After some discussion me and my group pretty much unanimously accepted that we didn't like damage die scaling with magic weapons instead of the character. I already gave a lot of feedback on this, but since we've completed the Playtest and now want to just play for fun (and we really liked the system) I'm just going to houserule that away.
I'm just going to give extra damage die at some levels for everyone that is at least trained with that weapon, however, there is something I'm not really sure about. Should I do it on levels 4/8/12/16 or 5/9/13/17? The former is the levels that characters are supposed to get magic items, I guess, but I'm not really sure. Especially because spellcasters only get new spell levels at odd character levels so there could be a lot of discrepancy between characters in those even ones.
I think the general assumption of the system is that characters will find or buy the next level of +X items at some point during the level they become available - giving them right at level 4*X is probably a little early, and 4*X+1 probably a little late, but I don't think it is ultimately much of a difference either way.
I believe you are looking at something like this.
The appropriate levels would be 5/9/13/17/21 if assigned at levelup (going off the equipment by level tables), with a latest damage increase being provided near the end of lv20 through some magical boon or divine blessing if you got so far. My version includes a way to have proficiency impact the numbers, but it’s not required (most people however seem to want proficiency to affect damage in some way).
While this makes sense to remove magic weapons being necessary for higher level gameplay, the problem I have is that it makes the level differences more impactful as a result, and those level differences are absolutely arbitrary.
Let's say you're 3rd or 4th level, facing off against one or two 5th level or higher enemies. Not only do those 5th level enemies have significantly higher stats (from the +2 to 4 attributes that other 5th level characters or NPCs possess), but they will also be doing twice as much damage as the PCs based on their extra dice. A difficult battle to be sure, but it then seems silly that when those same PCs are 5th level, facing off against 6th or 7th level enemies, that those enemies are now comparatively weaker than encounters at previous levels simply because they aren't given as much to augment in comparison.
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While this makes sense to remove magic weapons being necessary for higher level gameplay, the problem I have is that it makes the level differences more impactful as a result, and those level differences are absolutely arbitrary.
Let's say you're 3rd or 4th level, facing off against one or two 5th level or higher enemies. Not only do those 5th level enemies have significantly higher stats (from the +2 to 4 attributes that other 5th level characters or NPCs possess), but they will also be doing twice as much damage as the PCs based on their extra dice. A difficult battle to be sure, but it then seems silly that when those same PCs are 5th level, facing off against 6th or 7th level enemies, that those enemies are now comparatively weaker than encounters at previous levels simply because they aren't given as much to augment in comparison.
Wait, but that already happens in the current system. Monsters get signifcantly stronger in the levels players are supposed to get new Potency Runes because the system assumes that they will get them, what I'm doing here is just giving them for free as a representation of their character's progression instead of forcing them to buy said magic items or giving them for free as some sort of convenient loot.
I'm not going to increase enemy damage at those levels, only players get that. The game already accounts for people getting +1 potency at 4th or 5th level, for instance, so creatures of that level already get a significant boost in HP and damage compared to, let's say, 6th to 7th level. What I'm trying to do here is keeping the exact same progression, but without the obligation of having certain magic items.