A Simple System to UPGRADE Your D&D Weapons!
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- Опубликовано: 26 сен 2024
- D&D weapons need UPGRADES like the video game RPGs that were inspired by D&D! Here's an easy homebrew weapon upgrade system for Dungeons & Dragons 5e! ⏬ More below! ⏬
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For magic weapons just have a "Master Smith" ,who can be found in major cities at the DM's discretion, upgrade it for either more gold and time, a magic material, a side quest, or any combination of the 3.
Magic weapons need to be damaged by magical attacks, simple.
@@greygoblin9491 You could also do it with magical weapons. In my next campaign I think I'll get rid of the whole "magic weapons can't be damaged" thing, and instead make them innately more resilient. Heck, +1 and +2 might not even be treated as a magical quality...
Have you considered changing the damage mechanic to a die roll with better odds at higher tiers instead? Would simplify tracking damage state within a tier (eg 1/3 hits left on a reinforced weapon).
I'd probably still give the Ruined weapon 1+STR or DEX, since even a piece of junk should do as much damage as a plain unarmed strike.
Yeah that sounds fair
Honestly if going that route I'd say minimum of 2 +Str or Dex mod. I'm sure if I hit someone with a ruined sword it'd still do more damage to them than if I just punched them.
An alternate suggestion for how to handle the ruined weapons would be to, in addition to rolling the extra damage die and taking the lower, reduce the damage die size by 1, so a ruined d12 weapon such as a great axe moves to a d10, a d10 to d8, etc, and a ruined d4 weapon becomes a d2. Then if a ruined weapon is downgraded it's just completely broken and becomes unusable and unrepairable.
I was thinking downgrade the die. D12 is d10 is d8 is d6 is d4 is 1
No it is worst then just an unarmed strick. Your fists don't cause you to punch yourself 5% of the time.
@@neonavaro25 That doesn't really have anything to do with what they're talking about though...
Love this.
I think I'll use a simpler version of this first. A Superior weapon has advantage on damage rolls, and an Inferior weapon has disadvantage on damage rolls.
Thanks! And that's a very nice adjustment
That's how I'm going to use it in Shadow Dark.
Maybe require a special kind of smith to repair or upgrade magical weapons. Perhaps a “RuneSmith”?
Haha that is the perfect name for it! Wonder if he's interested
@@BobWorldBuilderI did that for my world. Basically the runesmith is the smith of runes. He creates runes, and he applies it to anything. Could be a vehicle, object, weapon, person, place, etc.
The item itself isn't considered magic as the magic comes from the rune, however, sometimes the rune grants things magical capabilities. But they would be channeled through the rune, so for example a damaged rune area would remove the magical effect.
Say a ward on a vehicle. If it was damaged somehow and broke the rune area, the rune would not produce the ward around the vehicle. No more magical ward wagon
I think allowing magical items to be Faulty or Ruined (but maybe not allowing them to be improved above standard) could be a really cool way to introduce them to a character at a point where the pristine item would be too powerful.
A 1st level character set on the path of adventure after they found a rusty sword in the mud of a forgotten battlefield, it looks like trash and they can barely swing it but they're convinced it's special somehow. It takes a whole subquest til at Level 7 they finally find the legendary smith who's able to restore the Sword of Heroes to a shadow of its potential... but to truly come into its own, it needs to be brought before the Celestial who forged it, who will surely want to see proof that its new bearer is worthy.
@johnnye87 this feels like exactly the comment i needed to see to craft a not-too-powerful weapon for my level 4 players
I think The Lord of the Rings gives some interesting insight.
1. A ruined weapon can still do critical damage. See destroying Sauron with the broken sword Narsil. Broken swords probably only work if they are magical and a critical strike.
2. Magical weapons can be broken but only by other magical weapons or magical beings. Again see LOTRs Narsil/Anduril. It seems unnecessary for magical weapons to be degraded by any non-magical means.
As far as repairs go:
Weapons that are damaged can be reforged or repaired by a very skilled blacksmith (not farm/village blacksmith). Magical weapons can only be reforged by someone as skilled/magical as the original maker.
I can see the ruined property giving the battle a more cinematic flair to combat! Relatively low level characters could face off against far more low powered monsters since the monsters have ruined weapons and would be doing 1 or 2 points of damage max. The 2nd level barbarian surrounded by 6 skeletons with ruined weapons with more waiting in the wings? This went from deadly to difficult and if described well, could make for an epic cinematic battle.
Paired with some 4E style minions that drop super easy, you could have some pretty good moments of cutting a swathe through a sea of bad guys, taking hits here and there and really nailing the battle against the odds in a swashbuckling style, all without worrying too much about if the party is going to drop dead.
Very nice point! Thank you!
If you like this concept, I highly suggest checking out *Giffyglyph's Monster Maker* free rules (and the online calculator) for easily converting/creating monsters that are minions, elite, or boss monsters with multiple phases (and with a silmplified stat block) ! It really adds diversity to the encounter and cinematic feelings as your players cleave through minions, and are challenged by strong solo monsters (that would be easily run down by a group with the normal rules) !
Careful there, once the monsters would do more damage unarmed this might get silly.
For me it was the Baldur's Gate series but I feel you Bob! It can be tricky adding a house rule that strictly weakens the PC's but I think this can definitely enrich your game. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah I’m expecting some flak for that haha, but I know if it was purely about upgrades I’d get called out for power creeping! So these tiers of quality are split between better and worse than normal :P
@@BobWorldBuilder Honestly, 5e favors the players waaaaay too much. As a fellow DM, i'm all for nerfing the players a bit
It can equally weaken the monsters and bad guys...
