D&D 5E New weapons damage table. Hopefully little more balanced.

[Horwath]

Little about weapons traits:

One handed melee weapons: versatile is "free", but can only be on non-light, non-finesse weapons and it fits weapons flavor.
Thrown 20/60 is "free" if it fits weapons flavor.
light reduces damage by one die,
finesse reduces damage by one die,
reach 10ft reduces damage by one die,
heavy increases die by one step,
twohanded adds two damage dice,

simple melee weapons,
base damage is 1d8,
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500, align: left"]
[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]Damage[/TD]
[TD]Traits[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]dagger[/TD]
[TD]1d4[/TD]
[TD]Light, finesse, thrown 20/60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]messer[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]finesse,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Club[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]light,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]mace[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]versatile 1d10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]half spear[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]versatile 1d10, thrown 20/60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]javelin[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]thrown 30/120[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]spear[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]reach 10ft, versatile 1d8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]quarterstaff[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]versatile 1d10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]greatclub[/TD]
[TD]1d12[/TD]
[TD]twohanded[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]warmace[/TD]
[TD]2d6[/TD]
[TD]twohanded, heavy[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]longspear[/TD]
[TD]1d10[/TD]
[TD]twohanded, reach 10ft[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



















martial melee weapons,
base damage 1d10,
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]damage[/TD]
[TD]Traits[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Longsword[/TD]
[TD]1d10[/TD]
[TD]versatile 1d12[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rapier[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]finesse[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Scimitar[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]light, finesse,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sabre[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]light,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hand axe[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]light, finesse, thrown 20/60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Waraxe[/TD]
[TD]2d6[/TD]
[TD]twohanded[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Greataxe[/TD]
[TD]2d8[/TD]
[TD]twohanded, heavy,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Halberd[/TD]
[TD]2d6[/TD]
[TD]twohanded, heavy, reach 10ft[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Whip[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]finesse,reach 10ft[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Warspear[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]versatile 1d10, reach 10ft,[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Trident[/TD]
[TD]1d12[/TD]
[TD]twohanded, reach 10ft[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Simple ranged weapons;
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]name[/TD]
[TD]damage[/TD]
[TD]Traits[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Crossbow, light[/TD]
[TD]2d6[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 60/240, loading;action[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Crossbow, heavy[/TD]
[TD]2d8[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 80/320, loading;action, heavy[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Dart[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]finesse, thrown 20/60[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sling[/TD]
[TD]1d4[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 30/120[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Martial ranged weapons;
[TABLE="class: grid, width: 500"]
[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]Damage[/TD]
[TD]Traits[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hand crossbow[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 30/120,light, loading;bonus a.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shortbow[/TD]
[TD]1d6[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 100/400, twohanded[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Longbow[/TD]
[TD]1d8[/TD]
[TD]ammunition 150/600, twohanded,heavy[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

This are not all possible named weapons:
Great axe has damage and traits of Maul and Greatsword for example,
Longswords is the same as warhammer and battleaxe,

halberd is the same as pike, guisarme, pole-ax, etc...

Crossbows now can shoot only every other round, but hit very hard with shorter range.

Crossbow master feat reduces loading time form light and heavy crossbow to bonus action and hand crossbow to free action(still need two hands to load a hand crossbow).


This will give more damage to melee weapons and more damage to strength users vs dexterity users.

 

[dagger]

I like this and hope you get some commentary on it.

 

[Ganymede81]

The highlight of the post is the weapon building rules at the top rather than the charts.

Are you counting the move from 1d12 to 2d6 as one increase?

Also, this looks like it inflates damage a fair amount. Have you thought about what kind of impact that would have on the PCs (and monsters) that use these weapons?

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

i remember watching deadliest warrior and seeing so many favored weapons turning out to be crap, and so many weapons people thought were over rated actually tearing things up like you just couldn't believe. Carcass after carcass i watched in amazement as things both under performed and outperformed my expectations.

A spear should, in general, do better than a quarter staff.

That show probably isn't always the most realistic depiction or comparison of weapons.

A spear is a better military weapon than a quarterstaff. However the quarterstaff may have more casualties historically assigned to it because more people carried quarterstaffs than spears in civilian life.
Also on the D&D side, quarterstaves are more often shown in media used by heroes, partly because most heroes aren't soldiers on battlefields and partly because it means that they don't have to show lots of blood. And D&D is designed so people can make characters based on those media tropes.

