Weapons are getting a glow-up in the latest playtest document. The base statistics of many weapons are being adjusted to make them more appealing (tridents, for instance, are going to be a good go-to choice for a lot of people,) and the Pistol and Musket have been added to the core equipment list (DMs who want to limit the existence of firearms in their world are free to make them missing from their shops).
But of course, most importantly, each weapon now has a Mastery related to it, which is a special property that requires a feature to unlock it. Once we go through the weapons, we'll take a look at how Barbarians and Fighters use these features, but it seems similar to the riders on spells like Ray of Frost or Shocking Grasp, which give you a minor but useful and tactical bonus on your attacks.
First, let's talk about weapon revisions:
The Net is no longer considered a weapon, instead acting (appropriately, in my view) as a piece of adventuring equipment.
The Trident now has a base damage of 1d8 and a versatile damage die of 1d10. Considering it also has the thrown property, this makes it, I'd argue, one of the best options for a one-handed martial weapon (we'll have to see if it also retains its "usable underwater without disadvantage" property).
The Lance has become far more viable. It is now a two-handed and heavy weapon, and its special property has been removed, and its damage die reduced to a d10. However! The two-handed property is removed if you are mounted, so you can still use a shield and lance if you are charging on your steed. Basically, at the cost of a little potential damage, the Lance has become far more usable, removing any disadvantage from being at close range.
The War Pick now has the versatile property, giving us a piercing equivalent to the warhammer and longsword/battleaxe.
Now, let's look at revisions to the properties:
My initial reading of the change to Light Weapons left me surprised that the old bonus-action taxing form of dual-wielding had made a return. However, it appears the new "as part of the action" version is now rolled into the Nick mastery. Rangers and Paladins might thus feel a little jealous that they will need to invest a feat to gain this, but most of the best dual-wielding weapons will be able to work this way.
More welcomely, the Thrown property now makes it clear that you can draw a weapon with each attack, which will make throwing weapons far less punishing if you have the Extra Attack feature.
Moving on, let's cover Masteries:
The Masteries themselves then serve to distinguish previously similar weapons. The Longsword, for instance, has the Flex mastery, while the Battleaxe has the Topple mastery. The Glaive has the Graze property, while the Halberd has the Cleave property.
So, what do these do? Let's go down the list. Each mastery has requirements, which limit how a Fighter can shift these properties from one weapon type to another. We'll revisit this when we do the Fighter post.
Cleave: Melee Weapon, Heavy Property, found on Greataxes, Halberds. If you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can make an attack roll against another creature within 5 feet of the first creature. On a hit, you can deal damage equal to the weapon's damage die, but you don't add your ability modifier (unless the amount is negative). You can do this once per turn.
Interestingly, while you don't add your Strength to this, you can still add Rage, or other enhancements, and a magic weapon that deals extra damage dice, or that simply has a +X bonus, should still add that. The once-a-turn qualifier is reasonable, but this feels like it could be actually kind of crazy good.
Flex: Versatile Property, found on Quarterstaffs, Spears, Longswords, War Picks, Warhammers. When you hit with a melee attack, you use the versatile damage even if you're wielding it with one hand.
I'll honestly say I don't think this is very good. Going up one damage die means an average boost to your damage of only 1 point per hit. But if you really want to roll those d10s while using a shield, this is there for you.
Graze: Melee Weapons, Heavy Property, found on Glaives, Greatswords. If your attack roll misses a creature, you can still deal damage equal to the ability modifier yo used to make the attack roll, and the damage is the same type dealt by the weapon, and can't be increased in any way other than the ability modifier.
This is potentially very powerful, though I might need to math it out at a later point. Being able to get some damage on the target no matter what is huge - a level 1 Fighter with a Greatsword is now basically guaranteed to at least make a Kobold bloody when they attack them. I'm almost surprised that there's not a "still nothing on a nat 1," but this now gives a martial character some of the reassurance of a caster using "save for half" spells that their turn has still done something. Even if the math doesn't make this that powerful, psychologically, it's huge.
Nick: Light Property, found on Daggers, Light Hammers, Sickles, Scimitars. When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack Action instead of as a bonus action, but can still only do so once a turn.
This limits the new, better dual-wielding to Warriors or those who invest a feat to gain the mastery, but this should be very nice for those who want to fight with two weapons.
Push: Heavy, Two-Handed, or Versatile Property, found on Greatclubs, Pikes, Heavy Crossbows. When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can push them up to 10 feet away from you, as long as they are no more than one size larger than you.
