D&D 5e weapons table Breakdown An over analysis of a table we all love fudging with

Table Of Contents Introduction--PG3 Weapons Table--PG3 Initial Analysis--PG4 Honorable mentions--PG4 Flaws--PG4 Further analysis--PG5 Weapons list explanation--PG5 Simple Melee Weapons--PG5 Simple Ranged Weapons--PG6 Martial Melee Weapons--PG6 Martial Ranged Weapons--PG8 Properties--PG8 "Not a spear fix"--PG9 "There can only be one fix"--PG10 "Don’t throw your cutlery fix"--PG10 "I can’t believe it has a function fix"--PG10

Introduction The purpose of this exercise is to analyze the weapons table in order to have a better understanding of the structure behind it so that we may have as informed of a understanding of how to change/ create homebrew weapons. We will achieve this by first deconstructing the structural identity of the weaponry to understand why each weapon has the stats and properties that it does; to help us with this we have taken the standard alphabetically listed chart and re-organized it. <img src='http://i.imgur.com/ybff0yz.png' style='position:absolute; left: 1px; width:814px'; />

Initial Analysis The first step in our analysis is to take a quick overview of the above table and mark weapons whose design is simulacra of one another; Weapons can be said to be simulacra when they deal the same damage dice and type (1d4, piercing), and have near identical properties. There are many weapons which are identical to one another except for damage type; this is perfectly fine because it provides a mechanical choice in difference as opposed to the weapons mentioned hereafter which illustrate flaws in the table. Flaws in this instance meaning a lack of meaningful mechanical choice when picking among these weapons; the reason I consider this a flaw is because the purpose of the original weapons table was to keep it streamlined and simple and whatever weapon isn’t on the list use a weapon which you could consider it analogous to and just call it the weapon you had originally wanted to use. (There is even an entire section on this in the DMG PG41). So with that spirit in mind let us look at the following flaws, but first a couple of... Honorable Mentions Quarterstaff<spear: The quarterstaff and spear are similar in that they both have the versatile trait and have the same dice code, the difference is that the quarterstaff can’t be thrown and deals a different damage type. The damage type difference is enough to distinguish the 2 weapons, with that said though if we ignore the damage type we see that it’s the exact same weapon except you can’t throw it meaning your potential options is more limited than the spear, considering that both are simple weapons with the same damage amount, there should be something to compensate for that difference otherwise the quarterstaff is flat-out inferior to the spear. Light-Crossbow ≤ Longbow: On the surface they seem like similar weapons except that the Longbow outshines everything in terms or range, also the Light-crossbow has the loading property meaning you’re only making 1shot/round with it; with that said how often can you make 2 or more attacks with a longbow. The reason I’m mentioning this relationship is different then what follows in that unlike the rest this relationship does have a mechanical choice albeit a forced one; the differences being that the longbow breaks the mold in terms of the ranged property being 50% better than the next best weapon (heavy-crossbow) in terms of distance, that and the loading property limiting the numbers of attack you can make per round. This difference is further reinforced mechanically by showing that the more limited weapon is a simple weapon and the more effective one a martial weapon, this is why I say that it is a forced difference. With that being said I want to clear the air a bit by saying I actually like this “forced difference” because it further reinforces the idea of a martial weapon being better than a simple one, something that can’t be said about the first item in our list of flaws. Flaws trident≤Spear: They are the exact same weapon except that the trident is a martial weapon meaning less chars are going to have easy access to it, this also breaks the idea of martial weapons being superior because here are two near identical weapons which begs the question why would you ever get the more expensive one. Glaive=halberd: Pretty self-explanatory, they are the exact same weapon. Dart<Dagger: At first glance these weapons appear similar; despite one being a melee weapon and the other being a ranged weapon they both seem to have nearly identical mechanical functions, that is until you look deeper into the specifics of their few differences. Firstly, it should be noted that because the dart is a ranged weapon any attack made using that weapon with an enemy that is not incapacitated at melee range is made with disadvantage. This alone is enough to relegate the dart as nothing more than an inferior dagger, however when coupled with the fact that the dagger also has the light property effectively allowing it to be used as a 2nd attack as a bonus action, these things coupled together makes the dart wish that it was comparable to the dagger. the best weapon And Finally the pièce de résistance, what if I told you that the lowest damage code for a weapon is 1, what if I also told you that the weapon that deals the least amount of damage was a martial weapon, what if I also told you it has the loading property so meaning you could only take 1 shot with it per round with it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the blowgun. Now you must be thinking as a martial weapon surly it has some redeeming qualities, perhaps like with the longbow it outranges its non-martial weapon competition…. Nope. Except for the dart and net it is the shortest range ranged weapon, it beats out thrown melee weapons because ranged weapons have a better range efficiency, and even then it is outclassed by the javelin. Seriously though of all the weapon designs this one did drop the ball, it feels like the blowgun is supposed to fit its own specific niche and function but the mechanics it has doesn’t lend it the opportunity to do that.

