whip user. EDIT: Something I feel strongly about many of the weapons in D&D 5e (dagger, dart, etc) is that select weapons should naturally allow multiple attacks even without a Extra Attack. Example: Do you really need to be a Level 5 Fighter to know how to stab someone twice with a dagger, or throw a dart. Some weapons are just EASIER to wield, and they will do perfectly well with a lower damage dice because you'll be able to attack twice!

There already is a finesseable version of a longsword, it's called a rapier.

The whip should have a ranged grappling and tripping feature, and it could be a way to deal with enemies who have blunt weapons since you could attempt to snatch them out of their hands. Slashing and piercing weapon could counter the whip as a way to keep it in check during combat. I might also consider using the whip crack having a distraction and intimidating feature that can be used once or twice during combat.

Hah not surprised by this data at all. Thanks for sharing it all Bob!

I love running the flail with the flexible property that allows it to ignore shield and cover AC, which is what it was historically used for (rampart defense, harassing ladder climbers besieging a castle). Makes for a nifty secondary weapon

5e weapons simply suffer from the simplification of combat in 5e. In 3.5, weapons could be vastly different depending on their crit profile, but with crits defaulting to x2 (20), a lot of variant weapons collapsed into the exact same statline. The difference in performance between x2 (19-20) and x3 (20) is negligable, but the aesthetic, feel and personal preference shines through.

10:55 but Crossbow Expert is already a thing. nless you remove the feat, adding a repeating crossbow won't change a thing

Yes! I love diving into the weapons system in 5e

The western falchion is not just like the scimitar its a two handed baby of a cleaver, axe, and sword at once. Its a heavy weapon meant for just crushing through enemies while the scimitar is a finesse light weapon. 2d4 slashing bludgeoning, heavy, crush through armor and or bonus on horseback as it is popular for cavalry as a dismounter.

For a scimitar I use the following rules: it is a 1d8 slashing weapon, that has light, finesse and special* properties. Special* property of the scimitar says “If the skimitar is used in combination with any other weapon except the second skimitar, it loses the finesse property. Using the skimitar with a shield does not make it lose the finesse property.”

I think I put it in the last video that was basically just a sponsor video but I figure I'll add it here because I've been having a lot of fun with the Warrior's Codex, which is a martial overhaul similar to the weapon variation Bob is after. They add a few more properties, like the ability to wrap around shields for flexible weapons like the mace that was mentioned in this video, but also they flesh out disarming and parrying and other real life martial combat occurrences into actual mechanics that I quite enjoy. You can even make your own weapons, as they boil the modifiers down to a point system, for instance I made a sword based off Sephiroth's sword, with reach (but also two-handed because who in the world could carry that thing) They include weapon materials, modifications, and the base modifiers, which is only like, one chapter from the codex but I figure that's the most relevant lol

4:05 In one of my home games, I added a Flail variant where you could use an action to change the chain length. with a short length chain, it is a normal flail, but with a full chain, it is a 2 handed flail with reach

The problem with many of these weapons is that tthe designers have basically simplified them down to their tropes, and pop culture tropes at that meaning that they actually make pretty poor representations historically. Take the Longsword for instance. You've mentioned a few versions, such as the falchion (I'd actually have the cutlass as a short sword), the jian, the katana, then there's the messer, the bastard sword, the claymore, the side sword, the Kopis, the Kophesh, the Estoc... My point is, there are so many different designs of sword for different cultures and times, you really could just make a sword builder set of rules to design the kind of sword you want. I'd even just grab the short sword and great swords and put them all into this too as again, there are many differing types. You can actually see the designers try and show this with separate rules for the shotr sword, great sword, rapier and scimitar. So, as an example, you could give the length classification, this would decide the over all damage, then you could choose if it were going to be a light weapon, a finesse weapon or versatile, and then you would choose the damage type, either slashing or piercing. So, say you went for a short light piercing type of weapon, well done, you've just made an epee. Say you went for medium length slashing, this could be a claymore. Add versatile into that and you could have a falchion. A katana would be a medium length, versatile, finesse weapon. My point is, it would be cool to be able to customise your sword to represent what you had in mind as closely as possible. The Pike I'd just get rid of to be honest as it's really just a really long spear and ultimately impractical unless you're with a large group of pikemen. This more than any other weapon is a specialised war weapon. Also, if you were to make a Greatbow, I would seriously consider having it as a strength based weapon. Reason being, historically, you're looking at a Warbow for comparison. These things have a draw weight of 80 to 150lbs, but can go up to 200lbs. So you need to be bloody strong to pull one to full draw, and none of this holding too. You draw it, you fire it! In this case especially I do feel that Warhammer had the better system with the Weapon Skill and Bow/Ballistic skill stats rather than Strength and Dex. Anyway, if you were to redesign a bunch of these weapons, I would seriously consider looking at their historical usage and context and go from there.

