D&D 5E Magic Weapons and who gets the most from them?

[Crom Lives]

I know that with 5th edition D&D you are not supposed to need magic items for the game to work. What I am curious about though is what class do people think get the most value out of magic weapons. I know there are many different types of weapons and abilities with those weapons that can alter how effective they would be for certain classes. I'm just interested in peoples just broad overall impression on who would benefit most from a magic weapon.

 

[Ancalagon]

The more you use an item, the more it benefits you. The fighter has the most attacks... ergo the fighter benefits more.

One might be tempted to say "monk" but a part of the monk's many attacks are unarmed, so fighter remains the best user of weapons.

 

[Riley37]

Yup. I played a Bard, who found a Dagger of Venom. Then he levelled up, and had enough spell slots to spend most of his rounds casting spells. If he ever ran completely out of spell slots, then the Dagger of Venom was a backup option. Never used its venom!

An improved spell focus such as a Rod of the Pact Keeper is much like a magic weapon: it adds to the effectiveness of what you're already doing, as your basic, default, round-after-round action.

A monk would benefit more from +1 brass knuckles, which applies to unarmed strikes.

 

[Shiroiken]

Generally Fighter is going to get the best overall use, due to sheer number of attacks. Barbarian and Rogue are the next most useful, because they can deal a lot of weapon damage, only to have it hit resistance or immunity. After that, it gets murky, but Wizard (except bladesinger), Warlock (except bladelock and hexblade), and Sorcerer aren't going to get really any use out of them.

 

[Draegn]

If you use the weapons from the fifth edition books, I feel that there is no specific character that gains the most use from a weapon. Rather it is up to the players to find a creative way to make the best use of anything found. Pulling items from older editions, however, negates this. For example: a wizard's blade from the eldritch book that gives a wizard the abilities of a fighter of half his level.

In my game which has a greatly expanded skills list, any weapon found is given to the character with the best applicable skill.

 

[Blue]

At what levels? At <5 a rogue probably gets more than any of the other melee types because the +1 to hit can ensure delivery of a bigger boost. Once extra attack comes in it's a different story. If you get to the point where a fighter gets even more levels of extra attack that changes it again.

A half-orc with a magic weapon with a big weapon die will do better then another with all things being equal.

For specific weapons, someone with a feat (SS, GWM, Polearm Master, Crossbow Expert) can make more use of it.

Who's the buff target for the party / better self-buffer? Since it's a force multiplier in cases like that.

At a table, the answer is "it depends". Even white-room the level depends.

And this is just assuming a +X weapon - something with just a damage bonus might do little for a rogue but be great for a extra-attacking-with-advantage Barbarian.

 

[Satyrn]

The more you use an item, the more it benefits you. The fighter has the most attacks... ergo the fighter benefits more.

Huh. That makes sense. Makes me feel silly for voting wizard because "obviously, the magic-user uses the magic weapon best."

 

[Leatherhead]

Depends on the magic item really. It's hard to top the impact of an Holy Avenger on a Paladin, even if you are a Fighter with a Vopral Sword.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[CapnZapp]

I know that with 5th edition D&D you are not supposed to need magic items for the game to work. What I am curious about though is what class do people think get the most value out of magic weapons. I know there are many different types of weapons and abilities with those weapons that can alter how effective they would be for certain classes. I'm just interested in peoples just broad overall impression on who would benefit most from a magic weapon.

The classes that fight with weapons need magic weapons to overcome damage resistance of many high-level monsters.

The exact nature doesn't matter (much) as long as they count as magical.

Caster classes and monks don't have this problem.