Further analysis Moving on from the negative we can make some generalized observations on the structure of certain properties most notably the range property and dice code. with the ranged property we can note that when the payload is thrown by hand the max range is 3 times the effective range, in comparison when using a mechanism to fire the payload the max range is a 4x multiplier*. With the dice code we can see that there are 5 degrees of variability when it comes to the damage potential of the dice IE how much the max roll is, but there are 6 degrees of variability when it comes to statistical average of said roll. specifically when we look at 1d12 vs 2d6 both have the same max potential damage(12), but the average value of a 2d6 roll is higher than a 1d12 (7 and 6.5 respectively). additionally all 6 of the weapons with the light property are found on the weaker end of the table with half of them having the thrown property, 2/3rd of them being the lowest dice code, one of them has the finesse property, and another which has the loading property is the only martial weapon with the light property. Conversely looking at the 7 weapons with the heavy property all of them exist at the bottom half of the table. Almost the entire weaker half has the reach property, the exception being the heavy-crossbow which is a ranged weapon with the loading property. The stronger half has no additional properties aside from the two-handed property which all heavy weapons have. And finally the versatile weapons exist evenly split between the 1d6 and 1d8 dice code, with the trident/spear weapons having the thrown property. Besides that the only other weapon with reach is the whip which is substantially weaker than the other weapons with reach, but unlike them the whip is not a heavy weapon and also has the finesse property. No weapon within the lower half of the table has the finesse property. The ammunition and loading properties are exclusive to ranged weapons, and finally the special property further distinguishes weapons which may initially seem similar. DnD 5e weapons list re-organized categorically: firstly by weapon category (simple, Martial) followed by dice code, and finally alphabetically. This first table (see above) allows us to quickly rank each weapon among their peers and to notice patterns and correlations between the weapons properties and its dice code. Using this table as a reference we can create A list (see below) which is also categorized by dice code, but now we separate the simple weapons, martial, melee, and ranged weapons from each other in order to: 1) be able to make exact comparisons among weapons within the same weapon type, 2) extrapolate logical "upgrades" between the weapons in different weapon types and properties, 3) to present the list in a way that is analogous to how it was originally presented. Simple Melee Weapons Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Club 1sp 1d4 Bludgeoning Light 2lb. Dagger 2gp 1d4 Slashing Finesse, light, thrown, (range20/60) 1lb. Light Hammer 2gp 1d4 Bludgeoning Light, thrown, (range20/60) 2lb. Sickle 1gp 1d4 slashing Light 2lb. Handaxe 5gp 1d6 Slashing Light, thrown (range 20/60) 2 lb. Javelin 5sp 1d6 Piercing Thrown (range 30/120) 2lb. Mace 5gp 1d6 Bludgeoning - 4lb. Quarterstaff 2sp 1d6 Bludgeoning Versatile(1d8) 4lb. Spear 1gp 1d6 Bludgeoning Thrown, (range20/60), versatile(1d8) 3lb. Greatclub 2sp 1d8 Bludgeoning Two-handed 10lb. Analytic Description Club: compared to the mace has the Light property; this lowers the dice code by one degree, halves the weight, and divides the cost by 50. Dagger: The Dagger compared to the mace has the Finesse property; this halves the weight. Light Hammer: The Light Hammer compared to the club has all the same stats, except that it also has the thrown property; this multiplies the cost by 20. Comparing to the club we can see that the thrown property does not decrease dice code degree. Sickle: The Sickle is the Slashing damage equivalent to the club, but costs 10x as much. Handaxe: The slashing equivalent to the light hammer, except its dice code is one degree higher and costs 2.5x more. Same damage code and price as a mace, half the weight and it can be thrown. Javelin: The Javelin compared to the spear is half the cost, 2/3rds the weight, and an improved throwing range (both effective and max) the weight change between the javelin, spear and quarterstaff are noteworthy, especially when considering the light and thrown properties.