The cimitar/sable kind of sword could be the finesse version of the longsword. It would also make it diferent from the shortsword since it will deal more damage.

Bob world builder my homebrew repeating crossbow is a simple weapon with a 15/45 range that does 2d4 damage, because the one the Chinese invented is a magazine on top of the very light crossbow that you load by sliding the magazine box front to back. It's goal was to shoot out a lot of small random bolts for area denial.

As I understand it, the difference between a maul and a warhammer is size and weight. A warhammer is small enough to be wielded one-handed, while a maul is a gigantic two-handed bludgeoning weapon (though there are some that have an axehead and are used specifically for cutting wood).

After a small google I learned that one of the most important aspects is that it makes noise to scare cattle. Maybe this can be added to the weapon to give those wielding it advantage on intimidation checks. Not an entirely crazy fix but something to give it a little more sustenance while maintaining its historical significance. Other Idea, adding a grapple DC?

Thank you Bob for the quality of work you do - this is really impressive and I am really looking forward to future videos on this topic. #2 and more importantly though, a huge congrats on your upcoming wedding! Will it be a traditional or a D&D themed wedding?

Honestly, I think whips are great as is. I've built a bugbear rogue dual wielding them, flavored as bladed chains. That was a terrifying build.

Great survey and video. The club probably ranks so high because you can combine it with the Shillelagh cantrip unlike the light hammer (due to not being all wood). Also thrown weapons relying on Strength limits their usefulness for most classes.

For the scymitar the problem is that, as a historical weapon, it was desinged to be use while riding a horse. It was light and resilient enough to withstand the strikes it would deliver and the curve of the blade would help slash trhough unrarmored oponents as it matches the curve of the swing of the riders arm. So, at least for me, is quite hard to find a way to make it more unique other than "Cool, you have advantage/deal more damage while riding a horse"

Congratulations Grace World Destroyer on getting married to the one and only Bob!

Love your ideas for Sling variants! I homebrewed a staff sling for a druid character

10:40 i remember stumbling upon a signal arrow/bolt once, it essentially replaces the damaging tip with a whistle and could be used for distractions, signaling teammates from across long distances, and for practice

Hi Bob! I’m new to DMing and this project of yours is the single most exciting homebrew thing I’ve seen as of late! I’ve been looking around for stuff to add to the game for my players and this is one I’ve got my eye on! Can’t wait for the completed product! Take your time and remember to enjoy :) also an early congrats on getting married! Remember to take a break and enjoy that as well

I’ve had to rework weapons for 5e more than once, as it’s the only system people want to play. Two handed weapons add your strength modifier twice (or you gain a +2 bonus, whichever is higher) to damage rolls when you get a critical hit. You also gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls whenever you use both hands to deal damage with any melee weapon (excluding the floppy weapons like the whip) Light weapons can inherently be concealed, and you can use them in your off hand with reduced penalties for two-weapon fighting. You can use a normal weapon in your main hand. Finesse only allows you to substitute your strength modifier with your dexterity modifier for attack rolls. You ALWAYS need physical strength when it comes to melee, unless you use something like a lightsaber. Charging was added as a property. Basically, when you move at least 20 feet in a straight line before attacking, you gain a +1 damage bonus for each tile you moved on your next attack roll. This is used for polearms and mounted weapons. Sundering is used for weapons meant to ignore or bypass armor such as the mace, war hammer, or war pick. If a creature has natural armor of 15+ or wears heavy armor, you get a +1 to attack rolls using that weapon against the target. Dueling was added to weapons that can parry more effectively, such as swords, the sickle, and the trident. While holding the dueling weapon, you aren’t incapacitated, and you can see your attacker, you gain a +1 bonus to AC vs melee attacks. Dismounting was added to weapons meant to stop a charging enemy. Whenever you hit an enemy with a set up weapon attack (I hold my action to attack if someone moves within my reach), you gain a +1 damage bonus for every 5 feet the target moved during their turn. I also added some weapons, such as the Arbalest, matchlock rifle and pistol, the Lucern (or crow’s beak), and reworked crossbows to function more like how they actually work (lotta damage, slow to reload) and other essentials that WOTC removed or never included for “accessibility”.