0:05 Yes!! Champions of Norrath!! Played this with my friend and my dad SOOO much as a kid. Part of what got me into D&D also :D
If Daybreak was smart (they're not), they'd remaster these games for PS5 and PC.
I think three tiers (damaged, standard, improved) are about as complete as I'd go on weapons. The "advantage/disadvantage" on damage is simple and fast.
The downgrading to avoid criticals is more complicated, as it is both a consumable resource and changing rolls.
On armor, I think that adding damage thresholds makes more sense. It makes sense that better armor mitigates minor hits better, but a smash from a thrown Boulder is going to hurt no matter what.
Oh, I like the 3 tier idea!
Very nice adjustment!
Agreed 3 tiers is easy and straightforward. And for the degradation threshold I'd use "falling unconscious during a battle" as dropping your weapon during combat is likely going to result in it being stepped on, kicked, or otherwise damaged before you can pick it up again.
I found the "same scimitar" on every goblin a bit underwhelming, too, so I've varied the weapons by shape or style, while keeping the damage potential on par for the enemy creature's weapon stats. I like your idea of faulty or junk weapons, scavenged by lower level enemies. Adds a layer of realism to the encounters.
Yeah in one of my very first encounters we took out a bunch of goblins and I really expected them to have some variation! Glad you like these ideas!
That is why so many dungeon masters have enemy weapons just disintegrate when they die.
I swear dude every time I think about something to add depth to my game you come out with the exact thing I'm looking for. Your hair must have psychic powers.
Lol what else do you want to add to your game? Always looking for new video ideas!
@@BobWorldBuilder not sure if you've covered this already but I'd love to hear your take on making exploration more engaging, like I love the idea of an adventure where the characters have to actually follow a cryptic map to discover a location and have obstacles and sidetracks and stuff but I find that very daunting.
I like the 'roll 2 take the lowest/highest' mechanic. I've been doing that for certain effects to hit die when the party takes short tests
This seems like a very useful mechanic. I'm going to immediately implement it in a one shot I'm preparing for next week and see how it does. Thanks!
Thanks!! Have fun with it!
How'd it go?
@@Killer66hitman It works great for one shots. After a few sessions, the players found themselves with no gear to 'call their own' as they were constantly just replacing damaged stuff. Maybe if I had adjusted the prices of new gear or given them less treasure, that might have helped.
I’m definitely sharing this with my too old to watch tv on RUclips buddies. This is good.
Strong, fast, simple and very rewarding.
I love mundane, low level play and this makes every looting a treasure hunt.
And being able to choose to mitigate critical damage is just fire.
I really appreciate your comment here- that’s exactly what I was going for! Glad you liked it and thanks for sharing :)
Good stuff. I’d only allow reliable property weapons to take 1 critical hit simply because I don’t want to have to track a weapon’s hp.
Totally valid point 👌🏻
Orrrrr, you could have the higher upgrades reduce the chance of a weapon being broken by a single hit. A Well-built sword is reduced by a D6>2 but a Perfectly-Crafted sword is only reduced by a D6>5.
I think just giving a weapon hp relative to its quality would be okay. Say 6 if it's a d6 of damage. And when it's below half it's disadvantage on damage. If it's at 0 and you use it you break it. When it's at full you get advantage.
I love the flexibility in DnD and you don't have to like this idea, but Bob has got me thinking a lot! What if every time you hit it reduces the sharpness of a blade, and you have to roll to sharpen on a short rest and fully sharpen on a long rest. It would affect piercing too, but not bludgeoning. And magical weapons could just have 10× as many points. But be 10× harder the sharpen. Good weapons could have 2x as many and great weapons could have 3x as many, and stays sharp for 2 hits or 3 hits or 10 hits.
so a ruined "scorpion on a stick" would just be a stick.
Or just a scorpion lol
@@BobWorldBuilder haha, i guess repairing it would just be some duct tape.
And the upgrade is Hal Drake😮
Is this video a refinement of the previous one about weapons? I really like the idea of using the advantage/disadvantage mechanic for other dice rolls like damage. What other rolls could it apply to? Superiority Die? Inspiration Die? A whole can of design worms has been opened. Thanks Bob!
It is! Glad you like it Bryan!
Hello my friend! I LOVE THIS Its so good and adds some simple but interesting flavor!!! I might just have to start calling you chef with all this awesome homebrew you got going on!
My personal idea for weapons is that they should have their own magical levels as well.
Like a first level enchantment is that the weapon is magical. And thats it not even a plus 1, it literally just has magic embed into it. So that even a low level party member can fight a creature or ghost that has resistance to magical weapons.
Now a level 2 enchantment would be a plus one and POSSIBLE other properties like control water. The level 3 enchantment would have other properties for sure or if it doesn't have another property you can get it enchanted with a magical property. When you get to a level 4 enchantment now the item is practically a legendary weapon. And lastly a level 5 enchantment would mean the item is so magical it is most likely sentient.
Now here is the tricky thing, items with curses will typically start at a level 3 enchantment. So when you cast Identify you can only read a basic level 1 enchantment from an item. So to get a deeper understanding of an item you must
1. take it to an enchanter
2. Atune to the item
3. Know how to cast not identify but "reveal" (5th level spell)
And with that you can gain knowledge from the item.