Mace: Your standard bludgeoning weapon; considering that it has no extra properties, we can use this as a standard to compare the other weapons to. Quarterstaff: The Quarterstaff compared to the mace has the versatile property while dividing the cost by 25. important note, adding the versatile property did not change the weight of the weapon like the light property did, though the dice code does change. When two-handing this weapon it is equivalent to the Great club. Spear: Compared to the Quarterstaff the spear also has the thrown property is 3/4 the weight and costs 5x as much. Greatclub: The Greatclub compared to the mace has the two-handed property; this ups code one degree higher, costs 25x less, and is 2.5 times the weight. From here we can infer that the two-handed per increases the dice code by 1 degree. Simple Ranged Weapons Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Dart 5cp 1d4 Piercing Finesse, thrown, (range20/60) 1/4lb. Sling 1sp 1d4 Bludgeoning Ammunition, (range30/120) - Shortbow 25gp 1d6 Piercing Ammunition, (range80/320), two-handed 2lb. Light crossbow 25gp 1d8 Piercing Ammunition, (range80/320), loading, two-handed 5lb. Analytic Description Dart: The most basic hand-thrown (max range is 3x the effective range) ranged weapon, it is inferior to dagger due to being a ranged weapon it has disadvantage on attacks within melee range, Also it lacks the light property. Besides that it is substantially cheaper and 1/4th the weight. Sling: The most basic one handed mechanical (max range is 4x the effective range) ranged weapon, uses stone or metal weights as ammunition. Compared to the Dart we can see that the difference is in damage type and whether or not the payload is propelled by one’s own strength or mechanical means. Shortbow: The basic Bow: two-handed mechanical ranged weapon uses arrows for ammunition. Compared to the Sling the shortbow is two handed and its dice code increases by one degree. Light Crossbow: The standard crossbow: two-handed mechanical ranged weapon uses bolts for ammunition. Compared to the Shortbow the light crossbow gains the loading property; its dice code is one degree higher, is 2.5 times heavier while being the same cost. We can infer that the loading property is what’s increasing the dice code. Martial Melee Weapons Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Whip 2gp 1d4 Slashing Finesse, light 2lb. Scimitar 25gp 1d6 Slashing Finesse, light 3lb. Shortsword 10gp 1d6 Piercing Finesse, light 2lb. Trident 5gp 1d6 Piercing Thrown, (range20/60), versatile(1d8) 4lb. Battleaxe 10gp 1d8 Slashing Versatile(1d10) 4lb. Flail 10gp 1d8 Bludgeoning - 2lb. Longsword 15gp 1d8 Slashing Versatile(1d10) 3lb. Morning star 15gp 1d8 Piercing - 4lb. Rapier 25gp 1d8 Piercing Finesse 2lb. Warpick 10gp 1d8 Piercing - 2lb. War hammer 15gp 1d8 Bludgeoning versatile(1d10) 2lb. Glaive 20gp 1d10 Slashing heavy, reach, two-handed 6lb. Halberd 20gp 1d10 Slashing heavy, reach, two-handed 6lb. Pike 5gp 1d10 Piercing heavy, reach, two-handed 18lb. Greataxe 30gp 1d12 Slashing Heavy, two-handed 7lb. Lance 10gp 1d12 Piercing Reach, special 6lb. Greatsword 50gp 2d6 Slashing Heavy, two-handed 6lb. Maul 10gp 2d6 Bludgeoning Heavy, two-handed 10lb. Analytic Description whip: Compared to the scimitar the whip trades the light property for reach, consequently the dice code goes down and is 12.5 times cheaper. Scimitar: The Scimitar is identical to the shortsword except 1lb. heavier; and 2.5 x more expensive.