I had an idea of a "weapon building" system where a you could pick the weapon's damage and any special properties. Each would cost points, and all "normal/standard" would have the same amount of points, so you couldn't make a 2d6 light weapon. This would also be a great way for GMs to reward the players with some cool weapons without giving weak weapons (moon-touched sword), boring weapons (+1 weapons) or breaking the balance of the game with a powerful weapon (flame tongue). Also, after determining the stats of the weapon you can slap on whatever appearance you want (so no more war picks being forgotten)

Congratulations with your engagement!

Honestly i love the blowgun, whip and darts myself but my group changed some things Blowgun - you can use skills like sniper with it and blowguns can be enchanted and the darts thenselfs Whip - it can be used to grapple an enemy as a bonus action if you attack with it or try and disarm someone with it Dart - you can throw more then one as a ranged weapon up to 3 each hand There simple changes but they made then so much more useful and i love using them

I just noticed you're not Bob the world builder. Thanks my life is ruined, and i will reincarnate as a sea urchin now. Edit: I see anchorman my life improved, my life is no longer ruined.

I think some weapons with lower damage, like whips, should have a fear inducing feature. Though not likely to kill a high CR opponent, it would hurt like h3ll and probably should allow the wielded to keep an opponent at bay similar to a push (rather that pulling closer) and I don’t think enough weapons result in a percentage chance of causing a foe to flee. With its range and the pain it would inflict, a whip should make it somewhat likely opponents would avoid engaging the wielded. My point being that damage does not need to be the sole utility.

I think the reason for greataxe vs maul or greatsword is on the one hand the latter weapons have a slightly higher damage floor by nature of two dice instead of one, but alternatively if you have a feature like Brutal Critical that specifically says "add another damage die when you crit," you get shortchanged by adding another d6 instead of another d12.

Love your content. I'm now on your patreon as well. And my wife even watches your content when Grace World Destroyer makes an appearance. Keep up the good work!

You made me realize how unoptimized my group is. I think we use all of the F-Tier and half the D-Tier weapons 😂

The glaive at C tier? My barbarian-zealot/fighter-champion with polearm mastery begs to differ.

Bob, You might like this: In our current Savage Worlds campaign I use a hand crossbow to fire a bolt with a Thunderstone on the end. This allows me to do a ranged crowd control attack that basically stuns instead of kills. I recently used it to take down a giant flying beast the size of a hot air balloon and when it his the ground (and took damage) and was stunned, the party made short work of the beast. I’m honestly surprised there hasn’t been more work on crossbow ammo.

for repeating ranged weapons, artificer infusions has Repeating Shot, which removes the loading property and gives a +1

If a new longsword is added, it should just be the longsword but with the Finesse property (no increase in damage). Call it a "Great Scimitar," and it could be used as a two-handed scimitar, katana, etc. Long curved swords don't actually do more damage than their straight-edged European counterparts, so I don't think a damage increase is necessary, plus it would completely antiquate the use of the battleaxe, longsword, and other similar weapons.

This sounds like you should look at 3.x weapons, 5e dropped alot of features to be more streamlined and remove complexity

Congrats on the engagement :)

One of my players uses a whip in our game, and we came up with some battle field control involving various checks that have made it really fun/useful. Tripping, pulling, disarming, etc.

