The Most-Desired WEAPONS & FEATURES (Not) in D&D 5e 

💥 Weapon Quality System: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MbBnoBHe248.html ✅ LIKE & SHARE: ru-vid.comvideos ✅ PATREON: www.patreon.com/bobworldbuilder

5e: We want simplicity for everyone. We'll keep the martial weapons simple. Also 5e: Spells.

I think there's confusion with darts in D&D because most people are picturing tiny pub darts you can stuff in a pocket, but historical battlefield darts are more like short heavy javelins, or a heavy arrow you throw. The Roman plumbata are a well-attested version.

I feel like a lot of these can just be reskinned versions of other weapons. The studded club is just a mace, you can rule a scythe as being a glaive, a katana can be a longsword, etc. the monk page in the player’s handbook actively encourages this sort of thinking, like saying a sickle can be a kama. There’s no reason why you can’t play a human sōhei (Paladin) who wields a nodachi (greatsword). The players handbook offers you no description for any weapon, just what dice you roll, damage type, and other affinities like heavy or reach. If you want to say that your halberd is a Dane axe or that your club is the petrified drumstick of a cockatrice then go for it

Overall, I think slings themselves should be reworked. Historically speaking, they're a lot more deadly than the rules allow.

Note about boomerangs: Hunting ones (ie, ones actually capable of causing real damage) don't' return. What do do have however, is very long range for a thrown weapon.

Most of the weapons in this list can be achieved by just reflavouring exising weapons. Brass knuckes are definitively missing though, so is a bunch of properties.

Macuahuitl ("great club, studded") note: it already has serated/blade edges. Those "studs" on the edge are, traditionally, sharp obsidian blades.

So on the Estoc, it’s a two handed sword with a very narrow, pointed blade, and it’s designed to slip through the gaps of plate armor and to punch through chainmail; it would work pretty well as a low damage, dex based two handed sword that ignores part of an enemies AC; could be pretty neat.

I feel like Pocket Sand would be very similar to the Color Spray spell. In fact, my Wizard’s verbal component for that spell was yelling “Pocket Sand!”.

Dual Bladed swords exist in D&D. It’s hidden away in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. It’s called the Double-Balded Scimitar and deals 2d4 slashing with an additional attack as a bonus action that deals 1d4 instead

The Khopesh pretty much evolved from axes, pretty much combining them with swords. This made it good at chopping/slashing, with some decent piercing ability too. The hook on the end was also used to pull shields away or disarm opponents, as well as making successful stabs more lethal

The Claymore is a Scottish greatsword - the normal infantry would have used one-handed basket-hilted broadswords. Claymores are very large swords (usually more than 4.5 ft., sometimes 5 or more.) Their name is derived from a Scots Gaelic word meaning "Great sword." Zweihander (literally meaning "Two hander"), like many German swords, are even larger (at least 4 ft 7 in.) They were often so large that they filled a similar role to polearms, rather than traditional great swords. There are also Flammenschwert (flame-bladed swords) that are basically zweihanders with wavy blades. They look awesome.

Billhooks are in 5e! They're called hooked spears, check out the statblock for Derro. It allows the wielder to forgo damage on a hit to trip a creature. Very fun weapon!

Sounds like things could get... really granular. There might be a way to introduce a lot of "weapons" by sticking to broad categories, and this allows us to introduce a category that carries with it MANY weapons (of which we could list 2-3 exemplars). So, we already have slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning. Within each category, we could have the usual sub-categories: two-handed, versatile, reach, and finesse. The "grid" this gives us covers a *ton* of weapons, with the specific form of the weapon being a flavor "re-skin." This would introduce a lot of options - like the brass knuckles or sap simply as a "bludgeoning-finesse" weapon, or the kusarigama or scythe as "slashing-reach." Switching damage types, if enemy variety encourages such a thing, might warrant a weapon having a primary and secondary type, with the secondary being one "die class" lower (like versatile). Otherwise, the dual weapons will simply be better than their more-focused counterparts. More interesting, I think, are the weapons that basically provide new functionality, but with a cost beyond class/stat requirement: defensive - weapons that, while wielded, add 1-2 to AC. I think this should come at the cost of a reaction. (ex. whip chain, tonfa) interference - weapons that can trip, restrain, disarm, etc. The cost for these ought to be not rolling damage - just flat bonus, if even. (ex. hooked sword, bullwhip) retrievable - weapons that, when thrown, can be retrieved (temporary "reach") at the cost of only being used this way once per action (ex. rope dart, harpoon) With all of these traits, you have a buffet to choose from that could basically give you any weapon you want: Shaolin Spade: slashing (d8), piercing (d6), two-handed, finesse, interference (trip) Plum Flower Whip: bludgeoning (d6), finesse, reach, defensive 1 (these weapons are *not* good for tripping/binding) Spiked Hammer: bludgeoning (d10/d8), piercing (d6), versatile Bullwhip: slashing (d4), finesse, reach, interference (trip/disarm) Harpoon: piercing (d6), retrievable (15 ft), interference (restrain)