Shortsword: The shortsword compared to the dagger losses the thrown property while increasing its dice code, is double the weight and 5x more expensive. The shortsword is identical to the Scimitar except 1 lb. lighter; and 2.5 x cheaper. Trident: The Trident is identical to the spear, except it requires proficiency with martial weapons and is 5 times more expensive, it is inferior to the spear as a whole. Also considering the simple weapon martial weapons relationship between the (cross)bow weapons it should be 1d8(1d10) if melee weapons follow the same schema the ranged weapons do, they dont. Battleaxe: Compared to the Warpick the Battleaxe gains the versatile trait, and is 2x more expensive. The Battleaxe, Longsword, and warhammer are equivalent with the battleaxe being 1/3rd cheaper than the other 2; the warhammer being the lightest. Flail: Like the Mace we will use the flail, morning star, and warpick as a basis to compare the other weapons to as the dice code is the same among all these property-less weapons. It should be noted that the Morningstar is double the weight of the others, while the warpick is the cheapest with the others being either 2x or 3x more expensive. Longsword: Compared to the Warpick the Battleaxe gains the versatile trait, and is 2x more expensive. The Battleaxe, Longsword, and warhammer are equivalent; with the battleaxe being 1/3rd cheaper than the other two, the warhammer being the lightest. Morningstar: Like the Mace we will use the flail, morning star, and warpick as a basis to compare the other weapons to as the dice code is the same among all these property-less weapons. It should be noted that the Morningstar is double the weight of the others, while the warpick is the cheapest with the others being either 2x or 3x more expensive. Rapier: Compared to the warpick the rapier gains the finesse property. The rapier is one dice code degree higher than the shortsword, and is subsequently 2.5x more expensive. Warpick: Like the Mace we will use the flail, morning star, and warpick as a basis to compare the other weapons to as the dice code is the same among all these property-less weapons. It should be noted that the Morningstar is double the weight of the others, while the warpick is the cheapest with the others being either 2x or 3x more expensive. Warhammer: Compared to the Warpick the Warhammer gains the versatile trait, and is 3x more expensive. The Battleaxe, Longsword, and warhammer are equivalent with the battleaxe being 1/3rd cheaper than the other 2, the warhammer being the lightest. Glaive: Compared to the Greatsword the glaive gains the reach perk and subsequently its dice code goes down by 1. It is identical to the halberd and equivalent to the Pike. Halberd: Compared to the Greatsword the Halberd gains the reach perk and subsequently its dice code goes down by 1. It is identical to the glaive and equivalent to the Pike. Pike: Compared to the Greatsword the glaive gains the reach perk and subsequently its dice code goes down by 1. It is the piercing damage version of the heavy reach weapons. Greataxe: Compared to the Warpick, the Greataxe gains the heavy and two-handed properties; subsequently its dice code goes up by two degrees. It is almost identical to the Greatsword and maul but the 2d6 dice code changes the average from 6.5 to 7. Disregarding the slight average buff the maul is still the best because it is 1/3rd or 1/5 the price of the other options. Lance: to the warpick its dice code increased by 2 degrees gains the reach and special perks; costing 2x as much. When looking at the special rules we can see that the weapon does require being two-handed when one isn’t mounted. Taking this into account we can compare the Lance and pike where we can see that the pike is half the price, a dice code degree smaller while the lance has disadvatage at melee range. Greatsword: Compared to the Warpick, the Greataxe gains the heavy and two-handed properties; subsequently its dice code goes up by two degrees. Is almost identical to the Greataxe and maul but the 2d6 dice code changes the average from 6.5 to 7 Disregarding the slight average buff the maul is still the best because it is 1/3rd or 1/5 the price of the other options. Maul: Compared to the Warpick, the Greataxe gains the heavy and two-handed properties; subsequently its dice code goes up by two degrees. It is almost identical to the Greataxe and Greatsword but the 2d6 dice code changes the average from 6.5 to 7. Disregarding the slight average buff the maul is still the best because it is 1/3rd or 1/5 the price of the other options.

