More Dark Souls WEAPON MADNESS for 5e D&D

Tonight we are going into mega-crunch levels of madness! Bring out your pocket calculator because this is getting fiddly!

Nah, not really. In fact this is quite easy, but probably too fiddly for D&D 5e.

Take this as a though exercise.

I wouldn't use as a replacement for the actual rules, but maybe as an option for some players. Why not? If you do the math, you'll see they are getting +1, +2 damage at most...

But I digress.

Here is the deal: we are not messing with "to hit" bonus for now. Just weapon damage.

As you know, in modern D&D, your damage bonus is based on your Strength (or Dexterity, but let's start with Strength): subtract ten, divide by two, round down, and add to damage. So a 1d4 weapon in the hands of a Strength 16 or 17 fighter deals 1d4+3 damage.

I suggested some weapons should get twice this bonus in GURPS D&D, but we'll leave that aside for now.

My suggestion is something less extreme, although a bit crunchier: instead of  subtract ten from ability and dividing by two, some weapons will divide your bonus by three or four, or even multiply it by 2/3 or 3/4.

Dark Souls calls this "scaling":

The Parameter Bonus rating, also known as Scaling, is a gameplay mechanic in Dark Souls. It indicates the level of bonus damage one can do with a weapon, based on the associated stats. This rating can be S, A, B, C, D or E (in order from most to least bonus for the associated skill). Strength and Dexterity will increase the physical damage...

So, an "Strength A" weapon will benefit greatly from Strength, while a "Strength E" weapon will barely benefit from it.

In this regard, Dark Souls is more interesting than 5e: depending on your "build", you might favor a greataxe over a greatsword, for example, something that is near impossible for the 5e fighter (although a greataxe might be slightly better for a barbarian).

Let's play with the concept.

We will use the letter "C" for the usual bonus to damage (i.e., Strength-10/2), and add some new possiblites:

	Letter	Scaling	Formula
	A	0.75	Ability-10*3/4
	B	0.66	Ability-10*2/3
	C	0.50	Ability-10*1/2
	D	0.33	Ability-10*1/3
	E	0.25	Ability-10*1/4

Complicated? Not that much. Most weapons get a C, which means Strength 16 adds a +3 bonus... But if you have a Strength 16 fighter with a B weapon, he gets a +4 bonus instead, while a D weapon will only give him +2.

Here is a nice table showing the exact numbers, up until that Barbarian with Strength 24:

A B C D E 8 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 9 -1 -1 -1 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 11 1 1 0 0 0 12 1 1 1 1 0 13 2 2 1 1 1 14 3 3 2 1 1 15 4 3 2 2 1 16 4 4 3 2 1 17 5 5 3 2 2 18 6 5 4 3 2 19 7 6 4 3 2 20 7 7 5 3 2 21 8 7 5 4 3 22 9 8 6 4 3 23 10 9 6 4 3 24 10 9 7 5 3

Notice that the "C" column is the "ability modifier" you're used to.

So, let's get some of the worst weapons from 5e: the mace, the clubs, flail, morningstar, war pick and trident. Give them a "B" rating and, voilà: now the barbarian will pick the morningstar over the rapier!

Add great to the list... and now a Strength 20 fighter will pick the greataxe over the greatsword!

But wait - you might say - I actually LIKE my barbarians using rapiers, and I WANT the greatsword to be better than the greataxe!

Well, here is the deal: you can add Dexterity scaling to the weapon in addition to Strength scaling!

Say, for example, that you add "Strength C / Dexterity E" for all finesse weapons, all swords, and spears. The "finesse" trait just mean you can switch the two around (Dexterity C / Strength E).

Which means: the Strength 16 warrior will usually prefer a morning-star over a rapier. BUT if his Dexterity is 13, both weapons will have equal damage. If you have BOTH Strength 16 AND Dexterity 16, the rapier (or spear) is definitely better. And so on.

Of course, at this point you might be picking up you calculator...

Some perspective on damage

If you haven't read this, take a look.

In short: the +1 or +2 bonuses to damage these rules will give you are a lot smaller than they look, and only barbarians will get a few +3s.

Also, keep in mind that in most cases 1d6+4 is worse than 1d8+3 because of critical hits, specially for barbarians.

What's the point?

