How To Homebrew Any Weapon Type:
Step by step guide
There are countless campaign settings, both homebrewed and adjusted from WotC official material, where the weaponry listed in the PHB simply doesn’t seem to match the theme of the world. Even more common is the character concept wielding a particular sword or axe or….something specific to them. Here, the mechanics and the internal image in the player’s mind or his character, seem to have a hard time marrying up.
The classic example is the katana. Thematically, a player often has in their head a light, elusive warrior holding a beautiful and elegant samurai sword in two hands, dancing across the battlefield with deadly grace. First and foremost, that player has accepted that his choice of character is going to likely mean one of three things. They select a lesser dice weapon, such as a scimitar, they have to wield a rapier instead of a katana, or they must convince their DM to allow them to reflavour the rapier as a katana for the purposes of the game. And they can never wield it in both hands.
The three options listed all work to varying degrees, but it does lead to countless forum arguments either on which one is acceptable (and if a rapier was even an effective battlefield weapon), or to the balance of a homebrewed weapon.
Homebrewing weapons
Everyone despises the trident. If you are a Dex based melee character, you’re more than likely going to choose a rapier, despite what you want your character to actually use. Why do you have to houserule the sharpshooter feat to be compatible with daggers? Common questions that often lead to homebrewing properties or whole weapons to fill the gap. Then follows the inevitable question about balance.
However, there is actually a quite effective homebrewing guide built into the PHB weapons table if you take the time to pull it apart. This allows us to actually start with a weapon concept, and then build the properties in, giving us balanced weapon damage and, possibly more importantly, the freedom to pick whatever weapon we want to use without having to worry about what is the “optimal” choice. And as a bonus, it’s usage is tailored exactly to the character using it.
An example of this might be some of the weapons we’ve lost from previous editions, such as the Katana, falchion, spiked chain and scythe. Or perhaps you have a wacky concept for a character who throws his hat like Oddjob as a ranged weapon. Hey, why not go crazy and have a character attacks with an otter on LSD tied to a 10ft pole? The current PHB has no blueprint for these weapons, but it does have a way of stacking properties that is linked to a balanced dice.
The Process
Follow these simple steps to design your own weapon. If you wish to test the balance, try using these same steps to create existing weapons – 90% of the time it works.
1) Come up with a weapon concept: This is arguably the most important stage – here in this more notional world of purely homebrewed weapons, it is the concept of the weapon that ultimately decides what properties it possesses. The properties provide the framework, and the rest is all window dressing, so it is vital the two are in sync.
2) Select a damage type: Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing. Unsure? Consult your concept, or the existing weapon table in the PHB for similar weapons.
3) Grab something to count with: We’re going to be doing a quick bit of maths that can be done on your fingers. Actually, it’s less maths, more counting.
4) First selection - Weapon Type: These properties are mutually exclusive. This is the weapon classification and is applied accordingly where the rules state Melee Weapon or Ranged weapon. This is your starting value from which all further adjustments will be made.
Base Weapon Type
| Type | Initial Weapon Score |
|---|---|
| Melee | 2 |
| Ranged | 0 |
Excluding other properties, a Melee weapon always uses Strength to make Melee attacks and a Ranged Weapon uses Dexterity to make Ranged attacks.
5) Second selection - Weight: These properties are mutually exclusive. A weapon can only be Light, Two-Handed, Heavy Two Handed, or Balanced (no property). To select weight for a Ranged (Fired) Weapon, if the weapon requires only 1 hand and you could weild another weapon, choose light, otherwise choose Balanced. If the weapon requires 2 hands to use, select two-handed. If the weapon would be too large for a small creature to use, choose heavy two-handed.
Base Weapon Weight
| Weight | Weapon Score Modifier |
|---|---|
| Light | +3 |
| Balanced | +5 |
| Two-Handed | +6 |
| Heavy, Two-Handed | +7 |
All Balanced, Two-Handed, and Heavy Two-Handed Melee Weapons gain the Versatile property!
6) Third Selection - Final Properties: These properties are added according to the weapon concept. You may add any number of Properties as long as they do not violate the fundamental concept. For example, it is highly unlikely, or desirable, for a Ranged weapon to possess the Reach property. However, should you manage to agree a concept with your DM that this would in fact be legitimate, then there are no rules banning any combination of properties. Adjust the current weapon score accordingly.
| Property | Weapon Score Modifier |
|---|---|
| Martial | +2 |
| Finesse | -1 |
| Thrown | -1 |
| Loading | +2 |
| Reach | -2 |
7) Final calculation - Rounding: If your final value is an odd number, round down to the nearest even number, or 4, whichever is highest. This is the dice size for the weapon.