Martial Ranged Weapons Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Blowgun 10gp 1 Piercing Ammunition (range25/100), loading 1lb. Hand Crossbow 75gp 1d4 Piercing Ammunition (range30/120), light, loading 2lb. Longbow 50gp 1d8 Piercing Heavy, (range 150/600), two-handed 2lb. Heavy crossbow 50gp 1d10 Piercing Ammunition (range 100/400), heavy, loading, two-handed 18lb. Net 1gp - - Special, thrown (range 5/15) 3lb. Analytic Description Blowgun: Without a doubt the worst weapon on the surface, need martial proficiency to use, has loading so can only make one attack per round, and it does one damage. Has potential when it comes to administering venoms or toxins to the target. Hand Crossbow: comparatively loses the two-handed property, gains the light property, cost 3x as much. This would mean that the hand crossbow should be 2 dice code degrees less than the light crossbow which would make it 1 d4 damage, but the fact that it is a martial weapon increases it back to 1d6. Longbow: two-handed mechanical ranged weapon uses arrows for ammunition. Compared to the shortbow the longbow gains the heavy property, its dice code increases by one degree, and it costs 2x as much. Heavy Crossbow: Two-handed mechanical ranged weapon uses bolts for ammunition. Compared to the light crossbow the heavy crossbow gains the heavy property; its dice code is one degree higher, and costs 2x as much. From this we can infer that the heavy property is providing a dice code increase. When compared to the long bow we can also see that the loading property is also conferring a dice code increase. Net: It is completely different compared to the other weapons due to its special property; the special rule gives a good primer how special weapons for restraining can be structured. Lastly we will be taking a look at the properties themselves in more detail. Properties Ammunition: All weapons with the ammunition property are ranged weapons and have a range property whose max range is 4x its effective range. The property is found on all but the highest damage dice code avg.(d4-d10). Dice code: The dice rolled on a successful hit; It is important to remember that the dice code is a representation of a statistical gradiant. Damage type: the type of damage the weapon deals Finesse: All finesse weapons are melee weapons (not the dart), most have one or more extra property associated with it. All but the highest dice code avg. (d4, d10-d12). Has the finesse property. Almost all of them are martial weapons. Heavy: All heavy weapons are Melee have the two handed property; deals the two highest dice code avg. (d10-2d6), the weaker half have another property associated with them. All heavy weapons are martial weapons Light: All light weapons are on the weaker side of the dice code avg. (d4-d6), and most of them have one or more extra properties. Loading: All weapons with the loading property are ranged weapons. All weapons with the loading property have the ammunition property, they are found on all but the highest dice code avg. (d4-d10) Range: weapons with the range property are either melee weapons or ranged weapons; melee weapons will have the thrown property and ranged weapons and ranged weapons will have the ammunition property. Reach: Almost all reach weapons have the Heavy property. The exception to this (whip) is the only reach weapon with the finesse property. Special: special weapons have unique functions. Thrown: All weapons with the thrown property are Melee weapons (not the dart) and have a range property whose max range is 3x its effective range (except for the javelin who has a 4x max range). They are in the bottom half of the dice code avg.(d4-d6) Two-Handed: All Two-handed weapons are Melee have the Heavy property. Most Deal the two highest dice code avg. (d10-2d6) and are martial weapons, with the weaker half of this subset have another property associated with them. the exception being the Greatclub, which as a simple weapon deals 1d8 instead.