The Kriss dagger would be amazing using it as implement for spellcasters. Folklores tells about the ability of these kriss daggers to just point them at your enemy for them to die. Sounds like a perfect wand to me.

The estoc would be an awesome addition. Dex and piercing are exactly correct as it was used by Knights to get through the weak points in armor, much like daggers were used. This was a longsword, that could use half swording (i.e. grabbing the blade with you hand for thrusting to give you more accuracy and control in grappling. They even took it a step further and would use the cross guards of the sword to get through heavy plate.)

13:22 Number 36 can be called by its translated English name "the crow's beak" 13:39 zweihänder is literally just German for two hander

Bob: "The garrotte; there's nothing like in in the game" Ettercap: *cries a single tear*

This was a great project! When one of my players wanted a scythe, what I did was use the rules for Reaping Scythe from the 5e Avatar of Death, and removed the necrotic damage.

As a dm, I always implement bucklers in my game. They give +1 ac, but you can still use two-handed weapons with them

Honestly surprised I didn't see the "trench knife" or "trench sword" on the list. Those were commonly used in WW1 are just a dagger or short sword with brass knuckles built into the handle. Very handy for fighting in confined spaces.

You might want to take another look at the macuahuitl. It's not a club, those are obsidian blades, and they are very sharp but fragile. The "club" part provides weight and structure for the blades. I feel like it would do bludgeoning and slashing damage simultaneously, in DnD terms. (IRL, they were known more for slashing)

The Kris dagger or kheris depending on who you ask was a blade designed to be broken off inside of its victim so that it couldn't be removed. Also, the compounds used to clean the blade gave it a poisonous edge.

I really want Rope Darts to be a thing, a piercing reach weapon that would fit perfectly for Monks and Rogues.

I feel like with some of these "new" weapon suggestions, people either didn't fully explore the weapons already in the game, or they are way too literal and not using their imagination to do the small amount of re-flavoring required to have them in the game as options already available. That is to say, I think if we include everything the list of weapons will be overwhelmingly long; we should combine similar items. But I love how invested and excited everyone is about this concept / project of improving and adding weapons.

There actually was such a thing as a repeating crossbow historically. It was a Chinese design originally, with a name that is generally anglicized as chu ko nu. However, it was more like a bolt-action rifle than a machine gun. It had a box full of bolts attached to the top, and a lever on the side could be pulled to wind back the string and set the next bolt. In Pathfinder 1e this worked well. Reloading a light crossbow was usually a move action in Pathfinder (i.e. something you did instead of moving in a turn.) The repeating crossbow switched reloading to be a free action, thus letting you shoot while on the move, in exchange for taking a full round to load a new case of bolts when you ran out. Given that the "loading" property is a lot more forgiving in 5e, though, I don't think there's a point to including it.

Punching dagger/katar was in AD&D 2nd Ed. through the Al-Qadim campaign setting rulebook. The scythe was also there. Katana was in the PHB, with rules on using it 1-handed or 2-handed. So was the cestus. Kinda weird how WOTC cut down on so many weapon options that used to be available for the longest time.

For the scythe and hook weapons, you could maybe add some kind of pulling attack where it does its normal damage but also moves the target and you in a given direction. I don't know how useful it'd be but the flavor seems cool

I've given some of my prepped enemies 'sabers' They're just slashing rapiers. I think an easy rule for weapons is being able to change the damage type if it can be justified. You could easily do that for any weapon to add diversity. (A scimitar is just a slashing shortsword. )

When I hear this list, I just think that a lot of these people would actually like 3.5e or Pathfinder better. Customization of skills and weapons and the existence of specific weapon abilities are pretty much central to those editions of DnD might fit better with that play style. Not saying that you shouldn't want to adjust 5e, just saying that a lot of work is probably already done for you.