Alternate Rounding:
There are dice combination options for the odd numbers that can be achieved with some inventive dice rolling. These are likely to occur more often in the midranged weapons, and discourage players from adding additional properties on the fly to achieve min-maxing.
They do however present possible imbalances when coupled with feats that allow the rerolling of 1s and 2s, such as great weapon fighting. Thankfully, such instances ought to be rare, and that imbalance is already factored in with the Greatsword.
The DM should therefore seek to hold the player to the original concept if they believe this will cause problems.
Weapon score 5: 2d3
Weapon Score 7: 1d3+1d4
Weapon Score 9: 2d4
Weapon Score 11: 1d4+1d6
Weapon Score 13: 2d6
Complete weapon Property List
Ammunition: You can use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a ranged attack only if you have ammunition to fire from the weapon. Each time you attack with the weapon, you expend one piece of ammunition. Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack. At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield.
If you use a weapon that has the ammunition property to make a melee attack, you treat the weapon as an improvised weapon (see "Improvised Weapons" later in the section). A sling must be loaded to deal any damage when used in this way.
Finesse: When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. You must use the same modifier for both rolls.
Heavy: Due to the weight of the weapon, you cannot wield this weapon if you are small size or lower.
Light: A light weapon is small and easy to handle, making it ideal for use when fighting with two weapons. See the rules for two-weapon fighting in chapter 9.
Loaded: Because of the time required to prepare this weapon, you can only use one piece of ammunition from it when you use an action, bonus action, or reaction, regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make. Can only be applied to a Ranged Weapon.
Ranged: If a weapon has the Range Property, it automatically gains the Ammunition Property.
The range lists two numbers. The first is the weapon’s normal range in feet, and the second indicates the weapon’s maximum range. When attacking a target beyond normal range, you have disadvantage 0n the attack roll. You can’t attack a target beyond the weapon’s long range.
There is a general range table at the end of the guide, but work with your DM to make adjustments where appropriate.
Reach: This weapon adds 5 feet to your reach when you attack with it.
Thrown: If a melee weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack, and you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon.
Two-Handed: This weapon requires two hands when you attack with it. This property is relevant only when you attack with the weapon, not when you simply hold it.
Martial: This weapon is uniquely designed and balanced in such a way that attempting to use it without the correct proficiency means you cannot add your proficiency modifier to the attack.
Versatile: This weapon can be used with one or two hands. A damage value in parentheses appears with the property — the damage when the weapon is used with two hands to make a melee attack, increasing the Weapon Score by 2.
The Two-handed, Versatile Conundrum
The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that what were traditionally two handed weapons, now have the versatile property which matches the original damage dice size. This is not an oversight, but a collision of specific rules. Namely, that although they have single-handed and two-handed Damage values due to the Versatile Property, because of the two-handed property the single-handed value is functionally redundant as you can never wield it with 1 hand.
Conclusion
This process then should quickly and easily allow a player and/or DM to turn a undocumented weapon concept into a functioning, balanced weapon that behaves within the rules. This also gives a solid framework to create and add further properties that currently do not exist.
Weapon Build examples.
To show how this would work, we’ll quickly run through an existing weapon, and a new weapon concept.
The Halberd
- We choose Slashing damage
- The weapon is a Melee Weapon, so we begin at 2.
- The weapon is Heavy, Two-handed, increasing the weapon score to 8.
- As it is a Heavy, Two-handed melee weapon, it gains the vesatile property
- It is also a Martial weapon, and so it increases to 10.
- It has the Reach property, and is reduced to 8.
- This gives us a final damage dice of 1d8, or 1d10 if wielded in both hands (identical to the PHB)
Throwing Circlet
- We choose Slashing Damage.
- The weapon is a Ranged Weapon, so we begin at 0.
- We want this Ranged Weapon to be usable while holding another weapon, so we choose the Light property, adding 3.
- It’s also a Martial weapon, and so it increases to 5.
- We want this weapon to support stength characters, so add the Thrown property, reducing it to 4
- Finally we decided it is a cumbersome weapon, and so add the Loading Property, increasing to 6.
- Rounding down gives us a final damage dice size of 1d6.
As you can see this provides a very controlled way to build a weapon with the abilities we want, to fit the concept we have chosen.
New Properties
Obviously the current suite of properties does not necessarily cover all the attributes you may want your new weapon concept to have - or it might not, mechanically, have the differences you wanted from another weapon.