Versatile: All versatile weapons are melee weapons; they sit in the middle of the dice code avg. (d6-d8) with the weaker half having one or more extra properties. Weight: How much the weapon weights (some things are just simple). fixes "not a spear fix" Finally with all the Information and patterns that have been observed in mind we will offer up some possible solutions for the flaws which were previously mentioned and see what changes are the least invasive relative to functional difference we can achieve. The first set of weapons we should look at is the quarterstaff, spear, trident. As noted earlier the quarterstaff feels weaker than the spear as it has nothing to rivals the spears ability to be thrown, and conversely the trident being a martial weapon compared to the spear should feel stronger even though they are the same. Based on this we can assume that there wont be a need to change the spear, instead we should buff the quarterstaff so it becomes a side grade to the spear, and we should do a buff of similar strength though preferably with different type for the trident; the reason a differnt type of buff would be preferred is because it increases variability thus increasing player choice. Also, in order to make a change that serves its goal but is also believable you need to consider the fictional and narrative aspects of the weapon, that is to say the changes you make to the weapons properties should be believable. With all this in mind lets consider any properties which may make logical sense for the quarterstaff to have. a quick overview and we can see the some of the logical ones are Finesse, Light, and reach. If we gave it finesse it would be comparable to the shortsword, and scimitar when held in one hand and would effectively be the bludgeoning alternative to the finesse weapons at 1d6, or when two-handed it is comparable to the rapier with the 2 of them being the only finesse weapons at 1d8 one being piercing the other being bludgeoning. Considering it fictionally the dexterous character with a staff, broom, or other long stick using his ability to outmaneuver his opponent is a fairly common trope( think Aang from the last air bender). This seems like a very viable option. Neither the Light nor reach property seem like viable options mechanically or narratively speaking. the light property would mean that it could be used as a one handed bonus action attack for 1d6 which is not unprecedented as shown by the handaxe, but the quarterstaff doesn’t fit the same profile as the other light weapons which all seem to be hand sized weaponry. Also while being a long weapon the quarterstaff isn’t long enough to confer a reach bonus, also aside from the whip it would break the mold of the weapons with reach having the two-handed and heavy property. So the most logical change would be to add the finesse property, cementing the quarterstaff deeply into a niche of its own. Now looking at the trident we can see that we hit a roadblock if we just try to add a property, as similarly to the Quarterstaff no other property makes sense except finesse, and even then a trident isn’t that functionally different from a spear(point stabby end at enemy and thrust or throw). So instead of adding a property to buff the weapon we're going to need to do something else. looking at the properties it already has we know that it is a martial weapon meaning we expect it to be more functional or effective than a simple weapon, the versatile property meaning its dice code goes up when two-handing, and the thrown property. Now considering that it is a martial weapon, is there any property that the trident already has that can be improved. short answer yes; long answer if we look at the versatile trait really quick it should be clear that the dice code going up even higher doesn’t make much sense so improving that won’t work, this leaves the thrown properties range as the only option. and amazingly there is already a precedent set for a hand thrown weapon which has a better range than the rest, that being the Javelin. Unlike all other hand thrown weapons, the javelin has range that is comparable to certain simple and martial ranged weapons; also the javelin has a 4x max range just as an ammunition based ranged weapon would. Using the javelin as a guide we can try to find a range buff that suits our needs. the easiest fix would be to simply use the same range code that the javelin uses, this if the least invasive option but is seems a tad lack luster so we can try upping the ante a bit like so (40/160), I like the idea of the javelin having the highest thrown range because out of all the thrown weapons it is the only martial one. On the other hand the javelin is unique because of its specific design is to be thrown as opposed to the other weapons which can be thrown as an additional option. So compromising between these 2 ideas we go back to the 3x efficiency but we increase the effective distance, doing this we get either (40/120) or (50/150) It’s kind of convenient that the 40ft effective range has the same max range as some of the ranged weapons, this way we can make a comparison. when we do this it may seem like the trident is encroaching on the hand crossbow as they would be similar martial ranged weapons with the trident having a the advantage of being a martial weapon vs. a ranged weapon very much the same problem with the dagger and dart on top of also having the versatile trait. The difference to notice is that the hand-crossbow has the light property and as such can be taken as a bonus action. so compared to the javelin the trident would have only slightly better effective range, this buff seems pretty weak especially when we consider just how much stronger the longbow compared to the other ranged weapons, as the martial thrown weapon the trident should have a similar effect, that’s why i prefer (50/150) it has a clear range advantage over its competition, it also has an interesting synergy with the longbow, that being that the tridents max range would then be the longbows effective range.

