Dungeons & Dragons Teases Big Changes to Weapons in One D&D

An upcoming One D&D playtest will have new sets of rules for weapons, providing many with special properties that should add more strategy and nuance to combat. During a Creator’s Summit held in Seattle and virtually earlier this week, D&D lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford explained some upcoming proposed changes to how weapons are used in Dungeons & Dragons. These changes should have a major impact on martial combat and could provide more choices and opportunities for Fighters and other martial classes. 

Daniel Kwan, a virtual attendee of the event, provided a summary of the event on his substack page, which included a description of the new “weapon mastery” feature. The proposed ruleset adds properties to weapons that can only be unlocked via a “weapon mastery” class feature. An example given was the “graze” property, which allows a user to deal damage on a target with a weapon even when an attack misses. 

Other properties mentioned by a ComicBook.com source who also attended the event include “cleave” (which can hit multiple targets at once), “puncture” (which grants advantage to a second attack made on the same target during that turn), and “flex” (which allows a player to deal two-handed damage while still wielding with one hand.) 

While all martial classes will have some access to using these weapon mastery traits, it seems that they will be a focus on the Fighter. Fighters will eventually be able to shift weapon mastery traits between weapons and even assign a weapon two weapon mastery options and decide which they want to use one every turn. 

These changes are intended to provide more tactical options in combat and more generally provide Fighters (and other martial-themed classes) with more to do. Instead of sticking with a single weapon for an entire campaign because it has the best damage output, players can instead opt to carry an arsenal of weapons perfect for any situation. 

These changes will be included in the upcoming One D&D playtest, which will include proposed rules changes for all six classes that have not previously appeared in a One D&D playtest. No timeline has been given for the playtest packet’s release.  

For more information on the Creator’s Summit, you can check out several detailed write-ups of the event, such as those by Josh Simons or Beth Rimmels over at EnWorld.