The following rules are
| Property | Weapon Score Modifier |
|---|---|
| Fumble/Misire | +(1 to 5) |
| Specialist | +2 |
| Double-Weapon | -3 |
| Reliable | -(1 or 2) |
| Fixed | +1 |
| Reloading | +1 |
| Bracer | -2 |
Fumble/Misfire (+1-5): Use this property when a weapon is unwieldy, complex, or brittle.
When making an attack, if you roll equal to the Misfire value or lower the weapon is considered damaged, and requires an action to repair the damage.
Specialist (+2): This is a more balanced, advanced version of a typical weapon, allowing the user to bring both their skill and strength to bear on the weapon.
The player must have a at least 13 in Strength and Dexterity in order to use this weapon.
Double-weapon (-3): If you attack with this weapon as part of the Attack action on your turn when using both hands, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack deals 1d4 damage on a hit. If the weapon is Heavy, you may not make opportunity attacks if you make a bonus attack.
Reliable (-1 or -2): This is a more functional, but sturdier weapon that does more consistent damage.
When you roll damage dice for a weapon with this property, you reroll any roll equal to or less than the Reliable value. You may do this as many times as is necessary to get a valid roll.
Fixed (+1): Use this when a weapon is affixed over the hand holding it, giving added stability and power.
Drawing or sheathing this weapon now takes one action, and the hand wielding it weapon cannot be used for anything else other than holding the weapon.
Reloading (+1): A weapon of this type may fire multiple shots before needing to be reloaded.
You may expend a number of pieces of ammunition equal to 12 minus the weapon’s weapon score before needing to reload. The reload action replaces one of the attacks you would normally make when using an attack action.
Bracer (-2): The weapon is attached to the wrist or forearm, and is often a lighter, smaller version of existing weapons.
This has the effect of not requiring a hand to wield the weapon (Though the weapon may never be used two-handed either). This property may also be applied to a shield. Doing so reduces the bonus to AC from 2 to 1.
Appendix: Range Tables
This is not design to be a set of definitive rules concerning the range of weapons, only to give a rough guide to what you would expect of a balanced system. Work with your GM to finalise the Short and Long ranges of weapons based upon the weapon concept.
Melee (Thrown)
Melee thrown weapons are typically what we think of in D&D when we consider what a thrown weapon is: Daggers, axes, spears, etc. These are all primarily close combat weapons which, through their design, lend themselves towards being effective at range. This versatility, however, does mean that a weapon balanced and designed for use in close combat is going to have limitations in effective range.
Ranges based on Weight
| Weapon Weight | Short | Long |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 30' | 120' |
| Balanced | 20' | 60' |
| Heavy | 20' | 20' |
Therefore, when working with your DM, consider that the Short Range ought to be limited in some way to reflect that a ranged attack is not their primary function. The Long Range ought to refect the physical power required to project an unbalanced weapon great distances. An example here might be throwing a large chunk of rock. An effective range of 20 feet is not unreasonable to retain accuracy, However due to the weight, throwing it any distance over 20 feet is difficult.
Ranged (Thrown)
Ranged weapons can be given the thrown property to reflect the fact that they aren’t mechanical contraptions, rather they are propelled through force, such as a Dart or Chakram. These are often based on existing thrown weapons, but have been carefully improved, rebalanced, and redesigned specifically for throwing. As such, they aren’t considered close combat weapons anymore.
Ranges based on Weight
| Weapon Weight | Short | Long |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 60' | 240' |
| Balanced | 45' | 180' |
| Heavy | 30' | 120' |
When working with your DM, it’s important to stretch the effective range compared to a melee thrown, but to still keep that below what most mechanically based weapons could achieve. The long range should ideally keep to the same ratios regardless of weight; these weapons are crafted and balanced for the purpose of staying aloft, so it tends to only be the initial effort to velocity ratio which would affect overall range.
Ranged (Fired)
Small projectiles, large mechanism. This is the simple rule of ‘fired’ weapons, and why unlike thrown weapons the range increases with weight – the heavier the device, the more physics can be brought to bear on the projectile.
Ranges based on Weight
| Weapon Weight | Short | Long |
|---|---|---|
| Light | 30-50' | 120-200' |
| Balanced | 40-100' | 150-400' |
| Heavy | 80-150' | 300-600' |
When working with the DM to assess range, this group will cause the most issues as there’s difficulty truly assessing the range of most of these weapons. Something like a handbow is design to have a short range because, mechanically, it’s wielded offhand to another weapon that’s almost certainly melee. Considerations like this should enable you to balance the long and medium range so it hampers neither the player, nor the DM.