This has no "once per turn" limit, so if you go ham at someone with a pike, you can slam them back with each attack if you have the movement.
Sap: This can only be put on weapons with no other properties, found on Maces, Flails, Morningstars. If you hit a creature with the weapon, they have disadvantage on their next attack roll before the start of your next turn.
An interesting defensive mastery, you're basically getting the Vicious Mockery/Frostbite effect. I don't know if this is so powerful that it needs the "no properties" rider.
Slow: No prerequisites, found on Clubs, Javelins, Light Crossbows, Slings, Whips, Longbows, and Muskets. If you hit a creature with the weapon and deal damage, you can reduce its speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. Hitting the creature multiple times cannot cause this reduction to exceed 10 feet.
Again, we get a classic cantrip effect, in this case Ray of Frost. The once-per-turn rider here is reasonable, as this could get silly on most creatures with just a second application. Notably, this shows up on a lot of ranged weapons, which makes it great for kiting enemies.
Topple: Heavy, Reach, or Versatile Property, found on Battleaxes, Lances, Tridents. If you hit a creature with this weapon, you can force them to make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability modifier you used to make the attack roll. On a failure, the creature has the Prone condition.
I wonder why this is Constitution-based and not Strength or Dexterity. Notably, there's no once-a-turn rider here, so you can try it multiple times.
Vex: Ammunition, Finesse, or Light Properties, found on Handaxes, Darts, Shortbows, Rapiers, Shortswords, Blowguns, Hand Crossbows, Pistols. If you hit a creature with this weapon and deal damage to them, you have advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn.
This freaking slaps. Getting a sort of rolling advantage that sets you up for more advantage? Count me in. And with no once-a-turn rider, you can trigger it over and over. This makes me want to play a pistol-wielding gunslinger so freaking badly (obviously taking a feat to ignore the pistol's loading property).
That concludes the list of masteries, but let's now skip ahead to the Barbarian and Warrior to see how we actually use these.
The Weapon Mastery feature, which Barbarians and Fighters (and Monks, though we don't have them here to look at) gain at level 1, allows you to choose a set number of kinds of Simple or Martial weapons of your choice, such as Greataxes and Handaxes, and you benefit from those masteries when you use those kinds of weapons. When you finish a long rest, you can swap these out for different masteries, which will allow you to adjust your capabilities based on the magic weapons your DM drops.
The number of masteries you can have active at a time depends on your level and your class. Barbarians start with two and get a third at 4th level and a fourth at 10th level. Fighters start with three and get a fourth at 4th level and a fifth at 10th level. (I would presume Monks use the Barbarian's progression, as Fighters are the extra-weapon-master class).
So, this should make the feature pretty flexible. I won't get into the nitty-gritty of how these classes interact with the feature, but it will be a core part of the Warrior toolkit.
Weapon Master is a 4th level feat that increases your Strength or Dexterity by 1, and gives you Mastery with one kind of simple or martial weapon that you're proficient with. You can swap which weapon type it is when you finish a long rest as long as the new type is also eligible.
This will let the non-Warriors (most likely Rangers, Paladins, and Rogues, and Battle-Smith Artificers, play with these features,) but leaves them as something special that Warriors get to use for free. A Paladin using Cleave with a Greataxe could be amazing, with more chances to crit-smite.
Finally, let's take a look at the Net, which used to be classified as a weapon. The Net is now a piece of adventuring gear. You still use the Attack action to throw it on an enemy, but rather than an attack roll, they now make a Dexterity save against a DC set by your Dexterity, and the range is now fully 15 feet. Huge or larger creatures automatically succeed. On a failure, the target is restrained, and must use an action to make a Strength (Athletics) check of DC 10 to escape, or a friend within 5 feet can do the same. The net has an AC of 10 and 5 HP, with immunity to bludgeoning, poison, and psychic damage.
Interesting though very reasonable that bludgeoning damage doesn't damage it. The Net is actually, I think, significantly better than it used to be in this form.
Whew! Ok, this is a pretty cool new system that definitely makes weapon choices a lot more interesting. There are one or two I think could be made a little more appealing, and some that might be crazy overpowered, but I like them overall.
We're going to skip the Spell section and move on to the classes, because the spells are largely concerned with the three Mages, and I think the ones introduced here are all class-specific, and will be reviewed as class features.
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