D&D's New Weapon Mastery Is from the '80s

From left to right: Rules Cyclopedia, One D&D Playtest Packet 5

I'm a big fan of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia. Published in 1991, it compiles the Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, and Immortal boxed sets (aka BECMI) into a single chunky book, complete with Darlene-style hex maps of the "Known World" of Mystara in the back. It may be the best single-book edition of D&D. It may also be the only single-book edition of D&D, but that's neither here nor there.

The RC has a lot going for it besides the form factor, like non-weapon proficiencies, something like prestige classes or subclasses, and... weapon mastery.

Yes, weapon mastery, the cool new thing in the most-recent One D&D playtest packet that has everyone abuzz! And for good reason; it's a little something extra for the martial classes that doesn't come close to addressing the power discrepancy between casters and non-casters, especially at high levels, but still. (In addition to being a big fan of the RC, I'm a big fan of fighters.) 

Weapon Mastery in One D&D

If you haven't seen it yet or absorbed it via subcultural osmosis, weapon mastery in the most-recent playtest packet adds a "mastery property" to each weapon. If you have a class or feat that gives you mastery with one or more weapons -- not to be confused with proficiency! -- then when you attack with that weapon, its mastery property activates. For example, the greatsword has the mastery property of Cleave, which means that when you attack with it and miss, you still deal damage equal to your ability modifier to it. (Damage on a miss! Rejoice, 4E fans!) There are other properties like Nick, Vex, and Flex. 

Higher-level fighters (but no other classes) have the ability to shift a weapon mastery property from one weapon to another, which is interesting. For example, if you have mastery with the spear (Push) and the greatsword (Graze), you could Push with the greatsword or do damage on a miss with the spear. So it's a little more versatility for the fighter. Ironically, it also kinda means that while a lower-level fighter might swap out one weapon for another to better suit the situation, thus giving them a meaningful choice to make in combat, a higher-level fighter is less inclined to need to make that choice.

Weapon Mastery in the Rules Cyclopedia

How does this differ from the RC's weapon mastery? In concept, marginally! In execution and complexity, quite a bit.

Weapon mastery in the RC is an option available to all human characters, regardless of class, although fighters are better at it. At 1st level, a non-fighter gets two weapon choices and a fighter gets four, although none of them can spend more than one choice on a single weapon until they hit 3rd level. The more choices you expend on a single weapon, the greater the degree of mastery. For any weapon restricted from your class, you're Unskilled; for any that aren't, you have Basic skill with each weapon you choose. This is the equivalent of proficiency in 5E. At later levels, you gain additional weapon choices, which you can use to learn how to use new weapons, or -- more crucially for this blog post -- you can increase your Basic skill with a weapon, from Skilled to Expert to Master to Grand Master. 

Nonhuman characters, "due to their longer lifespans and wilderness-oriented lifestyles [...] start with basic skill in all weapons not restricted from their classes." I.e., unless it's a weapon their class (which is also their race -- Basic D&D!) specifically says they can't use, they know how to use it. They have the time and motivation to be more broadly skilled, which I think is a pretty effective way to address that whole "But I'm a thousand years old! Surely I know how to [whatever]!" thing that can come up with elves and dwarves. Halflings, sorry to lump you in there despite your average lifespan not being that much longer than that of the typical human, but them's the breaks. You don't like it, you shoulda thought about not being a demihuman. 

Anyway, you gain more weapon choices at higher levels, and can spend those choices to train with weapons you already know how to use (which takes time and money) rather than learning new ones. As your level of mastery with a weapon increases, you get some passive benefits, like bonuses to attack rolls, AC, and range. You can even cause a "despair effect," which forces your opponent, and sometimes even just other enemies nearby, to make a morale check! This happens more or less at random, though; the rules provide a few hardwired circumstances, like dealing max damage with the weapon, but then also give the DM space to call for it whenever they see fit. 

Then there are special effects. While the new weapon mastery rules of not-5.5E have a pretty concise list of mastery properties, the RC's are more wide-ranging. These include Charge, Deflect, Strangle, Second Attack Knockout, Skewer, and even Death, which is exactly what it sounds like. Some weapons, like blowguns, blackjacks, and bolas, get their own, slightly more complex rules governing their special effects, but given the average prevalence of these specialty weapons in most games, it doesn't seem that onerous to me.  

These may sound pretty powerful, and they are, but most of them are contingent on a failed saving throw of some kind. What I really like about them is how they get around a common issue in D&D, namely an inconvenient surplus of hit points. Sometimes the action would suggest that a single well-placed blow ought to incapacitate or even kill an opponent who has plenty of hit points left, usually leaving the DM with a choice between just hand-waving the monster to death or coming up with a nice way of telling the player that their character isn't quite as effective as they thought. But when your weapon mastery means that each time you hit the monster with your blowgun, there's a chance you inflict the Death effect it, or that in your hands a blackjack actually can Knockout a creature in one hit, fighting with a weapon instead of casting a spell sounds pretty attractive. Some pretty weird weapons, admittedly, but weapons nonetheless.

There is the drawback of the defender frequently having to make a saving throw each time they're hit, thus slowing down the action, but I dunno, for me that's a small price to pay. The DM can just roll it when the player rolls for their attack.

Pictured: Weapon mastery.

My Point

So why go on about this, on a blog that sees very little attention, especially from me? I dunno, I just think it's notable that in all this talk about weapon mastery in One D&D, it seems like no one has said anything about its origins in BECMI D&D or the Rules Cyclopedia. It even has the same name! You'd think Crawford would've mentioned it in passing, at the very least. "We decided to return to an old friend from the '80s: weapon mastery."

Maybe someone somewhere has already made this connection, but if so, I haven't seen it. And it's too bad, because there is such a wealth of material to plunder from older editions of D&D, especially those editions that fly a little under the radar. Personally, I really like the RC's weapon mastery rules and would like to see how they might translate to 5E, but then I'm also the guy who'd play Rolemaster at the drop of a hat, so... grain of salt.

But now I want to hear from you. What do you wish the One D&D design team would bring forward from a defunct edition of the game? Or would you prefer they leave the past in the past and do something completely new? Let me know in the comments below.