Because just like curses some items can have enchantments that can be unlocked. Especially if the item is rare enough.
I can elaborate more if you like. Or of course feel free to take anything I've given you and rework/fix anything you may find wrong with this system.
Nice little system there. I just bought DC's complete weapon and armour overhaul. It looks so fun
Awesome! Yeah I think Coach and I might try to work on something together :)
This is exactly what I was needing last night when a player asked if can he improve his sword.
He’s gonna smile when you tell him
Now you can prep it for the next session! :)
Typically what we do in our campaigns is have it upgraded to a +1 (and etc.) weapon, or be able to enchant it with some sort of property, like elemental damage. I had gemstones that could be purchased in my campaign that the players could meld with their weapons and armor in order to add or negate 1d4 of whatever damage type correlated with the color of the gem, for instance.
Some other ideas are giving it a serrated edge so it tears into enemies and deals a bit more damage (or inflicts a bleeding status if you're using a system for that, or just akin to the Sword of Wounding), making the grip have a bit more texture to it so it is harder to drop (meaning they'll never lose their sword on a failure or by an attempt to disarm), carving runes into the blade that can call upon certain spells once per day... the sky's the limit!
Often times it's cool to let the players figure out a way that they might want to improve their weapons and let them do it. For instance, we killed a dragon in my current campaign I'm a player in, and we took the dragon bones to a dwarven smithy who was able to craft weapons made out of the dragon bone. I believe they ended up just being +1 weapons but still, the idea came from the players and the dungeon master went with it, so that should be something you encourage at your table!
I might have to use this. I've always loved the idea of weapons breaking during combat, and having multiple weapons for multiple rules. It does a lot to flavor up the martial classes!
Glad you like it!
I think magic weapon upgrading/ down grading would be interesting! Maybe it requires both a smith and an enchanter working together to upgrade? Not sure what, if anything, would feel right but not be too number crunchy to down grade magical weapons, though.
Yeah it's definitely tricky!
It would be pretty easy to say that a magical weapon is also upgraded already. So if it’s a +1 long sword, you add a die and keep the best and then you add 1 to attack and damage. I think the negating crit feature is interesting, but it’s something that seems more suited to armor, and you could say a suit of armor has a number of uses per day = its bonus. So a +2 breastplate negates 2 crits per game… I really like these ideas to spice up 5E, which I think is mechanically quite dull. But they could also be added to systems like pathfinder to make them deeper as well.
On the flip side, you could say cursed weapons and armors are downgraded, so they attack with disadvantage on damage, subtract their bonus from your roll or ac and you could even give the gm the option of turning regular hits into crits on cursed armors.
LOVED the Champions series, so I really appreciate this video, thanks Bob! I feel seen.
There are dozens of us! Dozens!!
Funny thing two years ago, I added reliable (yup even used the same name) and unreliable weapons to my games. I like how it feels like an upgrade but doesn't really mess up the math.
And I will be using the RUINED property for my monsters !
Awesome! :)
This video is great. Efficient clean system without too much weight but with plenty of consequence. Another home run Bob! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
my ttrpg uses slots in order to buff, debuff, and customize items; it's amazing how much it adds to the martial system, really makes players bond to their items too.
That’s awesome! And actually it’s another cool feature of weapons from Champions of Norrath lol
Champions of Norrath, holy shit what a throwback!
Me and my brother played hours upon hours of it on co-op!
Yep! My best friends and I have fond memories of this game :)
Really liked this idea! Will most likely try it out in our game!
Awesome! Have fun with it!
"Minuscule guard stretches out..." made me think of a wee halfling waking up from a nap on guard duty.
Haha yep, dScryb is very inspiring!
i LOVE weapon upgrades and changes. I have one question bob, however, when is the next Icewind Dale video? love all of your content but i’ve been so excited for that video!!
Thanks! My campaign was on hold for a few weeks so the series was set back for a while. We’re back at it now, so probably end of October or early November. I kinda want to do one big video that covers the last several chapters, so it may be later. I really appreciate your enthusiasm for it :)
A very elegant idea, I must say. It's super easy to remember and brings up more role playing and cinematic opportunities.
While it wouldn't affect the weapon's resulting quality, I would go with needing at least a reliable quality weapon for making a magical weapon. The would reflect the classic need for a "masterwork" weapon from older editons.
This is such a great home brew weapon system! Well done, Bob!
Thank you!
Gives me a real Diablo II feel as well. I dig the system... well done!
Thanks Wally!
Very cool, thank you.
More videos on D&D weapon & combat mods would be appreciated! D&D 3.5 included a lot of optional rules like armor absorbing damage and adding a defense bonus to character's AC.
That is a great system I will definitely start using that in my campaigns, thanks for the video.
I’m glad you like it!
Oh cool, a weapon durability system!
I've made that a core component in a system of my own, and you just added another action to justify its implementation!
Durability is definitely a better name than just ‘quality’ like I used haha, well done!
Bob amazing job, i love the work you have put into the pdf file and is very well detailed and easy to understand!
Me and my friends, will have a huge laugh about this, when did this happened for them for the first time!
Also, i got a question are we aloud to use this in maybe a stream?
And we do give props where ever it is needed and will promote your channel for ever is watching!
