Changing Weapon Proficiencies

[Val'bryn2]

Hello all, I was thinking through a few ideas the past few days, and one thing that never really made sense is the way weapon proficiencies are handled, even if it's a weapon that should be pretty prevalent in your culture (I'm looking at you, Monk weapons), you're going to have to bend over backwards to use it.

What do you think of the idea of giving characters with Martial Weapon Proficiency the ability to choose 4 weapon groups they are proficient with, Simple Weapon Proficiency gets 2 weapon groups, and if you're proficient in any particular weapons listed in your class write up, you get those added on?

[Saethori]

Honestly, weapon proficiencies have been one of the most annoying limiting factors I've ever seen for character design. A character concept might desire a given exotic weapon for flavor and fluff, but often they cannot mechanically justify the loss of a feat.

This system does seem like it would allow use of those exotic weapons more regularly, since they could simply pick the appropriate weapon group, and also gain use of effectively similar weapons as well.

[Johnnycat93]

Either make weapon proficiency worth a trait or remove them entirely.

[Cyrad]

In my campaign:

A trait gives you proficiency in one exotic weapon or a weapon group of martial weapons.

A feat gives you proficiency in a weapon group of exotic weapons or all martial weapons.

[Val'bryn2]

I don't want to remove them completely, some of it I can see as justified. For example, in a book series I enjoy, one character, from a horse nomad culture that had never really taken to the sword, was challenged to a duel with the weapon of choice being swords because he was thought to be unfamiliar with the weapon.

[the David]

Val'bryn2 wrote:

I don't want to remove them completely, some of it I can see as justified. For example, in a book series I enjoy, one character, from a horse nomad culture that had never really taken to the sword, was challenged to a duel with the weapon of choice being swords because he was thought to be unfamiliar with the weapon.

That's not how duels are supposed to go. From what I can tell, the challenged party should choose the weapon. This way, you'll think twice before challenging someone to a duel.

From Wikipedia:
"In most cases the challenged party had the choice of weapons with swords being favored in many parts of continental Europe and pistols in the United States and Great Britain."

But that doesn't invalidate what you said about duels. In a way, it adds a different layer of tactics. Can you imagine nobles studying exotic weapons just so they can win from any challenger stupid enough to challenge them, then secretly retraining to another exotic weapon as soon as they won the duel just to keep the advantage?

[Java Man]

I've been tinkering with a system that would shift weapon categories by culture, this would also replace racial weapon proficiencies. So for cliche elves, longsword, longbow and shortbow become simple weapons, curve blade becomes martial. But flail, lance, greataxe, and heavy flail become exotic. Generic Viking guys might be bastard sword martial, battle axe, longsword and handaxe simple. Rapier exotic, crossbows martial.lance exotic.

[Val'bryn2]

the David wrote:

Val'bryn2 wrote:

I don't want to remove them completely, some of it I can see as justified. For example, in a book series I enjoy, one character, from a horse nomad culture that had never really taken to the sword, was challenged to a duel with the weapon of choice being swords because he was thought to be unfamiliar with the weapon.

That's not how duels are supposed to go. From what I can tell, the challenged party should choose the weapon. This way, you'll think twice before challenging someone to a duel.

From Wikipedia:
"In most cases the challenged party had the choice of weapons with swords being favored in many parts of continental Europe and pistols in the United States and Great Britain."

But that doesn't invalidate what you said about duels. In a way, it adds a different layer of tactics. Can you imagine nobles studying exotic weapons just so they can win from any challenger stupid enough to challenge them, then secretly retraining to another exotic weapon as soon as they won the duel just to keep the advantage?

Note I said it happened in a novel. That point about the challenged party choosing the weapons was eventually decided upon, whereupon he took up the sword and proved that yes, culturally, he wasn't supposed to know how to use it. He, personally, however, had trained EXTENSIVELY with a sword.

[Lost In Limbo]

Running Mummy's Mask and having all the native Osirian NPCs have EWP: Khopesh really irked me. I ended up giving them free proficiency and switched EWP out for something else.

I definitely recommend modifying proficiency for "native" weapons if playing outside the standard Fantasy-Medieval-Europe zone.