{"id":4369,"date":"2025-06-24T19:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T02:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/?p=4369"},"modified":"2025-06-24T19:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T02:30:46","slug":"dd-5e-5-5e-rules-weapon-mastery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/heroes\/2025\/06\/dd-5e-5-5e-rules-weapon-mastery.html","title":{"rendered":"D&D 5.5e Rules – Weapon Mastery!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KnowPart of an ongoing series of 5e (2014)<\/strong> and 5.5e (2024)<\/strong> Rules notes.<\/a> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Something I often joke about here is how D&D is\u00a0not<\/em> a physics simulator, and, in fact, is a very mediocre tactical combat simulator.\u00a0 All games, more or less, are, both because drama is more exciting than reality, and because reality is really hard to simulate<\/p>\n

One of the things that D&D 5e (2014) brought to the mix was the KISS principle. Gone was to be the crunchity-crunch-crunch of multiple bonuses and penalties on rolls from the 3.5e period.\u00a0 Gone was the slick but somewhat joyless tactical detail of 4e. Instead,\u00a0 5e tried to keep it simple\u00a0while at the same time<\/em> making it fun.<\/p>\n

By and large, not a bad job. Lots of abstractions, lots of handwaving about Advantage and Disadvantage, pretty good show.<\/p>\n

\"dnd<\/a>5.5e (2024) for all its plusses and minuses, added a new element to combats by somewhat-popular demand — and which has turned out to be a lot more controversial than I would have expected.<\/p>\n

Weapon Mastery!<\/h1>\n

A Longsword does 1d8 slashing damage.<\/p>\n

A Flail does 1d8 bludgeoning damage.<\/p>\n

A Morning Star does 1d8 piercing damage.<\/p>\n

Are these the same?<\/p>\n

\"weapons\"<\/a>
Damage is damage, amirite?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, obviously not. A flail slams weights against its target.\u00a0 A longsword slices and dices (and pierces, but we’ll ignore that for D&D). A morning star pokes little pokey bits backed by weight into its victim. The damage type is different — bludgeoning vs slashing vs piercing — but there is very, very little in the rules were that actually means anything (skeletons being vulnerable to bludgeoning weapons is the only thing that comes to mind).<\/p>\n

Abstraction is useful, even necessary, to deal with real-world details that could easily overwhelm.\u00a0 But too much abstraction is equally problematic. I once abandoned a super-heroes gaming system because there was no mechanical, in-game difference between someone attacking with a telekinetic blast, jet of flame, or lightning bolt. The same, to an extent, is true for weapons and their use.\u00a0 If a flail = a longsword = a morning star in every way that counts except for your character picture — is that too<\/em> much abstraction?<\/p>\n

5.5e says, “Yeah, let’s see what we can do about that.”<\/p>\n

Weapon Mastery?<\/h1>\n

The Weapon Mastery rules consist of two parts: What It Is and How To Get It<\/p>\n

What Is Weapon Mastery?<\/h2>\n

Weapon Mastery is an additional aspect to weapons that certain characters can get by becoming “masters” of that particular weapon and learning to use its more interesting features.<\/p>\n

If you look at the Weapons<\/a> table, you can see the Mastery<\/strong> column that indicates how a trained user of the weapon can do something extra. That something extra, as spelled out by the rules<\/a>, includes (with some weapon examples):<\/p>\n