Thanks! Can you email a link to your stream (bobworldbuilder@gmail.com)? and I’d appreciate it if you included the link to this video in sessions where you use it. No obligation, but it would certainly help your audience understand the combat :)
@@BobWorldBuilder Of course! Me and my friends are just starting out, in a few weeks we should be online! and i will send you the link of the stream!
Thank you for the free link! Also, I'm really enjoying this content about custom basic weapons. I think it's one area that 5e is just a little too simplistic and these videos are some great idea-fuel for spicing things up.
You’re welcome, and thank you for the kind words! :)
I like it, and would definitely let the same effects work on Magical Items, but they can only be damaged by magical items of a higher Rarity.
Good to think about Bob. I have an example... In the movie Excalibur, King Arthur Was battling Sir Lancelot when he hit him with a hit that Broke the magic sword! ( but was repaired by The lady of the Lakes even though she was in a pond at the time) Not every character has a "sword giving tart". Anther is the Shards of Narsil( LOTR) so I say it is possible for magic weapons to break( very hard to do)
I really like these modifications! Thanks for the video.
I’ve seen upgrading or downgrading die sizes for masterwork weapons, but not these modifications. I think using a combination of both allows for a good diversity of weapons.
Thanks! And yes, both of those mechanics would add a ton of variety!
For roll20, you can implement the “damage advantage” by changing the die roll from 1dx to {1dx,1dx}kh1, for example with a reinforced dagger it would be {1d4,1d4}kh1, and for a greatsword it would be {1d6,1d6,1d6}kh2
For “damage disadvantage” it works the same way but change the kh to kl
Bob pin this man, I spent 45 minutes trying to figure this out, and as a last ditch effort came to the comments and scrolled till I found this gem. It’s so important for online play to be able to do this! Thanks @shfhthgh
Bob, you brilliant and reliable sage, you've done it again! This is simple and fantastic. An easily memorized homebrew rule that adds great flavor to any game. I will definitely use this in future games and campaigns I DM. 🤓👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks a lot Brent! You’re too kind!
@@BobWorldBuilder you're welcome and you're correct. 😀
This goes perfectly with kobald presses weapon maneuvers. We can have both
I really need to check that out!
@@BobWorldBuilder you can find it in the Midgard heroes handbook, it’s more complicated but completely compatible with this rule set and the other video you did on your weapon system.
Very nice set of mechanics. I like this a lot.
Glad you like it!
Thank you Bob.
This is gold tier awesomeness.
Instantly inserting this into my game.
Happy to help! :)
And with just one mention of the word Norrath an entire galaxy of memories of a childhood spent playing EverQuest just unlocked themselves from the recesses of my mind.
Awesome ideas, i really love the concept of improving weapons and not just use the same weapons stats all the time, so i've be thinking in a lot of methods to make that viable but i never think about the way you make it. Thanks for the PDF i'll definily use it on my sessions and gave you a feedback about.
This was a great video! I loved your previous Customizing Weapons video and it seems like you've just built on that here. I downloaded the PDF and I'm excited to try it out in my campaign :D
Thank you very much!
I really loved this idea. I'll give it a go on my next DMing session.
Interesting stuff! I do appreciate efforts at differentiating armor and weapons. Especially the non magical versions.
Thank you! Yeah I really like lower fantasy stuff and giving mundane items more attention when possible :)
Thank you for the weapon upgrade and durability ideas! One of my house rules for the Four Winds players is they can turn enemy Savage Crits into regular hits, but only if they sacrifice a weapon/shield or a piece of armor/equipped equipment. Other players within 5 feet of them can use their reaction to sacrifice their own weapon, shield, or armor. It gives helmets a reason to exist lol. And the more magical the item, the more likely it is to survive without even being dropped.
BTW it has led to some EPIC moments!
This is great! I’m going to implement a version of this in my recently-begun Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign, we’re all pretty seasoned players who like the simplicity of 5e over other editions of D&D, but have enough experience with other systems with much more robust weapon customization rules (like Edge of the Empire) that this should scratch the itch for most of them without changing systems, also it’ll give the party’s artificer a lot more to do during downtime!
This video is better than most of your other videos. It has some really inspired ideas in it that put it above and beyond what you normally do. I feel your normal videos are good, but that this is great content.
As an extension in order to be able to apply it to magical weapons:
Reduce the number of mitigations required before downgrade to one per tier, but add two caveats: A weapon only lowers in quality when it is 'sacrificed' to lower a crit by a weapon of equal or higher "rarity" and a weapon that is higher quality lowers a weapon's quality more when its crit is deflected (detailed below).
Rarity ratings are as follows:
Garbage
Common
Uncommon
Rare
Very Rare
Legendary
Artifact
Mythic
Notice all but the first and last are part of the common list for magic items and such. This is intentional.
Any item that is ruined quality is one rarity lower than it would be otherwise.
Any item that is reinforced quality is one rarity higher than it would be otherwise.
In order to upgrade an item, you must find someone with sufficient skill to make an item of that quality. For normal weapons, that means up to Uncommon quality, which could be done by someone with expertise in blacksmithing, a good forge, or minor magical skill combined with average tools... Your average blacksmith wouldn't be able to do it, but if you go to the local lord's manor or town, it's reasonable to find someone to create it.
This means that a normal reinforced longsword could cancel the critical of ANY reliable or lower normal weapon without downgrading to reliable, but the moment it comes into contact with a reinforced normal weapon, or a normal adamantine or magical weapon, it could reasonable be downgraded to stop that critical. Any weapon that tries to deflect a crit from a higher rarity weapon downgrades one extra tier level per difference in rarity level.
