Weapon Focus groups

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Beekeeper

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Original poster
Apr 22, 2024
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I'd like to suggest grouping up the weapons benefitting from the feat by type. To serve as an example:
  • Swords (shortsword, longsword, bastard sword, greatsword, rapier),
  • Axes (handaxe, battleaxe, greataxe, dwarven waraxe, light pick, heavy pick),
  • Polearms (halberd, scythe, short spear, long spear, tridents),
  • Bows,
  • Crossbows,
  • Missiles (slings and all non-exotic thrown weapons),
  • Bludgeons (light and heavy maces, light and heavy hammers, maul, warhammer, club, morningstar, flails),
  • Simple (all melee weapons of the simple category).
  • All Exotic weaponry could remain as single picks to underline their uncommon nature and a unique fighting style tied to them.

Reasoning: Weapon Focus as is enforces strict specialization in a single weapon, which limits the flexibility of the character who takes the feat. It is common to see martial characters carrying several different weapons to adapt to different kinds of enemies, some carry one handed weapons with shields as well as two-handed weapons and switch according to the situation. Grouping up the weapons, like in the example above, would make the selection of a preferred weapon less difficult - and less punishing if an opportunity to upgrade showed. Right now the weapon upgrades, except going from dull to regular iron, are tied to dungeons and are dictated by RNG. The chances to find the specific weapon one uses and also having useful enchantments are slim. On top of that, a good longsword will have people lining up for it and driving the price well into the thousands because of the high demand and aforementioned rarity, while hardly anyone will be interested in a pick or a flail.

Of course, I'm aware there are balance concerns that require a perspective that is wider than my own.
 
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I like dual-wielding asymmetrically for the sake of an aesthetic I'm chasing, and it'd be nice to achieve that aesthetic without willingly handicapping my AB potential. A less broad solution would be to let people pick 2 or even 3 weapons when they select Weapon Focus/Spec/Crit so they can focus their character more around a few favoured weapons rather than just one.

Another idea I've had is further reducing the off-hand AB penalty if a character is wielding a weapon in their off-hand several size classes below their own.

EDIT: A nice additional category would be for your original suggestion would be class weapon proficiency. For example, having Weapon Proficiency (Rogue) would allow you to get Weapon Focus (Rogue).
 
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I do like the suggestion, but maybe this feature should be left only to strictly martial classes (fighter and wardens for sure, but think carefully if it needs to be given to all +1/level bonus attack classes) to signify their intensive training with all weapons of war, while people who have only a relative martial training do instead become specialized in at best "their favorite weapon".

I'd go so far to do the same with improved critical feats but maybe the cetegories should be reviewed a bit (I would make a category for daggers, rapiers and shortswords, and don't consider simple weapons as a big category but sprinkle them into the rest).
Specialization feat, however, should remain on a singular weapon, same with exotic weapon focus and crit.

Gamewise, I think it should be easy enough to basically grant other feats as soon as you take a speficif weapon focus.


It should push for more versatility in what weapon to have for martials, maybe even pushing for a mob balance that take this into account (have them very specific vulnerabilities while being very resistant to some other kinds of damage)
 
I absolutely, totally, utterly despise that all fighters are shoehorned into being weaponmaster-lites by having three feats magically disappear when they use a weapon different from their one and only choice.
Other servers do the focus-by-category thing and it is far more sensible than this dated, dogwater system that we've inherited from the hellish maw of 3e.
I recognize that things like favored soul would need extra consideration in light of a new system.
I also understand it will take scripting and effort, but I think the results will speak for themselves.
 
If Weapon Focus/Specialization feats are consolidated into groups, there will need to be some compensation for classes who are pigeonholed into using specific weapons, like Artificers, Arcane Archers, Warsling Snipers, and Favored Souls. The guarantee of having applicable weapon feats is part of the consideration for their balancing.
 
Just a side idea, and this might be silly but what the hell, what about simplifying it to;
  • One-handed,
  • Two-handed,
  • Ranged.
Or would this be oversimplified to the point of being broken?
 
TwistyShape said:
Just a side idea, and this might be silly but what the hell, what about simplifying it to;
  • One-handed,
  • Two-handed,
  • Ranged.
Or would this be oversimplified to the point of being broken?
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I think this would be an extreme overcorrection, but in hindsight also making the new feat take up "only slashing" or "only piercing" or "only two handed" would defeat the purpose of a push to allow martials to be more veratile as they would basically just gain bonuses with very similar weapons.

If not dividing the weapons into groups, maybe those feat can be made that when you take it you gotta choose 3/4 weapons and you get the related feat? This could just exacerbate a certain meta but might make it easier to let the choice be open (as in, your character is very well trained in those weapons) rather than making fixed groups that may be redundant or to wide.

ALSO I reiterate that this feature should be given only to some classes to push *them* to be more versatile in fights rather than giving it to everyone
 
Reikenbach said:
If its going to exist at all, Id argue it should only be given to Fighters.
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I kinda agree with this, they both need it the most and it makes the most thematic sense for them. I recall weapon mastery feats being given out on certain nwn2 servers categorically for slashing/bludgeoning/piercing weapons, so there's probably some sort of precedent for it in terms of D&D.
 
FIghter, however, have weapon specialization, so they already have a bonus compared to other classes.

I'd extend this "multiple weapon focus", however it's form would be, to:
Barbarian, Swashbuckler, Warden

Other high AB classes generally have other features or they aren't thematically that tied to being versatile, while the above classes generally fit with the idea of "trained with various weapons due to their background".
 
I think it would be unfair to offer it to fighters and not at least offer it to classes with unique weapon proficiencies, i.e. Rogue, Monk, Wizard, Druid. I'd even go further and allow elves to take Focus for Weapon Proficiency (Elf).
 
I have heard that the weapon focus feats in particular are a lot of mind-numbing, tedious work that is super finnicky and not at all rewarding to do. I think in this particular case its more no one wants to subject themselves to this particular work.
 
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