Simplified Weapons, Part 1

See Also... Revised

Alright, so I have this file I've been working on for a while now. Every once in a while I go back into it and tweak something and I'm starting to wonder why I'm bothering to type it out at all. So I figured I may as well put it out there for people to maybe take a look at so it's not just me stewing in my own juices. I will state outright that I cannot claim complete credit for this, a lot (if not all of it) was inspired by other sources that I'll try to hunt down and post links to once I've gotten a chance. What I'm posting here is simply my idealized way in which I think weapons should be framed in 4th Edition and maybe some future thing as well.

What's the Big Idea?
At the core of this post is the idea of making things a little more structured, and a little more freeform both at the same time. How do we do that? Well we do that by generalizing the labels on different weapons. What weapon do you want to fight with? You say you want to use a big sword? Well what kind of big sword, we have several to choose from? So instead of having a greatsword and a fullblade and a falchion, we will simply have a two-handed sword which covers all of those distinct yet thematically similar weapons.

That covers the idea of more generalized, but what do I mean by more structured. Well in 4E we have these nifty little things called weapon properties. When you look at weapons that fall into the same group, you'll notice that there seems to be a pattern to how some of those properties are assigned; axes are more likely to have high crit than other weapons, and blades, both heavy and light, often have a +1 bonus to the attack roll written into the proficiency bonus. What I've done below is simply to regularize the assignment of properties and weapon group. So all axes now have high crit and all heavy blades have accurate 1.

The Proposal
In my system, there are three basic groups of weapons: melee weapons, used in hand-to-hand combat; ranged weapons, used to fire a projectile from a distance; and thrown weapons, which are basically melee weapons that are balanced to be thrown at a target a short distance away.  For basic attacks melee weapons use strength by default, ranged weapons used dexterity by default, and thrown weapons use a mixture: off-hand use dexterity, two-hand use strength, and main-hand can use either of the two.

Within these groups there are three types each. Melee and thrown weapons are broken down into off-hand weapons, main-hand weapons, and two-hand weapons. Melee, but not thrown, weapons also include polearms, which are two-hand weapons that give the wielder greater reach. Ranged weapons are broken down into one-hand weapons, light weapons, and heavy weapons, the latter two of which both require two hands. One-hand and light ranged weapons, as well as off-hand and main-hand thrown weapons, can be used while mounted, but heavy ranged weapons and two-hand thrown weapons cannot be used effectively while mounted.

Weapons no longer have a proficiency bonus; instead if you use a weapon you are not proficient with, you treat it as if it were a comparable improvised weapon. This also applies to using weapons other than how they were intended, such as hitting someone with the butt of your crossbow, or tossing an axe that isn't balanced for throwing.
Note: The lack of proficiency bonuses is meant to mesh with an altered system where attacks against AC instead primarily target Reflex. If you are not using such a system, all weapon attacks should gain a +2 bonus.

For ranged and thrown weapons, there is an additional rule for long range. Weapons no longer have a short and long range, they now have a regular range; you can still use the weapon beyond that range, but your chances of success drop quickly. Using a weapon at double its regular range incurs a -5 penalty to the attack roll, triple the regular range incurs and -15 penalty, and quadruple the regular ranged incurs a -25 penalty. This means that using a weapon at extremely long range is now theoretically possible, but very difficult. You might be able to hit someone from 400 feet away if you're very lucky, but probably only on a natural 20, and it will not be a crit.

The Properties
Accurate: You add the specified number to your attack rolls.
Backlash: You deal additional damage per die rolled equal to the specified number. If you miss, you deal this damage to yourself and it cannot be reduced in any way.
Brutal: You reroll any damage dice that display the specified number or less.
Defensive: You add the specified number to your Reflex defence.
High crit: When you score a critical hit, you deal 1[W] extra damage per tier.
Load: You must spend the specified action to reload your ranged weapon after firing it before you can attack with it again. Powers than allow you to make multiple attacks with the same action take this extra time into account with Load free, Load minor, and Load draw weapons, but Load move weapons must be primed with a move action first.

Continued... Part 2|Part 3