The cost for upgrade is based on the range of value of the normal quality of the item and the new value. (Garbage is worthless. Common is typically between 50-100 gp but can be lower, uncommon are worth up to 500, rare are worth up to 5,000, very rare are worth up to 50,000, Legendary are worth 500,000, Artifacts are worth 5,000,000, and Mythic is worth 50,000,000 for these purposes.) Moving in the same tier is going to double the cost of the item, going up a tier will cost half of the max cost of an item of the new quality level. The cost divided by 10 is also the amount of time it would take to upgrade the item to the new tier. The cost cannot be reduced, but the time can be. For each tier above the item that can be forged at the repair site, the time is reduced by a factor of 10.
This means that to upgrade a common item, such as a normal scimitar, to reliable would cost 25 gold and 2.5 days, as you stated, but to raise it from reliable to reinforced would cost 250 gold and 25 days and would require an uncommon quality forge. If the location can produce rare weapons, the cost to upgrade to reinforced becomes 2.5 days.
This does mean that to upgrade an artifact to Mythic quality, it would take nearly 137,000 years and someone with the power of a god of crafting to perform, though gods of that caliber likely have means to do this even more quickly (at the DM's discretion, obviously).
Due to all of this and how it functions together, a faulty weapon would have half the value of a normal weapon of its type, and a ruined weapon is half the value of the newly lowered tier's cap. A reinforced weapon would be half the value of the "cap" for the new tier. A reliable would have double the value and would be worth roughly twice what other items of that tier are... This means that the price range for a +1 scimitar would be as follows: Ruined +1 Scimitar, 50gp; faulty +1 scimitar, 250 gp; normal +1 scimitar, 500 gp; reliable +1 scimitar, 1000 gp; +1 reinforced scimitar, 2500 gp.
The Ruined scimitar is now common quality, so a crit deflected by a normal quality weapon could destroy it all together, but getting to this point is difficult. A +1 reliable Scimitar (uncommon) blocking a +2 reinforced Scimitar's crit (effectively very rare). Would instantly downgrade the weapon 3 quality levels to ruined instantly, but a +2 reliable Scimitar would downgrade the +1 reliable to faulty immediately and a +2 ruined scimitar would only drop the +1 reinforced to normal.
The same system, overall, but simplified the very basic aspect of reduction in quality in order to have it account for overall quality/rarity of the item, and gives a good guideline for when to hand them out. It's only marginally more complex than the system you created. You could make it a bit more complex by altering how blacksmiths, their expertise, and the quality of their forge and tools play into the whole thing for time and cost of upgrade, but this still expands while keeping the original intent.
Doing the system from scratch, however, I would make the reduction of a crit to normal be a function of armor and make weapons a choice to have advantage on a strike when you wouldn't otherwise.
I absolutely love this! I’m going to incorporate this into my home game for sure. There are two things that I’m going to change… 1) Have weapons degrade whenever the player rolls a 1. Makes fumble rolls even more consequential without adding too much complexity. 2) Give shields the ability to turn crits into normal hits but degrades the quality. This would make two-harder vs sword and board choice much more meaningful than just the straight bonus to AC.
Common and uncommon weapons would be easy, they mostly do what normal weapons do with added flair. Even rare +2 and very rare +3 are simple add-ons. You might even be able to upgrade to +1,+2 and +3 with any weapon with this system.
I have a party of a monk, a paladin and a wizard, and I was thinking "how can i make the pally feel divine favours without overbearing on mechanics".
And i think this is gonna be a great step, instead of having to wait until a smite is appropriate, or giving her +1 or +2 weapons, I can just give her damage advantage!
just did some tests and.turns out that for a d6, this gives between +0.5 and +2 damage, so i think overall this is still worth it, but actually better than a +1 weapon.
Glad you like it!
I’m so impressed with this homebrew idea Bob World Builder, thank you as usual for the excellent content
This kinda reminds me of a mechanic in my favourite video game Barony. Every item has one of 5 qualities, which combined with the material of the weapon as well as how trained you are in that weapon determines damage.
Super interesting and useful. If'n I had to fanagle magic weapons into this, I'd probably make a rule something like, "when negating a critical hit, if the attacker's or defender's weapon is of a higher magical rarity than the other, the weapon that is less magic decreases in quality."
A faulty magic weapon would probably have to roll when its user tries to activate its magical property, kind of like that scene where Cohen the Barbarian is banging his sword on the ground trying to get it to light up in Troll Bridge. "Still got the old knack-a-roonie!"
This gives me major flashbacks to the various weapon materials and associated modifiers from 2e Dark Sun, and I love it. You’ve added in great flavor here with a relatively simple homebrew, thanks for sharing!
I could see keeping track of how many crits a reinforced or reliable weapon has absorbed as being a little painful for some, but that could be tweaked to fit the ‘crunchiness’ of the player group.
I like the idea a lot!
I think this could work best in a sortof survival-oriented campaign where most characters have *some* skill with the forge.
One extra way I'd make weapons feel more special or personalized is if different classes had a different forging style with some extra boons to give each weapon.
A Wizard or Sorcerer could enchant the weapon using magically infused gems or even have their arcane focus embedded into it, an Artificer could give the weapon a secondary attack or mode (see Monster Hunter's weapons), Clerics and Paladins can bless the weapon with holy water to gain advantage against undead, Monks can make the weapon even more durable and Rogues can add an extra effect on crits.