As for the dual-blade, there already exists the double-bladed scimitar in Eberon 5e.

Garotte was in 4E and if I remember correctly you had to be behind someone and if your attack hit, the target was considered silenced and each turn after that you could roll 1d4 damage without an attack roll if you wanted

I'd love to see a concealable property for some weapons, with the rule that only concealable weapons can be hidden on your person (still requiring a disguise kit or deception check). Several weapons on the list, e.g. sword cane and cosh, could just be a variant of an already existing weapon with an added concealable tag. I think this would be in line with keeping 5E simplicity, and encourage GMs to make mundane variations of the weapons by adding/removing property tags.

To elaborate on the 'peasant railgun', for the three people out there who are curious, but not curious enough to look it up for themselves - it was an intentionally selective reading of a rule that stated 'handing an item to an ally in an adjacent space is treated as a free and instantaneous action' - the idea was to have a very large number of peasants recruited as cohorts to the party, lined up in a single column, handing an item to each other; _then_ you had to ignore the fact that this 'free and instantaneous action' was clearly a physics-defying gameplay convenience, and insist that as part of these actions the item being handed off was having _momentum_ imparted. You'd then take the length of the line, calculate how fast an object would need to be travelling in order to cover that distance within a single combat round, and _voila_ you have a 'railgun'. I'm pretty sure it was more of a joke than an real 'hack' that anyone used in game - but it is also a nice little emblematic moment for showing how tabletop gaming as a hobby changed as games like D&D moved away from having simulationist mechanics to gameplay-focussed ones.

The Macuahuitl is really cool. The "studs" are actually sharpened obsidian blades, so the weapon functions like a saw-sword when swinging the sharp end, but you can flip it to the side and it's a wooden club. Also, it just looks so intimidating lol

10:19 this is actually already a magic item! Its a versitle longsword (1d8/1d10 slashing) with +1 to attack and damage and the special ability of doing an extra 2d6 to plant enemys :)

The thing with MOST of these weapons is that they basically already exist and you just flavor call the existing weapons the "variation" the Rules even state this that its okay to call like a chair leg a club. Estoc for example is basically just a rapier. as for the "damage type" thing, the problem here is there is actually no difference between damage types for the physical damages other than like 3-4 enemys. 98% of the time most things have resistance to all 3 or none at all. Also The First Eberron book has a dual blade weapon with a feat for it

For the Mancatcher, check out the kuo-toa whip’s pincer staff. It’s a 10ft reach weapon that deals 1d6 + 2 piercing damage and grapples the opponent (with a DC 14 to escape) if it hits

The dual sword or double blade is actually already an item. Even has a feat for it. Its a shadow elf weapon.

The sling staff was actually a weapon back in ad&d. It did 1d6 instead of 1d4 and had a range of 60 ft instead of 50.

Thought: give players proficiency with improvised weapons that relate to their profession or skill they are proficient with. Cooking -> pots and pans,; Artist -> paint brushes as piercing; farming -> pitch fork, etc.

So, its obvious that we need a conceilable weapon feature, but it could be cool to have a ''dangerous'' feature: a lot of weapon variants from the list are dangerous for the user, so it could be a simple damage upgrade, traded for a loss in AC, as the user needs to be mindfull of his opponent and of his own weapon as well? Or simply an ''Offensive'' feature for the same effect, more damages for an AC loss?

Macahitl, is a big club that deals the normal gratclub damage plus, either 1d4 or 1d6 slashing damage, the catch ther is that it can only do that like 6-12 times a day before all the blades fall off/break/get stuck, after that it becomes a greatclub, you need a long rest to replenish the blades or a short rest to get back 1d6 blades, you probably would need tool procifiency in either carpenter or woodcarver