This solves a decent amount of problems:

- Does away with "useless" weapons.
- Creates more interesting, varied weapons,
- Strength is always useful, even with finesse weapons.
- Dexterity is useful for all fighters - even if you have high Strength.
- Odd abilities (11, 13, 15, 17, 19...) gain some utility.
- Encourages stronger characters to pick heavy weapons, and dexterous characters to pick lighter ones.
- More specifically, monks get additional reasons to use lighter weapons, barbarians get additional reasons to use heavier weapons, and fighters will be encouraged to use different weapons in accordance to their specific build,s most of which will be very flavorful.

My head hurts from the math! Let's see some actual examples!

Mace, Greatclub (Strength B)
There is little to no reason to use these weapons in 5e: the quarterstaff is versatile, in addition to being cheaper/lighter. With these rules, anyone with Strength 13+ will pick one of them over the quarterstaff.

Sickle (Strength C / Dexterity E)
You'd usually pick a handaxe over a sickle, but if you're dexterous enough, this weapon might be a better choice.

Greataxe (Strength B) 
Once reserved to barbarians, now the greataxe is useful for anyone with Strength 13+. Because of how critical hits work, the greatsword has an almost identical damage, unless your Strength is REALLY high.

Greatsword (Strength C / Dexterity E)
Now the greatsword requires good Dexterity for maximum effect. Nice!

Variations

As you can see, I used only the letters B, C and E. You can easily add "Strength D/Dexterity D" to some weapons that require an equal amount of Strength and Dexterity, and even "Strength A" for GIANT weapons.

Maybe SIMPLE weapons would have Strength D as an option, to allow Strength 9 wizards to cause damage without a penalty.

Two weapon fighting? Maybe Strength letters get degraded by one level in the main hand, two levels in the off hand... Or something. The ideal is that Dexterity scaling allows dexterous characters to gain more benefits form dual wielding.

Ranged Weapons? Let us give them some Strength scaling, shall we? Or try this.

In Dark Souls, some weapons scale with "mental" abilities. A nice addition to spellcasters! Or check this out.

The 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 progression is arbitrary: you could easily use something less extreme (for example, 0.7, 0.6, 05., 0.4, 0.3).

Here is a smoother table if you want it. I think I actually prefer this one:

	A	B	C	D	E
8	-1	-1	-1	-1	-1
9	-1	-1	-1	0	0
10	0	0	0	0	0
11	1	1	0	0	0
12	1	1	1	1	1
13	2	2	1	1	1
14	3	2	2	2	1
15	3	3	2	2	1
16	4	4	3	2	2
17	5	4	3	3	2
18	6	5	4	3	2
19	6	5	4	4	3
20	7	6	5	4	3
21	8	7	5	4	3
22	8	7	6	5	4
23	9	8	6	5	4
24	10	8	7	6	4

Dark Souls Weapons in D&D 5e (and some random thoughts)

Dark Souls has some amazing, flavorful weapons, but it is hard to choose the right one, since it depends so much of your "build".

D&D 5e is way simpler in that aspect: if you're a halfling, you wouldn't want to use heavy weapons in most circumstances, which is pretty intuitive. Of course, 5e is far from balanced: for example, there is no reason to use a trident over a spear, RAW. Unless you find a magic trident, of course.

Dark Souls also has one interesting aspect that is lacking in D&D: although some weapons are better for high Strength characters while other favor high Dexterity characters, there is little reason to have both high Strength AND high Dexterity... Which makes little sense in the real world, as most martial arts obviously use both. Not that Dark Souls is particularly "realistic" in that regard, mind you.

Another cool thing that 5e is missing is scaling weapons. Sure, they aren't as necessary as in 4e, but it can be fun to see a PC carry a sword for several levels and discover new aspects from time to time. On the other hand, merely going from +2 to +3 is a bit bland and feels a bit unearned. 

Combine these two problems creates an interesting solution: weapons that scale with abilities.

I can see at least a few advantages to such idea:

- Make abilities more useful, less "dump stats".

- As a consequence, it presentes an alternative to feats if you aren't using them (a fighter with GWF gains a significant boost, for example). 

- Warriors gain benefits form being both strong AND dexterous, like in real life.

- "Unlocking" new aspects of the weapon is cool and feels earned.

- The PCs gain a deeper bond with weapons that they have for a long time, and feel more special for using them ("most fighters cannot wield the power of the demon-sword"!).

- It also allows PCs to find weapons they cannot wield, giving them a sense of progression when they do.