I'd even go as far to say that Blood Hunters can add some form of lifesteal onto the weapon *should* they infuse the weapon with their own blood.
Select classes could even make weapons from scratch like Rangers, Artificers and Barbarians given how two of those classes are scavengers by nature and one literally makes stuff.
Artificer would be able to make most of the stuff but Rangers and Barbs could make stuff like bows and (spiked) clubs respectively.
Love the idea of using your weapon to block a critical! Very cinematic.
Damn, I loved Champions of Norrath. So glad you put that in the beginning there, makes me want to play it again. I really hope they do a remaster of that like they did Dark Alliance.
This is a very interesting system, I'd probably run this in my game. I just don't really enjoy how it falls apart once the party gets their hands on a magical weapon. I think you could still rule that it works with standard, non-named non-artifact magical weapons and be fair if you give players heads up before damage got out of hand so they may not lose the weapon or have it degrade severely. I wouldn't rule the enchantment downgrading, just the physical vessel being damaged and taking these modifications like a template.
Quick, simple, interesting and satisfying. Nice job Bob !
For magic weapons I'd say they can take a number of crits equal to their rarity (1 for uncommon, 2 for rare, etc) before gaining a cumulative -1 to hit/damage rolls. In addition, their magical properties are suppressed if the negative modifier is equal to the value associated with their rarity.
I only DM for ten year old kids (my sons and friends).. so they get it very easy and pretty much always win. I like these ideas a lot, especially advantage on damage, think I’ll just add a ‘sharp’ property to edged weapons, something they can add themselves just by preparing for a fight, but also something they can easily lose again (temporarily) by rolling a 1 or by blocking a crit. Perhaps a ‘dull’ blade can go to disadvantage on damage. I think there’s also room for the ‘mending’ cantrip in this mechanic. Great stuff.
Good video Bob.
I agree with the need for more variety and weapon quality. I had my own similar tags that I use: masterwork, superior, common, damaged, and broken. But your mechanics are much better than mine. I had a weapon durability system too that could result in a downgrade, but superior and master craft required a special smith or forge. Unfortunately, it never really got much use, and turned into one of those good ideas that was forgotten.
sounds fun i'm implementing it immediately
Woo! Thanks!
That's a very interesting idea ! In a low magic campaign, it makes you actually go to the blacksmith to other reasons than sell the 10 shortswords you pilfered off the dead goblins...and it would give a reason why the blacksmith wouldn't want these swords. "They're ruined, I wouldnt make enough money from fixing and selling them".
I'm not sure about giving free advantage on every attack for reinforced weapons (I shudder to think of a rogue getting their daggers reinforced), but I do love the concept of choosing between taking the crit or breaking down your weapon a bit.
One thing I've done with a set of homebrew weapons is having them use different dice to equal the same maximum. Like a maul that does 3d4 rather than 1d12 or 2d6. It's the same damage maximum, but it still has a higher minimum and you get to have that roll more dice thing too. I also did a rapier that was 1d4 + dex piercing with 1d4 fire damage. Again, higher minimum but also can maneuver around resistances and immunities if need be.
Those are small things I thought of, and I imagine someone else has tried em before too.
I'm digging this. Always felt that D&D had poop for weapon customization. Even back in 2e, with all of the optional weapons available, there was not that much actual variation.
However, I still see this system being ditched as soon as the players find their first +1 weapons. Would definitely like to see some way to incorporate this idea. Maybe a tweak to the critical hit vs damage chart?
Thanks! Yeah I'm sure there's a good way to incorporate magic weapons
Why not add use this Quality system for magic weapons too? At least for the basic +1 to +3 types.
I'll be running this as taking a reaction to block a melee crit. although i do run a sci-fi 5e game, so blocking an alien beasts bite attack crit with a gun to stop your legs getting gnawed off seems thematically AWESOME.
THIS. IS. GENIUS. Wow. I am ABSOLUTELY using this!
I like this. I have in the past just applied a +1/-1 modifier to indicate weapon quality, but this feels more fun.
Interesting approach.
I've recently been working on my own homebrew and added quality and a degrading mechanic to Armor instead. Though each level only gives +1AC from the base type (one per light, medium and heavy). To make up for degrading, armor now has a flat damage reduction value.
For weapons, i instead made new properties like Bracing (basically a better version of Spear Mastery Feat), Cleaving (roll high, deal some damage to enemies nearby 1/turn), Denting (ignore armor damage reduction) or Crushing (move enemy 5ft 1/turn).
I really like the weapon dice advantage idea and might integrate it into my system. What i REALLY like is that i theoretically could just plug your system onto mine and everything would work just as well! Good job.
Thank you Bob! I rarely play D&D anymore, but these are actually really useful ideas to use in any RPG. I'm going to go with the extra die and choosing lowest or highest with weapon quality.
Just letting you know, I just included this on a homebrew of mine that I'm writing for my custom campaign, I dedicated a space in the credits to you for this great idea :D
I have been working on an idea you could use for magic weapons.
When you first attune to the weapon it has additional effects. The weapon will then level up the more your character use it. This is to show the bond between owner and weapon growing stronger. Not quite sure how to do the levelling part ATM. When it levels up it gains more and more features. This means the weapon can act as s form of sub sub class that can be changed.
Idea for level progression. If you ever in attune you will lose your progression with the weapon.