In hand-to-hand combat, who wins the sword bind determines if you can "safely" strike at your opponent. Sword binds typically attempt to turn the flat of their blade, forcing them to drop the sword's point. The idea behind many sword variants, like the curving ones or wavy blades, is to give you an advantage against flat blades in the sword bind. Whether we translate this as the advantage mechanic or just reduce the opponent's AC [as the opposite of how moving a weapon around all the time can boost AC; if your blade is designed to move your opponent's blade out of the way, it should drop AC] would need playtesting. Shield fighting replaces the sword bind with shield binding. The art behind sword and board combat is to use your shield, likely the edges as if it extended a punch, to leverage your opponent's shield out of the way so your sword could exploit the opening. Sword and board techniques are more similar to two-weapon fighting where one weapon is the main weapon you use to create openings and your secondary weapon is there to exploit those openings. In axe and board combat, the beard of the axe was often used to pull the opponent's shield away from their body, creating a weaker defensive posture, and even off-balancing the opponent. Instead of just tripping rules or grappling rules, having an off-balance mechanic that gives 'disadvantage' or provides 'advantage' to attackers might replicate this feature of axeplay and would spice things up. Given equal skill levels, a sword fighter is at a big disadvantage against a spear fighter. The most dangerous sword strike [where you change the angle of the blade from vertical to horizontal by shifting your elbow in and then flicking your wrist straightening your arm as you lunge forward] is almost useless against the angle of attack that best suits a spear thrust attack. And if you try to outthrust a spear fighter with your sword, it would be odd if you survived. However, a shield almost nullifies all the advantages of a spear. Hopefully, this reminds everyone of the rock, paper and scissors game. With a little bit of knowledge of how different weapons match up against each other, I think a DM can offer options like using your action to create advantage or to drop an enemy's AC when you have a better 'rock, paper, scissors' matchup. In my experience combat becomes much more cinematic and tactical when using the rock, paper, scissors model of relative advantage. And also oddly speeds up play as if your players gang up on one opponent at a time and the player with an advantageous matchup gives advantage to the rest, your players with smart tactics can drop a higher level challenge each round. Your players come away feeling like you reward smart tactics and the combat scenes come alive instead of being "I hit it with my axe for 21 points of damage." IRL, a dagger fighter matched up against a spear fighter might as well have had a hold person spell cast on them, all else being equal. Of course, they could try to throw the dagger as a low-probability gamble. Much love!

Character concept: A Blood Hunter (Bloodmage? Mercer's custom class) that wears a magical Urumi wrapped around his chest and to whip it out and activate always slashes himself, coating it in his own blood and gaining a permanent X shaped scar on his chest as a result.

Small note: weapons in this list i remember from 3.5: -composite bow (added str bonus to damage up to a point) -sap (dealt purely non lethal damage) -bolas (long range grapple or trip attack) -punching dagger (same as the dagger, different look) -bastard sword (long sword was 2handed, this was versatile) There were probably others, but checking 3.5 weapons might not be a terrible idea since some weapons had unique abilities (like daggers being concealed weapons)

The way I look at it is to make a table: columns are damage types (slashing, piercing, bludgeoning); rows are damage dice (1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d4, 1d10, 1d12, 2d6, 2d8). Fill in what's already in the rules and then see what holes are left. Top four rows are one-handed and bottom four rows are two-handed; only single-die weapons can have Finesse while two-die weapons are inherently Heavy. (Yes, 2d4 would be uniquely One-Handed and Heavy - good spot for the Kukri as the Slashing entry.) Like how Shortsword and Scimitar are both 1d6 Light Finesse weapons, but are Piercing and Slashing respectively. Rapier is 1d8 Piercing Finesse but there's no 1d8 Slashing Finesse weapon - Falchion/Sabre fills this role quite well, as it's comparable to a Longsword but more dexterous and lacks the Versatile trait. Similarly, a Katana would be 1d8 Slashing Finesse with the Versatile trait. Feel free to hit me up if you'd be interested in collaborating on this project, as I've been playing D&D more than 40 years.

The Macuahuitl is a sword. It's good to read about a weapon before implementing it. It connects and then is dragged to cut, because the "studs" are obsidian shards. Also, play Pathfinder.

The cane sword already exists in 5e, it’s a magic item from xanathar’s guide

The whole fun of improvised weapons is that they're improvised. If you list a bunch of specific examples then they're just excessively niche options that will barely be used. The rules already say "Often, an improvised weapon is similar to an actual weapon and can be treated as such". If you're stabbing with a pitchfork, just use the Spear or Trident stats.