I don't understand why the pike can't be use with the polearm master gift. Fortunately, my DM allowed me to do so. And it's pretty helpfull against oozes, jellies ans goo to have piercing damage instead of slashing.

Chain should no be a whip as it has not the same properties as it. Whip could have 1d6 reach one handed and have lowered crit requierment as it could crit on 19 and 20 Dagger could also have this or even crit from 18-20 For the sling i would add homemade ammo that could have additional properties. Like using oil to create flaming projectiles. Tossing sovereign glue like projectiles etc.

I gotta say, as a homebrewer with non-existent clout, I live vicariously through your using your platform to do some data-driven game design. I have zero envy for the whole being a youtuber thing, doesn't appeal to me, but oh boi do I wish I could run these types of surveys. Thank you for doing this

You know what's really funny I run my own version of D&D because I've just been evolving my game over the years & I have all of your concerns covered in my game. Good stuff.

The best "tripping feature" is the sort that enemies can't get up from. That is why my favourite whip alternative is a bastard sword or a battleaxe.

It seems a lot of the low tier weapons would be suits for DM use. Weapons for NPCs to use in combat, so looting PCs don’t make out with a treasure hoard in weapons.

Congrats on the wedding mate, it would be cool if ya posted a dnd wedding adventure.

8:25 I think the confusion about why the light hammer ranked lower than the club is due to some confusion between the survey as written and the survey as interpreted. The survey asks whether or not each weapon should be kept as is or changed, i.e. whether or not the rules for it feel appropriate. This is a different question than whether or not players like each weapon. i.e.: Players think the club, a weapon PCs would only use in desperation or as a proxy for an improvised weapon, is fine as it currently stands. Players think the light hammer needs work, I'm guessing with either a larger damage die or a better thrown range.

A katana is basically a finesse longsword. No extra damage needed, just add the finesse property. At most, you could add the light property if used in combination with a dagger/shortsword (Tanto/wakisashi)

Watching Dune made me think about a function for the dagger, what if it could bypass spells like shield? Giving it that mage killer niche.

Sickle can add +2 when making a grapple check. Also I love the idea of flails canceling out the ac you gain from shields.

Bob! Okay, I'm going to cut this down to four parts. 1) I love what you're doing. I did a similar project about two years back, and I love seeing someone else try their hand at it. 2) You haven't brought up name recognition. I think this is really the Maul's problem, but also with the Morningstar, War Pick, etc. Most people just don't actually know the differences. I think that's why the Bill hasn't been printed in years. 3) Whips scare and flails impact. Both can go around shields, and that'd be a great mechanic, but neither are good at tripping. A flail however just delivers more brute force that a sword or spear can... unlike a whip which is so non-threatening that it's used as punnishment. You don't punnish with an ax, even a little one, because it'll ruin whoever you're punnishing. You do punnish with the whip. On the plus side, whips cause fear and can produce status effects other weapons can't. 4) Sling should do about the same damage, but also come with stunning status effects. They harass during combat, but rarely kill.

If it isn’t Greatsword or Halberd, pretty sure you’re wrong.

Bob, I highly recommend you go watch some medieval weapon videos like those by Shadiversity. He does a good job explaining what the pros and cons of real world weapons are. A lot of the "should" statements you make in this video are really misaligned with reality. I realise not everyone tries to achieve realism, but it is beneficial to understand why certain weapons even existed IRL before trying to rework them. Edit: a good starting point could be his "Medieval battlefield weapons ranked" video

After reading some John Gwynne, I think a cool feature for the net would be some bonus versus flying creatures (assuming they are close enough to capture).

Previous versions of D&D had different arrow heads to use. Pile arrows, broadheads, whistling, barbed, etc. Each one had a very slight difference. +1 to hit, +1 to damage, bleeding, etc. Halberd has been house ruled in our games to be a piercing and slashing weapon.

This is a genius idea. Great job.

I miss the spiked chain. Back in 3rd ed, I played a fighter and took a zillion feats to focus on using the spiked chain, and if you were willing to spend your feats on that it was pretty badass.