Dragon kin. One handed sword. D6 slashing
Lv1: no effect
Lv2: now does magic damage
Lv3: now does one D8 damage
Lv4: when rolling initiative the damage type can be changed between (fire, frost, lighting or slashing)
Lv5: damage rolls gains an additional D4
Lv6: you gain the spell fly once per long rest.(flavour: gives you wings)
Lv7: once per long rest you can produce a 25ft cone attack that deal 8D6 of your chosen damage (fire, cold or lightning)
I like this. I may even add it to my Pathfinder games as I want to implement a HP max rule to speed combat along. Basically, you can have as many HD as your dice size +1 per 5 Con after 10. This applies to all creatures and not just the players with negative Con doing the opposite to a minimum of 1 HP. For those abilities that go off of HD for scaling, you get virtual HD which act as normal HD but you don't get any HP.
Hey! I got this vid in my recommends, and as someone who grew up playing Champions of Norrath (CON), Champions Return to Arms (RTA), and later playing a bunch more of both and figuring about more about the game than guides online... (and then getting into DND and DMing...), I'm going to describe what made a weapon in Champions Return to Arms especially good, different types than what you describe, and why, as well as how this influences my own DMing weapon system.
While CON and RTA both had the numerous descriptors in their weapon system that allow for a total weapon count and weapons that even someone with probably close to 1,000 hours in the two haven't discovered yet, it's other properties than their name that makes them truly interesting. Let's ignore the obvious being damage values/armor values. Weapons (and armor) also have 4 circles on their property table, some of these circles can be filled, or empty. Every weapon will always have at least one of these circles filled. Certain special items you can find throughout the game that are found in the accessory/key items section of your inventory can be used to add a bonus to customize a weapon and fill an empty circle(s). These "gems" as I'll refer to them as can bring the following benefits - + armor (1 slot), + attack speed (1 slot), + crit chance (1 slot), + poison damage (1 slot), + chance of poison cloud (1 slot), disease damage (only found in CON, 1 slot), + fire damage (2 slots), cold damage (2 slots), + magic damage (really just lightning damage, 1 slot), + X stat (1 slot), + health/mana regen (1 slot), + health/mana in general (1 slot, bugged, doesn't work in RTA). Note that you can't double up on bonuses per weapon even if there is an empty slot, or if that weapon has that bonus prior to infusing. Note that the quality and bonuses of these gems go up per difficulty level/NG+.
Before returning to "gem" slot infusion, I should mention that there are some weapons other than those with four filled circles that cannot be infused further, even with empty slots, they have a blue colored name, and are what I'll be calling "Infused weapons". They always come with some sort of bonus, that can be even greater than a gem infusion. They can even come with multiple bonuses which is pretty nice! But it's rare to find a weapon with the best configuration of bonuses. Then there's the cream of the crop, the "Golden weapons", weapons with a gold name, naturally. These are the best in the game, and can skirt the limit of normal infusions and circle slots. Take one of the most prized weapons in RTA: the Lava Belcher. It's a one handed sword that has 298-314 damage, 306 atk bonus, 57-78 fire damage bonus, and 2 slots free. Not only does this weapon have a higher fire bonus than what gems can put on a weapon, it has 1 less circle slot filled than a normal weapon fire infused (2 empty slots, vs 3, normal weapons have to have at least 1 slot filled at the start). This means it can be outfitted with 2 more gems that are 1 slot each!
But why is that really good? It's because of the hidden bonuses that elemental damage gives to your attacking strategy. Not your attack, not your character's person..., it's good because it allows your skill as a player to flourish, should you take advantage of it. This is why I love these games. Allow me to explain: Fire damage poison damage, and disease damage have a DOT, which during the DOT has a great chance of causing a non-resistant enemy to flinch or stagger at least once. Capitalizing on this chance allows the player to attack more, getting more damage in for free, which can result in more chances to hit, etc... Cold damage can cause a stacking freeze effect which can slow down non-resistant enemies and even bosses! This allows you to get more hits in, keeping the effect on or increasing the freeze further. You might be able to see where I'm going with this now. The best weapons in RTA are Golden weapons like lava belcher that have 2 free circles and come with either a strong fire or cold damage buff. Stacking an attack speed gem and a poison damage gem on top means now there's 2 debilitating damage types on a very quick-hitting weapon. Just devastating on any character.
This had me include a gem system in my own DND games as a DM, one for each damage type, as well as allowing different damage types to carry different effects, should the character get a great damage moment in. I don't have circled slots but I do allow for weapon infusions like this: There are 4 levels of quality - Base to + 3... this tracks exactly to the weapon levels already in 5e. Weapons to go from one level to the next need special raw material to upgrade it at a shop... or a really high quality shop and a lot of gold/platinum. To get a special damage type on a weapon you need special material/ a gem, and an infusion shop/synth shop (but synth comes from different games so I won't mention it further). Base quality weapons can be infused once, +1 can have an upgraded infusion/different infusion as well, and so on until +3 which allows for a total conversion of damage type. So far so good, one of my players has a lightning infused shortsword, and another has a lightning infused naginata... named Eggnog. Lotta fire and lightning in my current campaign.
Really like this system , easy to use and explain , in paper it seems to work but lets see how it works in practice
The thing i dont like about 5e is that because it is a dumbdown edition for anyone to use this leave it very very precariously unbalance and any change can completely break the power scaling
Yo, this is GREAT. Keep up the good work!