Just a note regarding sai's, Asian sai's were typically blunt and basically used for parrying, and for grappling, Egyptian sai's were pointed and used for stabbing.

The khopesh is a heavy chopping sword for removing limbs...the hook section is used edge out to essentially make an axe that can also thrust.

you can just reflavour your rapier like an estoc. I think way too many people think that just because there aren't explicit rules for the specific weapon they want to use, they can't use it. reflavouring an existing weapon works in 60% of situations. for another 30%, like the bludgeoning polearms or the ones where there are 2 damage types, you need to do a bit of "home-brewing" (literally just changing the damage type, which will almost never have an impact) and I don't think a lot of DM's would say no to that.

The longspear is already kind of in the game. It's called a pike. However, while the pike has 10ft range, historical pikes were up to 25ft which would be a very interesting weapon for D&D.

the crys dagger is a thing from dune, when someone sees a crysknife dagger, they may not leave arrakis alive.

took too long to see the videos, missed the pool, nice to see a few of my ideas in the list. Thanks for this

Two sided sword exists. It's the Double-Bladed Scimitar in Eberron.

The 5e Longsword is effectively the arming, bastard, and Longsword rolled into one package Arming sword(also called a broadsword) is a single handed cut/thrust sword Longsword(sometimes also used to refer to arming swords) is a two handed sword that’s shorter than a “warsword/greatsword” Bastard sword(also called a hand and a half sword) is a sword that can be wielded in one or two hands(literally the 5e Longsword) Zweihänder(montante would also be included) would be covered by greatsword Saber would effectively be covered by scimitar since it would be a finesse slashing weapon Falchion/cutlass are more of a cleaver(chopping) while sabers and scimitars rely more on draw cuts(slicing)

Having played from 1.0 I can say that they have had most of these in earlier editions, often in setting books like Oriental Adventures. The repeating crossbow was a great item from that book along with a ton of other Asian weapons you listed.

The staff-sling was in the 2E PHB. It was used to throw large stones, explosive, smoking or incendiary grenades, acid pots and all sorts of things. Really flavorful for goblins and kobolds.

The problem with the War Bow idea is that technically the Longbow is already a war bow. What I feel they should’ve done was have attributes requirements on certain weapons. It would’ve made weapons more inaccessible for some characters, but more immersive.

To be clear on the Sai, historically speaking..they were more of a capture tool. In modern media they are sharpened but historically they were blunt tipped, or even had a round solid ball of metal forged at the tip to work as a club. The prongs were used to capture clothes and limbs while the shaft was used to bludgeon joints or provide leverage for locks, they COULD be used for capturing weapons but Sai, like their single pronged relative the Jutte/Jitte (pretty much a sai with just one prong and often used by police or peace keepers of the time) were more used for capture and control, as well as the odd bash to get criminals to fall in line. Also if anything...unless you are using fictional style giant shuriken, regular shuriken would be more suited for d4 while an actual thrown dagger would be a d6 due to it's larger size and weight imo. Shuriken were often meant to be small and easily hidden distraction tools than outright damage dealers, more for harassing enemies as you close in or run away, made slightly more dangerous by poison. Also take into account that while there were man pronged stars, one of the most common was the Bo shuriken which was more like a large throwing needle...seriously DON'T get me started..I'm a bit of a fanatic about ninja and I WILL take any chance I can to go nuts with historically accurate use of them if possible if I were to make a ninja character. You'll wind up having me describe exactly what the shuriken I'm using looks like...and there are plenty of variations among the stars and bo shuriken.

I really wanted the manriki or heavy chain whip because it's effectively a heavy, two handed, bludgeoning (or piercing/gouging depending on the end implement) whip that doubles as a climbing tool you can wear around your waist for a little bit of armor, so it's both multi-functional and has a neat aesthetic for a monk. Manriki-kusari is actually used very differently, with a lighter chain meant to be used defensively by spinning it around to catch weapons and disarm, especially from reach weapons, then pull enemies in to attack with the kusari/sickle attached with better leverage and force from the pulling momentum applied to your opponent. Mechanically, it would give you a chance to grapple opponents from range with your reaction when being attacked, especially by spears/polearms, and on a success pull them into range for a retaliatory attack with the sickle. At range it would do light bludgeoning damage and add to your AC, while in close quarters it would do slashing and improve your grapple checks. I think a lot of the weapons you can simplify into the same thing with flavor differences, but a way to make them exceptional and give players the fantasy of using them in the special and unique ways people seem to want from specialized weapons would be through feats or fighting styles. Having, say, a "manriki-kusari" feat/fighting style so when you're dual wielding a light chain whip and a sickle you can access the mechanics I mentioned above. A "garrote" feat/fighting style that lets you use whips/chains/rope to do something like the sleep spell on a single enemy from close range and with a higher DC from surprise (or a "sap" feat/fighting style for the same with clubs). More weapons need unique feats associated with them like sentinel and polearm master that change up gameplay in meaningful ways.