As someone currently making a ttrpg, I've really be enjoying these videos for ideas for weapon properties, making weapons meaningfully different from one another. For instance, I have daggers and knives, daggers reduce effective armor while knives can be thrown. Also hitting someone with a dagger while either grappling them or being grappled makes the hit an automatic critical hit.

Love your content! (also a comment to enhance your RU-vid algorithm performance)

about crossbows being repeating, The artificer class offers that as an infusion once you hit level 2. I used it on a crossbow and it was good because all ammunition not loaded into it was magical

I like the idea of having a flail that deals 1d4 Bludgeoning and 1d4 Piercing (Maybe even give it Versatile on the Bludgeoning damage)

Whip should be simple and spiked chain be brought back as the martial whip, unless we really wanna buff the spiked chain.

1. *Longsword*- The classic melee weapon 2. *Longbow*- Really good ranged weapon 3. *Shortsword*- This is a really good weapon- it would make sense for it to maybe deal piercing OR slashing damage, given it's kind of the in-between of daggers and longswords? 4. *Shortbow*- Good ranged weapon 5. *Hand Crossbow*- Good ranged weapon 6. *Light Crossbow*- Good ranged weapon 7. *Rapier*- Classic powerful finesse weapon, perfect for dexterity based characters not interested in dual-wielding, or even better, those with the dual-wielder feat 8. *Greatsword*- Classic strong two-handed weapon. A reach property of some kind would be cool, but this weapon doesn't exactly need any buffs 9. *Handaxe*- A weaker and more expensive javelin that deals slashing damage and possesses the powerful light property. Perfect 10. *Javelin*- Cheaper spear that lacks the versatile property and has extra range, encouraging its use as a simple thrown weapon. Perfect 11. *Quarterstaff*- Good weapon. Defensive capabilities would be cool, but are completely unnecessary 12. *Greataxe*- Slightly cheaper and weaker Greatsword, with a couple of exceptions surrounding feats and class traits 13. *Battleaxe*- Basically a Longsword 14. *Club*- A boring, cheap and weak weapon- no, *THE* boring, cheap and weak weapon. It does its job well, even if it's not a weapon that most players will use 15. *Heavy Crossbow*- A good weapon, given it's practically a mini-ballista maybe it could fire some cooler things 16. *Warhammer*- More expensive longsword that deals bludgeoning damage 17. *Spear*- Should be a light and/or finesse weapon, or perhaps a 10 foot reach when used with two hands 18. *Mace*- Generic simple melee weapon that deals 1d6 damage when quarterstaffs exist 19. *Lance*- Good weapon, possibly misunderstood or frustrating due to some poor wording on its trait descriptions which makes it harder to use from a player perspective 20. *Glaive*- Literally a halberd 21. *Maul*- Mechanically good weapon, maybe it's too boring or something 22. *Greatclub*- This thing should be versatile, dealing 1d8 with one hand and 1d10 with two 23. *Light Hammer*- A better/double price club that can be thrown 24. *Scimitar*- Just a shortsword that does slashing damage. Shortswords should be able to deal piercing and slashing damage, and scimitars need a new use 25/26. *Pike/Halberd*- Mechanically the same weapon, except the Pike deals piercing and the Halberd does slashing. Halberd should just have access to both damage types, and pike is best either removed or reworked 27. *Dagger*- A classic weapon, but sometimes overshadowed by the shortsword. The thrown property will always give it use though 28. *Net*- Poorly written "weapon" that can only be used with disadvantage and has too many limitations to really be worth using 29. *Sling*- Weak ranged option that deserves the light, concealable and possibly finesse properties 30. *Morningstar*- A slightly heavier, more expensive war pick 31. *War Pick*- A flail that deals piercing damage 32. *Dart*- A dagger that you can only throw, only a magical instance of this item could really be that interesting 33. *Trident*- Slightly heavier and more expensive spear, but it's a martial weapon, so literally just a worse spear 34. *Sickle*- Worse dagger that isn't even a weapon, Scythes are cooler, yet aren't a weapon in 5e 35. *Flail*- Inferior Damage to other options and lacks any traits 36. *Whip*- Lacks Damage and/or Interesting traits 37. *Blowgun*- Extremely underpowered martial ranged weapon that feels like an afterthought