The only downside to this is that the max range may seem absurdly high, but when you take into consideration that the world record for distance thrown with a javelin is almost 350ft, less than half of that for equipment that’s not modern seems decently fair. Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Quarter staff 2sp 1d6 Bludgeoning Finesse, Versatile(1d8) 4lb. Trident 5gp 1d6 Piercing Range (50/150), Versatile(1d8) 4lb. "there can only be one fix" As the name implies, when it comes to the glaive/halberd there design and function are much too similar, for this reason one of them will need to be voted off the island. the other option is giving one of them finesse but that doesn’t make much sense narratively, these are large weapons which are difficult to maneuver. That is unless we don’t take glaive to mean the historical weapon, but instead we interpret it as the glaive found in pop culture A.K.A the twin blade. if this is the case then we would remove the reach property and add the finesse property. Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Glaive 20gp 1d10 slashing Finesse, Heavy, Two-Handed 4lb. I leave the choice in the hands of each DM. "Don’t throw your cutlery fix" So how can we go about improving the dart so that it is on par with the Dagger? Before we continue a now important topic that we've for the most part skipped is cost; cost of weapons for the most part is semi arbitrary as since inevitable you will have the gold to buy any item you could want regardless of your proficiency or lack thereof, or even its availability. What is important to note though are a couple of simple analytic conclusions anyone who has gotten this deep in should have picked up. Namely weapons with more properties tend to be more expensive, martial weapons tend to be more expensive, weapons get more expensive the higher the dice code. Besides that, weapons which are primarily used for throwing such as the javelin or dart are cheaper because you are expected to lose them faster, a process similar t buying ammunition. so keeping its' cheaper price in the back of our heads let’s try to see how we can improve it. Being a ranged weapon, its naturally going to have a disadvantage in melee so perhaps in order to compensate for that we increase its potency. There are 2 main ways of going about this, we can improve the range like we did with the trident, or we can increase the dice code. increasing the range to that of the javelin seems like a good idea, further cementing the idea that these are expendable weapons. Increasing the dice code to 1d6 makes just makes it an inferior javelin. The minor buff of increasing its range to (30/120) seems like a logical way to split them apart, still it feels lack luster. Looking back at how we increased the tridents range property, after initially trying to give t the same efficiency as the javelin we instead reverted to the 3x efficiency and increase our effective range in a way that was analogous to the efficiency change. With all this in mind I have settled on altering the dart as follows. Name cost Dice Code Damage type Properties weight Dart 5cp 1d4 piercing Finesse, Range (40/120), thrown 1/4lb. giving it a a large effective range while keeping the max range similar puts the dart at a very good niche in between all the other thrown weapons most of whom would out class it if we simply increased it to (30/120). And finally the “I can't believe it has a function" All things considered i find this fix fairly easy, when i think of the blow gun I think of a stealthy weapon used to deliver poison to people silently. It seems that this is what most people try to do with it in one way or another, but the lack of definition in how that functions leaves this weapon feeling pointless when looked at from a purely mechanical perspective. So given that we will be creating a special property for the blowgun to better define what its function is. In order to do this well we should first read the 2 special properties already present in the original table. We can see that in the case of the lance the special rules indicates situations where the lance is less functional than normal; meanwhile the net special rules give a detailed description of how the net functions as it has no damage based applicability in combat. We want a special rule that is structured similarly to these, something like: Blowgun special property The blowgun is a deathly quiet weapon which shoots out hard to detect needles; while in stealth behind cover it is possible to attack an enemy with this weapon and remain undetected. In order for this to happen you roll a stealth check when you make the attack regardless of whether or not you hit; any creatures who can see the trajectory of the needle when fired makes a perception check against the stealth check you rolled. On a fail they don’t see the needle, on a success they spot where the projectile was fired from but don’t necessarily see you. Additionally if a creature being hit is not looking at you it makes a perception check against the stealth roll. On a fail he doesn’t notice the attack, and on a success the target knows that he has been attacked but not where the attack came from.