For the cestus/gauntlet, I played a brawler who used them, and this is how we homebrewed it: 1d6 damage, but since I had one on each fist, I could use a bonus action for two-weapon fighting (even if I was using the unarmed fighting style). I could use a dagger while wearing them (think for a coup de grace or sneaking it during a grapple), but no other weapon or shield, and I couldn't throw it. And it took an action to take them on or off.

it sounds like you really need to go take a look at Shadiversity's videos because he has covered this topic a lot from the perspective of an actual medieval historian. He has A LOT of good ideas

An estoc is called Bohrschwert (drill sword) in german, has no blade but a triangular slice plane and is therefore well suited for armor piercing. It is difficult to handle, but in my humble opinion the strength it is used with is more important.

Really love everything you're doing here. You've probably already gotten this comment from someone but the bastard sword is another version of the hand and a half sword. It was in DnD from 1st edition through at least 3rd. Mechanically when longswords gained the vertical feature it make them obsolete. In older editions you could use it in 2 hands and do more damage (not quite great sword damage) but in one hand statistically it functioned as a longsword.

The "monk's spade" was actually the inspiration for the Vulcan "lirpa" from Star Trek TOS (and recently seen again in SNW) and would combine bludgeoning and slashing damage (the second kind available as a bonus action). The sap/cosh is effectively a leather bag/sock full of sand or lead shot, that is easily concealable, not really a weapon, and used to incapacitate targets with a strike to the head providing a sneak attack that would not kill your target. The arming sword (as well as several other swords) was generalized by D&D into the Long Sword. A garrote is not just a piece of rope or a scarf used in strangling, as it has handles on the end of the flexible line to hold onto without cutting your hands. The tonfa can also be flipped around and used as a hook for grappling/throwing your opponent. Scimitars/sabers would use slashing damage and are designed to be used from horseback. The falchion/cutlass is a chopping weapon, like a machete. Nunchaku can be used as a flail, though they are most effective when used to trap arms/hands (at wrist or elbow) like a nutcracker. The Katana would be a Versatile longsword, and for the "quickdraw" Feature, I would suggest a Swordmaster Feat (as Iaijutsu requires serious training/practice). And the cestus, Katar, and punching gauntlet were all available in 3.5.

There’s actually a version of the garrote in the 5e Monster Manual, in a sidebar by the Ettercap stat block on page 131.

The way you can increase range without going for reach is you could exclude or include diagonals. In many tilebased games the dagger can only attack targets directly in front of you while a greatsword can hit diagonally.

Interesting approaches. Enjoying the exercise.

Really like some of the ideas here. I’m working on my own homebrew weapons list myself. Highly recommend doing some research on some of these weapons before adding them. Looking at how the weapons were intended to work has given me some awesome ideas for special weapon features

Estoc is essentially a 2 handed rapier. It's actually kind of cool. RU-vid Skallagrim Estoc.

Real thrown hunting sticks do not return, they are designed to fly straight to hit a target. Boomerangs may be misconstrued with the toy version designed to return, not so good at hitting a target though. Shad from Shadiversity has a video on them I think, also Adam Celadin the pro knife thrower

Staff Slings were made popular through the Dragonlance Novels where the Kender race used them as melee + ranged weapons. They are finesse bludgeoning (for sneak attack), have a range like 80/240, and deal normal staff damage (1d6/1d8 versatile melee) or (1d4/1d6 versatile ranged damage). They can also be whirled around quickly to make a haunting whistle noise to scare off foes. Kukuri are razor sharp are slashing daggers-like blades that deal 1d4 but crit on 19-20. Scythes are special polearms that probably do 1d8/1d10 versatile, but also crit on 19-20. Double Sword and Axes are in 5e already in the Magic the Gathering supplements, and do 1d6/1d6, are treated like 2WF finesse weapons, and deal 1d8/1d8 if the player has the Dual Wielding feat