I love this! Totally going to apply this to my games. One potential problem I can see with this is metagamers using a spellcaster who keeping purchasing daggers to protect themselves against crits. If you end up having this problem, you COULD make it a feat that allows them to stop the crits...or....you can require that you can only block crits if your weapon is one step below in damage dice or higher. Meaning if at level 1, I got attacked with a longsword, I would have to block with a d6 weapon or higher. A dagger wouldn't be able to block the damage. Again, another problem is....how do you factor in greatswords...but also other weapons from higher CR monsters like dragons who can deal 2d8, for instance.
You could speed up combat with monsters by subtracting -1 for each die size, e.g. -3 on a d8, -1 on a d4 etc
Pretty cool system. I´ll add it (or a variant of it) to my next campaign.
Thanks! Glad you like these ideas!
improv minis Bob is best Bob
Haha thank you!!
this is a great Idea for world building. it makes the effects of time and environment more apparent
I like custom made equipment as a system.
Basically, any unique loot you find can be used to make you stronger.
A pelt of a legendary beast is durable and makes no sound
A head of a destroyed earth elemental makes a +4 ac potion
Etc etc
This is a well thought mechanic that doesn't encumber the gameplay and sounds like a lot of fun!
I will definitely give it a try in my games!
Thank you for sharing with us!
Could you apply something like this to shields? Like reduce a critical to normal, but -1 to the shield. And once it hits 0. Broken shield.
It could be a good property
That sounds simple and awesome!
I think something that could really work well with this homebrew is that if a reliable or better weapon has absorbed a crit but hasn't been downgraded yet, that anyone with Smith's tools and proficiency in it can use the already built in repair feature on the upgraded weapon to give it back a use of the reliable or reinforced feature per time it is used, you could also go to a weaponsmith and have them repair it if no one in the party can.
You could technically also have the mending cantrip work the same way, but not only would that be too easy, mending is more of a specific kind of fix rather than a general repair, however I would allow the repair feature of something like the battle Smith artificer's steel defender to have the same effect as the Smith's tools repair feature in terms of upgraded weapons, it may be seen as overpowered due to it not requiring an hour like the Smith's tools, but it is limited to 3 times a day, and if your characters with weapons are getting critted that much, then you'll need all the help you can get imo
Firstly, love the video and have subscribed.
I already use a lightweight weapon tier system but will be modifying it with some of the ideas here (advantage/disadvantage damage, sacrificing weapons and armor to negate damage). Thanks!
Love this content Bob. Would be great to see you give the same run over for armour too!
Simple and clean, I like it.
Thank you! That's what I was aiming for!
What I always wanted as a player and DM
wow ok suddenly found the best d&d channel
Hi so I was somewhat encouraged by this video, here is my attempt at a simple system that for the most part should give variety to weapon choices in different situations.
BRAINSTORM Ideas I have kicking around to spice up weapons more than just slight variations of damage:
Vicious (Battle Axe, Greataxe, Flail, Glaive, Halberd)
- On a critical hit the target cannot take the disengage action until end of their next turn (HB rule 'shields shall be shattered' can counter this, by sacrificing a shield)
Destructive (Flails, Maces, Hammers)
- narrative armour damage, on a critical hit the target becomes stunned until end of their next turn (HB rule 'shields shall be shattered' can counter this, by sacrificing a shield)
Balanced (Swords, Daggers) ... (haven't tested enough to determine which is more suitable ... powerful with Rogues)
- Once per round you may make an opportunity attack, that uses only a Balanced Weapon, without using your reaction. (Aggressive)
OR
- While wielding a Balanced weapon, you may take the dodge or disengage action with the same action (this works with cunning action as worded currently) (Defensive)
Unbalanced(Axes, Hammers, Maces)
- harder to deflect, gain advantage to Disarming Attack (Manoeuvre) and Disarm Actions (optional DMG rule I allow).
Close Quarters (Daggers, Shortsword, Hand Axe, Light Hammer)
- Melee Attacks made with these weapons gain advantage against grappled targets.
Lunge (Rapier, Greatsword, Pike, Quarterstaff, Spear)
- additional non-consistent reach, treat your weapons reach during opportunity attacks as an additional +5 ft.
Polearm (Glaive, Halberd, Pike, Quarterstaff, Spear, ) - better area control, while wielding a Polearm, other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter the reach you have with that weapon. (If you choose Polearm Mastery you have advantage when you make an attack in this way)
Sounds like my weapon quickplay mechanic I've been using over 30yrs at my tables. The advanced mechanics I created add in a range of 8 more optional mechanics that apply to weapons to include material of creation, improved function, craftsman skill, racial/cultural specialty, duration of use, environmental/magical infusion, spell/magic imbued, and artifacts/relics/legacy items.
I also allow upgrades in the literal sense. Offering optional use for found items that can be salvaged or discovered expanding exponentially the customization of character gear and weapons with the use of standard core mechanics that already exist. Salvage is rolled at disadvantage for those untrained, or with advantage with a trained individual. Players may take gear to npcs of varying abilities to sack usable components to place on their own gear. Or sell in other locations to be used to craft (the 3rd core mechanic) items.
The weapon quality idea is pretty interesting and adds cinematic to the game. It's also a way to leech more gold from the players and get them to interact with the world. Perhaps they get to know the smith they do regular business with on a personal basis, and he might become a potential sidequest distributor. For example, he could tell them that he's willing to try out a new technique of smithing but needs a special ore that's in the old flooded mines. Adventure ensues!