- It makes spellcasters using weapons a bit more viable in some cases (sorceres and warlocks come to mind).

- You can use interesting "combos", boosting one ability with potions or spells to make better use of your weapons.

- You can use it to create some types of weapons 5e is missing (the main gauche, oversized weapons, the str-based longbow, the finesse great-sword or spear, etc.). Although this is probably left to a different post...

Let us try some examples.

BTW, most of these weapons should be at least very rare and require attunement.

Arstor's Spear

This spear has the finesse trait. If both your Strength and your Dexterity are 13 or greater, you gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. The bonus is raised to +2 of both are 15 or greater, and +3 if both are 17 or greater. Whenever you slay a creature with this weapon, you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage you dealt to it.

Notes: if you think the requirements are too high, try some variant such as the sum of Strength and Dexterity, or the sum of one of those ability scores with the modifier of the second ability. In fact, I'm somewhat tempted to remake the whole combat system based on this idea.

Black Knight Greatsword

This massive greatsword weights 18 pounds and requires Strength 15 to use effectively. It's base damage is 2d8. You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon. This bonus is raised to +2 if your your Strength is 17 or greater, and +3 if  are 19 or greater.

When you hit a demon with this weapon, it takes an additional 1d6 damage of the weapon’s type. This additional damage is 2d6 if your your Strength is 17 or greater, and 3d6 if  are 19 or greater.

Notes: "double dipping" on Strength might look overpowered, but remember, this is a magic weapon, and if you're enforcing encumbrance it has at least one balancing factor. Besides, huge weapons are cool.

Channeler's Trident

This trident has the finesse trait. While attuned, you can use your Intelligence ability instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of melee attacks using that weapon, and the weapon's damage die becomes a d8 (d10 if used with two hands). You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon if your Dexterity is 13 or greater.

Notes: yeah, it's basically Shillelagh with a twist. For the Dark Souls fans: yes, I would DEFINITELY add a "little dance" special power to boost your allies.

Okay, now let us see one example I got from Braggadouchio, on Reddit  (source):

Lifehunt Scythe

Weapon (Scythe), rare (requires

attunement)

You gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls

made with this magic weapon. In addition, while you

are attuned to this weapon, when you hit a target, you

can force the target to make a Constitution saving 

throw equal to 8 + your Proficiency bonus + your 

Charisma modifier. On a failed save, the target's 

maximum hit points are reduced by the amount of 

damage you dealt with your attack.

Once you use this feature 3 times, you cannot use it

again until you finish a short or long rest.

Notes: I'm not the author, follow the link above for more cool stuff. One interesting aspect here is that you can use you Charisma not to attack or damage, but to make the saving throws harder. Anyone can use this, but a Charisma character does it better.

Other ideas and variations:

In  Dark Souls, you can use special materials and monster parts to upgrade your weapons. It is a good alternative to weapons that scale with level.

Likewise, saying "you cannot use the troll's cool hammer because it requires Strength 17" is way better than saying "you cannot use the troll's cool hammer because it can only be used by trolls".

Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom have enough uses already; you don't need too many weapons that scale with them.

Magic weapons can give you proficiency even if you're not proficient, provided you have "Intelligence 15", for example. It's cool to have a wizard that can use no swords other than his special sword.

It might be a good idea to add a new weapon trait such as "Secondary ability: Intelligence", meaning you could add half your Intelligence to damage. Probably too fiddly...

Dark Souls weapons may break or lose some power if you use them for too long; breakage in D&D might make things too fiddly, but some "short rest" or "long rest" powers might do the trick.

Encumbrance is an important aspect of Dark Souls; huge, heavy weapons would be a cool addition to D&D, SPECIALLY if you give a little boost to unencumbered characters. SAy, +1 AC if you're carrying less than half your encumbrance.

In conclusion...

"Dark Souls style" weapons can add some variety and complexity to your D&D games. This stuff is really easy to do; you can just pick the weapons you like in some Dark Souls wiki and adapt it to D&D.

UPDATE: I released a book (5e Manual of Arms: Weapons) that deals with similar issues. See below!

---

To support this blog, buy my books on DTRPG! Try my 5e Manual of Arms: Weapons or any of my books. If you prefer comic books, check The Displaced series. Many titles are free!

Alternatively, click here or on the DriveThruRPG banner on the right. Any shopping you do through this link - even form other authors - helps us!

