D&D 5E Why does the club do d4?

[Stormonu]

Okay, this has been bugging me since 5E came out. Why did the designers change the club to a d4 weapon? I thought it might be some homage to something in OD&D, but nothing turns up (every weapon does d6, from what I remember of the Con game I played a few years back).

I've been thinking of changing this in my game, making the club a d6 weapon that costs 5 sp, and make the "club" in the book a sap/nightstick/truncheon/belaying pin weapon. The question is, does this break or invalidate anything (say, Shillelagh)?

<Edit> Oh, great, I see the stats for Mace & Greatclub - looks like I'll have to bump the mace up a die and maybe make the Greatclub cost a GP.

 

[BigVanVader]

Yeah, clubs are some of my favorite weapons because wooden swords and other similar weapons are awesome, but clubs doing d4 is a sad turn of events. Is it because it's a simple weapon?

 

[guachi]

Yeah. I'd say simple weapon. It looks generally that simple weapons are 1 damage class less than a martial weapon. mace 1d6 (simple). flail 1d8 (martial). club 1d4, light (simple).

 

[BigVanVader]

Yeah. I'd say simple weapon. It looks generally that simple weapons are 1 damage class less than a martial weapon. mace 1d6 (simple). flail 1d8 (martial). club 1d4, light (simple).

That's silly.

 

[Stormonu]

Grrr...this is getting irritating. Was enjoying that things didn't seemed so interlocked that a simple tweak would be easy.

So, to change clubs, it looks like I'll have to consider modifying the cost/damage of the following:

Greatclub,
Mace,
Flail

Any other weapons that would need to be tweaked? How about feats or spells (I'm considering changing Shillelegh to increase the damage by two die sizes for wooden weapons).

 

[Leatherhead]

Any other weapons that would need to be tweaked?

The Warhammer and possibly Maul.

The blunt weapon category really has the full suite of options.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Okay, this has been bugging me since 5E came out. Why did the designers change the club to a d4 weapon?.

As one of the weakest weapons it makes sense that it's at the bottom of the list. No sharp edge, no point, no spikes, no great weight, very little reach, no great speed. The only thing I can think of that would do less damage is darts.

 

[Ravenheart87]

Why does the dagger do d4?

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

Why does the dagger do d4?

I would have a hard time choosing what I prefer between being hit with a baseball bat or stabbed with a dagger, so both of them doing the same damage seems fine to me.

 

[Minigiant]

This is what I see:

The base damage of a one handed simple melee weapon is 1d6.
The base damage of a one handed martial melee weapon is 1d8.

Being Two handed is +2 dice size for martial weapons and +1 dice size for simple.
Being Light or reach is a -1 dice size.

Don't ask me on trident.