Many of these weapons have stats in earlier additions and supplements, from Basic/Expert on up, and/or old Dragon Magazines, Oriental Adventures, Rules Cyclopedia, Arms and Equipment Guides, 3.0 and 3.5 brown books etc.. All easily used upgraded, converted, to 5th edition . Old School still rules and offer a lot of useful things for 5th edition

For shields, we’ve homebrewed; Bucklers- AC+1 and can be donned with a bonus action. Kite shield- AC+2 Tower shield- AC+3 but unable to make AoO.

For weapons that need to be in constant motion (like the staff/nunchuck or blade/whip): You could have it increase AC as you've suggested, but come at the cost of concentration as if concentrating on a spell (because when you get hit it's hard not to lose your focus). Possibly a good way to make it balanced for classes like the monk which would benefit loads from this type of weapon

I think the gauntlet sword you mentioned is less for defense and more for anti disarming. That could be a fun feature to add.

I'd lump Saber, Cutlass, and Shamshir together as slashing finesse weapons. Technically I think cutlass is a little heavy for it, but they are stylistically similar enough for it to work. Falchion is more like a heavy scimitar. Maybe like a versatile scimitar. Broad sword, claymore, zweihander, and all the rest of the giant swords are basically just great swords by different names(zwei means 2 in German I believe). The flamberge (and by extension the kris dagger) I could see giving it a trait that does extra damage on a critical. (Even though in the real world it probably isn't any different. It's just a cool aesthetic.) Maybe the same for the kukri since it was a limb severing weapon. It's like a dagger only in approximate length really. Definitely slashing and either a higher damage like a short sword or a bonus on critical damage. I think it is important to include shields in the weapons category. Even the most basic of shields can be used to bludgeon an opponent. It's basically a club with a more stable foundation. Then add variations like spikes or bladed edges for variation in damage type. As for bucklers, they're a bit more of an active defense than some of the other shields, use them in the same vein as a a gauntlet really with a reaction to parry (add +1AC for the round) (I'd do the same with the tonfa). Maybe a feat can make it a free action and give some other bonus like a riposte as a reaction instead or an increased AC for the reaction cost.

Darts are small spears with fletching. Shadiversity has made a double sword, it was more like a staff, check out his video. I think he and Lindybeige have covered a number of these in historical context.

It's a shame that many of these are just people being unimaginative. So many different swords that are just swords...rules for short sword, long sword or great sword can be reskinned to cover a lot of the ground for these weapons, including katana. In my games we've had stylistic choices to reskin the rules for other weapons since day 1. Use your imagination guys, the world is yours to play with! Don't think of anything as set in stone , especially not the aesthetic.

For the War Bow, from what I understand this is actually a smaller version of the longbow. Personally I would make it take the stats of the current longbow and make the longbow a bow that has a strength requirement but keep it dex based to help reflect it's higher power.

Interesting list. Have a suggestion that wasn’t on the list (but incorporates features from several items), the Chinese Butterfly Swords (paired). Used by monks and martial artists, capable of being concealed in broad sleeves (think monks robes) or a tall boot. The paired swords are flat on one side so they can be held in one hand together or you can hold one in each hand. They look somewhat like short cutlasses, with a hand guard for protection or punching like brass knuckles. Depending on blade shape, can pierce and/or cut, and depending on how strike is made, can make clubbing blows with the flat of the blade for non-lethal damage. Additionally, has a quilion on one side allowing to capture an opponents blade or weapon to bind or disarm. Since a paired weapon, can allow double attacks or attack with one hand and defend (block or bind) with the other.

The idea behind the. macuahuitl is that the parts sticking out are obsidian and cut into the body and break off in them. Meaning you have a slashing bludgeoning weapon designed to cause bleeding in the worst way. Probably one of the best candidates for a weapon with multiple mechanics tied to it.