In addition, there are many other ways to support this blog! Share and recommend it, leave comments, etc. 


Thank you all for your audience and support!

D&D 5e fighting styles comparison: Tasha's Cauldron

This is a follow-up for my original post analyzing fighting styles from the PHB. I don't find much stuff in Tasha's Cauldron to interest me, but I like analyzing fighting styles, so here we go.

There is not much to say about these styles. They are mostly straightforward or open too many possibilities to analyze properly (for example, Blessed Warrior is good if you pick the right cantrips, but there are a lot of cantrips to choose from).

Some of them are "half feats" of some sort. For example, Blessed Warrior and Druidic Warrior are just weaker versions of Magic Initiate, and Superior Technique is a weaker Martial Adept. They allow you to change cantrips and techniques from time to time, which is nice.

This would be a good idea, IMO, if only to give more flexibility to "warrior" types - except that Tasha also introduces the Fighting Initiate feat, which only gives you one fighting style! This is baffling. And it is probably a horrible feat in most circumstances - except maybe for some Archery or Barbarian "build"

Oh well. Let's see what the new fighting styles are about.

Copyright WoTC.

Blessed Warrior (Paladin Only). Gives you a couple of cleric cantrips. This is a great choice if you have no cleric in your party, so you can get Guidance and Spare the Dying. Alternatively, you can get some ranged attack options (e.g. Toll the Dead from Xanathar's Guide to Everything).

A decent fighting style; I don't see why this must be limited to paladins, as I can easily imagine fighters, etc., being "blessed" without needing leveled spells - and having Guidance and Spare the Dying would be great for a "leader" archetype.

Blind Fighting. You have blindsight (10 feet), even when blinded etc., and can see invisible creatures unless they are hidden. Very flavorful, but very situational. Overall, I wouldn't recommended it.

Druidic Warrior (Ranger Only). Gives you a couple of druid cantrips. Exactly the same deal... Guidance still a good choice, maybe you can get Shillelagh or Magic Stone to get a magic weapon or ranged spell attack early on. But the Archery style is hard to beat.

Again, I can see a "green knight" or Paladin (Ancients) as a druidic warrior, so not sure why this would be restricted to rangers.

Interception. When a creature you can see hits a target that is within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.

This is comparable to the Protection fighting style. As I've said, "very flavorful, but has some heavy downsides".... "it uses your reaction - and at higher levels, monster damage is usually divided among several attacks, and this will only work against one. You also have to be within 5 feet of your ally - which limits its utility."

But this one has some nice scaling with proficiency, doesn't require a shield and you can (arguably) defend yourself with it.

Overall, not great, a bit better than protection IMO, but depends on who you're fighting. Disadvantage will usually cut your chances by half, so against strong enemies protection is better.

Superior Technique. You get a Battlemaster maneuver and a d6 superiority die. Well, this is good. Battlemaster maneuvers are nice and you can surely find something useful. A solid choice, even for Battlemasters - since their superiority die will arguably scale with level. Not that Battlemasters need the boost when compared to, say, champions or barbarians, but that's neither here nor there.

Thrown Weapon: Allows you to draw and throw a weapon as an attack, and thrown weapons deal +2 damage. This is a powerful style that makes "thrown weapons" builds viable. Get a few daggers or javelins and now you're deadly at a distance without needing Dex... Nice!

This is definitely a "cinematic" option - in real life, I'm willing to bet that a dagger held in hand is ten times more deadly than thrown dagger - but it fits the genre. You still need a decent number of weapons to avoid running out of ammo!

Notice that you can attack with a shortsword with one hand and throw a dagger with the other, for example, making it a viable way of "two weapon fighting".

Unarmed Fighting. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 + Str damage, or 1d8 if you don't have a shield  or weapon. And at start of your turn, you can deal 1d4 damage to a creature grappled by you. This is a great option, making unarmed attacks become a viable tactic, at least until magic weapons come into play. 

Notice that the 1d4 damage does not require a bonus action, making it useful even for monks, and folks that have the Tavern Brawler feat.

--- 

Overall...

Some solid options in there. Not is stronger than say, Archery, but they are all pretty strong except for Blind Fighting. The feat is a bad idea, but other than that these are some good fighting styles. Thrown Weapon and Unarmed Fighting are good for specific builds.

And it is nice that warriors get some love, since we already have approximately a bazillion spells.