Still, there is no excuse for suggesting that a quarterstaff can be wielded in one hand.

a trident is definitely less deadly than people think it is, since each extra prong actually reduces the penetration power.

It was given to gladiators precisely because of that: it generally causes nasty but less lethal wounds so makes for a longer and bloodier spectacle.

Bows actually come in different arrow heads and draw weights. That goes back at least to Odysseus, and some bows can drop elephants, while some arrows struggle to drop chickens.

Thats why I allow bows to be used with either Str or Dex: Allows both the fantasy and the historical/realistic concepts.

Darts are confusing weapons. like, there's these giant heavy things that look like solid steel daggers but heavier and fatter, used in games. Those do way more damage that the little needle guys you throw at a board. A lot of darts are just code for "ninja stars" and those are about as deadly as whatever poison you laced them with.

"Dart" can mean anything from a short, heavy javelin, to the small jagged stars or spikes used by samurai to distract an opponent.

Why isn't the great club heavy? The club draws its damage from weight in addition to length, otherwise it's just another staff. A Kanabo or training suburito is usually pretty heavy.

No idea. Although once you start making it a military weapon incorporating metal studs etc, I think most DM's would allow you to use Maul stats for your kanabo/tetsubo.

 

[Ganymede81]

As an aside, I do not like the changes to the crossbow. It makes them simultaneously more niche and more ubiquitous. Since virtually everyone is proficient with the heavy crossbow now that it has been made a simple weapon, I imagine every low-level PC wandering around with a loaded heavy crossbow that they fire once then drop to the ground. Maybe I'd see some variant humans in Adventure League using heavy crossbows as their primary weapon with the CM feat until level five, where they rebuild their character.

 

[Horwath]

As an aside, I do not like the changes to the crossbow. It makes them simultaneously more niche and more ubiquitous. Since virtually everyone is proficient with the heavy crossbow now that it has been made a simple weapon, I imagine every low-level PC wandering around with a loaded heavy crossbow that they fire once then drop to the ground. Maybe I'd see some variant humans in Adventure League using heavy crossbows as their primary weapon with the CM feat until level five, where they rebuild their character.

And what is wrong with that.

Remember, every time you drop a weapon you might not get the chance to pick it up again.

 

[RCanine]

The problem that i have with weapons like the dagger and handaxe (and why they're OP as simple weapons) is that while their basic use is quite simple, an expert can benefit from them quite a bit more.

Also, the existence of the Crossbow Expert feat is something you should consider when making a simple weapon (Heavy Xbow) strictly better than a martial one (Longbow).

Lastly, I don't think you should be afraid of 1d4 damage weapons.

 

[Horwath]

The highlight of the post is the weapon building rules at the top rather than the charts.

Are you counting the move from 1d12 to 2d6 as one increase?

Also, this looks like it inflates damage a fair amount. Have you thought about what kind of impact that would have on the PCs (and monsters) that use these weapons?

1d12->2d6 is worth one increase if you include 2h fighting style. And it's more reliable.

 

[Horwath]

i remember watching deadliest warrior and seeing so many favored weapons turning out to be crap, and so many weapons people thought were over rated actually tearing things up like you just couldn't believe. Carcass after carcass i watched in amazement as things both under performed and outperformed my expectations.

A spear should, in general, do better than a quarter staff.
a trident is definitely less deadly than people think it is, since each extra prong actually reduces the penetration power.
Bows actually come in different arrow heads and draw weights. That goes back at least to Odysseus, and some bows can drop elephants, while some arrows struggle to drop chickens.

Darts are confusing weapons. like, there's these giant heavy things that look like solid steel daggers but heavier and fatter, used in games. Those do way more damage that the little needle guys you throw at a board. A lot of darts are just code for "ninja stars" and those are about as deadly as whatever poison you laced them with.

Why isn't the great club heavy? The club draws its damage from weight in addition to length, otherwise it's just another staff. A Kanabo or training suburito is usually pretty heavy.

Greatclub isn't heavy beacuse I added warmace. Steel twohanded weapon is heavier than wooden.

 

[Ath'kethin]

This is awesome!

. . . of course, my players may disagree, since now all the weapons their primary foes use do way more damage.

I'm not sure exactly how upping the damage for all the weapons makes things more "balanced." If anything, it just changed which specific weapons are the most effective and therefore most sensible to use.