Here are my thoughts on the questionable ones: - pitchfork = spear - thrown sand = Help action - estoc = rapier, and then change the rapier to slashing damage? - sap / blackjack = club, but *with the finesse property* so that rogues could do sneak attack damage with it. I've always wanted to be able to knock out people as a rogue. - buckler = could just be a Light shield that gave +1 AC instead of 2. Tower could be +3 and Heavy. - repeating crossbow = basically just no Loading property, so it wouldn't affect Crossbow Master at all. - improvised weapons = just reskinned existing weapons, and imprompty properties as needed by the DM. I personally don't think they need actual stats. - billhook = Shove attacks with reach! - zweihander, claymore, bastard sword = greatsword - garrote = could have a cool Special property where if they're grappled by it, they take damage over time or have to make Constitution saving throws or they get knocked out from suffocation and drop to 0 hit points. - mancatcher = Grapple attacks with reach! - bashing shield = steps on the toes of the Shield Master feat - sabre = rapier or shortsword - atlatl = no long range penalty for spear throwing - cutlass = rapier, falchion = scimitar - chakram = handaxe - brass knuckles = club :/

I've used saps in my games. It only dealt non-lethal damage but when attacking a surprised enemy with a sap your attack roll sets the con save DC or be knocked unconscious. Really fun for a low level party and stealth based games.

"That must have been in a previous edition or something, it was suggested so much." Most of the ones you listed were in 3.5. Honestly, 5e needs something like the Arms & Equipment guide. I love wacky mundane items with niche uses

Garrote - It is actually in 5e but specific to the Meazel… Garrote. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target of the meazel's size or smaller. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 13 with disadvantage). Until the grapple ends, the target takes 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage at the start of each of the meazel's turns. The meazel can't make weapon attacks while grappling a creature in this way.

One thing our group home brewed, but would be nice to have formal rules for: flaming arrows. Not magical, just the kind with the tip dipped in tar or something and lit on fire. Allowing martial classes access to some of the damage types usually reserved for magic users could be interesting. See also: rules for poisoned weapons.

Shurikens were mostly used historically as a method of distraction which I think could be a really cool way to make it a unique dart

I made a sickle and chain or 'kusarigama' by just taking a sickle that is already in the game and tying 20ft of my rope to it. Gives the weapon a decent range, and my DM allowed me to grapple creatures I hit with it

Regarding the dual-bladed sword, we do essentially have that in the Double-bladed scimitar from ERLW Regarding the Macuahuitl, it's definitely a terrifying weapon to read about, but in reading about it it definitely feels a lot like a reskinned greatsword in terms of dnd Regarding Falchion/Cutlass, to the best of my knowledge (I could be wrong though) they have a different weight distribution than a scimitar, making them more strength based than a finesse weapon Regarding the estoc, think rapier but with the option to be wielded with two hands, like Alucard's sword from Castlevania Regarding the Chakram, I would actually go to the Thri-kreen in the Monster Manual and steal their Chatkcha weapon option. People looking for good firearm rules and weapon customization options I will point towards Mage Hand Press and their Craftsman and Gunslinger classes, both of which can be found in Valda's Spire of Secrets (currently available on backerkit iirc) or in their store/on their patreon. Definitely provides a good starting off point if nothing else, and the Craftsman especially has a whole section regarding the patterns that can be found in existing weapons and how the sum total of their properties actually some together to determine the damage of a weapon.

I am a German and "Zweihänder" literally is a Greatsword. We just need to make the Greatsword have Reach or have all weapons have different reach levels.

The estoc was a late sword development to combat more commonly appearing armor as slashing weapons started losing their value against plate and rings/chain. It's longsword length, does piercing damage and is built to pierce plate and break rings.

I remember a lot of these items from 3/3.5 and the billion supplements that came out. I can't remember the book but it did have larger version of greatswords and instead of magic enchants, it had engineered solutions for higher damage, like mercurial liquid that added weight to your sword swing. I also remember it having the garrote and a lot of of other thief style weapons.

In the DM's Guide there are examples for re-flavoring eastern weapons, they don't really need to be added.

0:45 I can see the pain of having to say the number... kinda died laughing 🤣 also nice

An estoc was a type of longsword that had a very rigid blade with a blunt edge and a sharp point. Basically a huge spike. It was designed to be used against an enemy in plate armor. You can't cut or stab through the plates, but you can slip a blade into the gaps between the plates. Dex and piercing are perfect for this weapon, but it could also be used as a bludgeoning weapon.