I have considered writing a new Manual of Arms with new fighting styles - so far, I have about 20, which is not enough for a book. Maybe if I add a few stances and feats... 

Well, let me know if you like the idea.

---
Support this blog!

To support this blog, buy my books on DTRPG! Try my 5e Manual of Arms: Weapons, 5e Manual of Arms: Armor & Shields,or any of my books. Some titles are free!

Alternatively, click here or on the DriveThruRPG banner on the right. Any shopping you do through this link - even from other authors - helps us, without costing you a penny more!

In addition, there are many other ways to support this blog! Share and recommend it, leave comments, etc. 

Thank you all for your audience and support!

Simple scaling weapons and armor (ability overflow edition)

I've written about this before: here and here.

This is just a simplification, but I think I like it better than using tables. It is meant for 5e, but it was originally imagined for another system I'm writing (which is a simplification of 5e).

For the purposes of this post, we're using the expression "ability surplus" to mean ability-10. 

Score	Surplus
10	0
11	1
12	2
13	3
14	4
15	5
16	6
17	7
...	...etc.

We have two sample PCs to test this system.

Joe has Strength 13 and Dexterity 16 (i.e., an ability surplus of 3 for Str and 6 for Dex). 

Jane has Strength 18 and Dexterity 12  (i.e., an ability surplus of 8 for Str and 2 for Dex). 

Let's go!

Weapons

Most weapons add 50% of ability surplus (Strength or Dexterity) to damage. This is practically identical to what 5e does.

Weapons that use both Strength and Dexterity may add a combined 60% (minimum 20% each).

Composite bows, for example, might add 30% of each to damage. Both Joe and Jane would get a +3 bonus:

Joe: 30% of 9 = 2.7
Jane: 30% of 10 = 3.

Lets say heavy slings use 40% Strength and 20% Dexterity instead. Joe gets +2, but Jane gets +4:

Joe: 40% of 3 plus 20% of 6 = 2.4
Jane: 40% of 8 plus 20% of 2 = 3.6.

Turn the nobs a bit here and there and you'll realize you have endless possibilities. For example:

- Two-handed weapons has a maximum of 70% instead of 60%. They usually add +10% Strength.
- Versatile weapons used with two hands may add 10% Dexterity instead (I'm thinking quarterstaves, spears...).
- Off-hand weapons add up to 40% instead of 50%, and must use at least 10% Dexterity.
- Thrown weapons always need more Strength, ranged weapons more Dexterity.
- Magic weapons may add some Intelligence, Charisma or Wisdom to the mix.
- etc. etc.

Art by Rick Troula

Armor

Remember this system?

Here is something that can be even simpler. And more granular at the same time.

You add 100% of your Dexterity surplus to AC. Unarmored Joe has AC 16, unarmored Jane has AC 12.

However, that assumes you're carrying nothing. If you are carrying 20% of your encumbrance limit*, you can only add 80% of your Dexterity surplus to AC.

(*your encumbrance limit depends on what rules you're using... slots, pounds, etc. But you can think of it this way: you have a number of slots equal to Str, and +1 to AC takes one slot. So, if you have Str 15, you could carry three pieces of armor [+3 AC] and still add 80% of you Dexterity surplus to AC, but only if you're carrying nothing else).

Here is where things get interesting. Joe, who is quicker, gets more benefits form travelling light. Jane, who is a lot stronger, would benefit more from armor, since it would be less encumbering.

Natural armor is probably exempt, and magic armor is lighter.

The system only "breaks" if you're very agile and very weak: armor will actually hinder your AC. But this already happens in 5e. And, well, sounds quite sensible.

Of course, you do not have to recalculate AC every time you pick up a new item... But when you do, players will quickly realize that encumbrance matters.

UPDATE:

Here is another way to do it: use a table. This one, for example. So, if Jane has an "Strength B, Dexterity F" Greataxe, she adds +7 to damage.

	A	B	C	D	E	F
10	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	1	0.8	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.2
12	2	1.6	1.2	1	0.8	0.4
13	3	2.4	1.8	1.5	1.2	0.6
14	4	3.2	2.4	2	1.6	0.8
15	5	4	3	2,5	2	1
16	6	4.8	3.6	3	2.4	1.2
17	7	5.6	4.2	3.5	2.8	1.4
18	8	6.4	4.8	4	3.2	1.6
19	9	7.2	5.4	4.5	3.6	1.8
20	10	8	6	5	4	2