Weapon Mastery

 

There are swordsmen, and then there are swordsmen. A warrior who devotes his life to the study of martial combat and the characteristics of a single type of weapon can become a weapon master—a fighter whose precision, quickness, and skill are virtually unequaled anywhere.

 

Weapon masters are rare characters. Only single-classed fighters can ever achieve weapon mastery, and even then they do so with time, study, and sacrifice. To achieve mastery in a weapon, a character must first specialize in the use of that weapon. Then, at any time after he reaches 5th level, he can spend another proficiency slot to become a weapon master. He can continue to devote proficiency slots to the study of his chosen weapon, but can’t progress faster than the rate at which he gains new weapon proficiency slots. So, a character who becomes a master at 5th level couldn’t acquire his second slot of mastery until 6th level, his third until 9th level, and so on.

 

Generally, weapon masters choose only weapons that require some skill to handle or that have a history of cultural identification. Swords of any kind are the most common weapons mastered, followed by bows and then axes or spears. Polearms, and crossbows are the subject of weapon mastery only in rare cases. The DM can decide that a weapon isn’t appropriate for mastery at his discretion, but he should do so before a character chooses to specialize in it.

 

Effects of Weapon Mastery

 

If a fighter spends another proficiency slot on a melee weapon, thrown or non-bow missile weapon he already specializes in, his attack and damage bonuses increase to +3 and +3, respectively.

For bows and crossbows, his point-blank bonuses increase to +3/+3 as with melee weapons, and he gains an additional +1 to hit at all other range categories, for a total of +2. (Remember, this bonus doesn’t take range modifiers into account, so the archer has a total of +2 at short, +0 at medium, and –3 at long range, if the penalties are factored in.)

 

High Mastery

 

By spending a second slot on mastery, a character can become a high master. By this time, the character has spent four slots on a single weapon and is at least 6th level. High masters increase the speed factor of their chosen weapon by –2.

 

High masters who specialize in bows, crossbows, or slings gain a new range category: extreme range. For all weapons, extreme range is 1/3 farther than long range. For example, if a weapon has a normal maximum range of 18, in the hands of a master it can shoot 24 (1/3x18=6, 18+6=24). Extreme range shots have a –10 penalty to hit before adjustments are made for the effects of mastery.

 

Grand Mastery

 

High masters who spend one more slot on learning their weapon of choice can become grand masters. Grand masters are capable of feats of swordplay that border on the fantastic. Grand masters gain one additional attack per round above and beyond a specialist’s rate of attacks for their level, so a 12th-level melee weapon grand master would attack 3 times per round with his weapon of choice.

 

Grand masters also increase the amount of damage when they employ their chosen weapon. The weapon’s base damage die is increased to the next greater die size against all opponents. For example, a long sword thus inflicts 1d10/1d20 points of damage in the hands of a grand master. If the weapon causes multiple dice of damage, all of them are increased. Thus, a two-handed sword in the hands of a grand master inflicts 3d8 points of damage on large targets. Needless to say, grand masters are extremely dangerous opponents.

 

Special DM Note

 

Weapon mastery is hard to come by, and even harder to perfect. It’s not too rare for a character to become a master, but the quest to become a high master or grand master could take years. Unlike the previous levels of specialization, which can simply be selected as an advancement choice, high mastery and grand mastery should require a great deal of time and personal sacrifice on the part of the character. It’s not unreasonable to require the candidate to locate someone who can teach him and spend several months of campaign time in training—possibly “sitting out” an adventure or two while he hones his skills.

 

While the higher levels of weapon mastery are a great goal for a character to set his eyes on, they can unbalance a game very quickly. Exercise tight control over the acquisition of weapon mastery in your campaign, and make certain that the players realize just how rare and special their weapon master characters really are.

 

 

Fighting Styles

 

There are almost as many different ways of fighting as there are fights. Every character and monster has his favorite weapon and preferred means of attack. Fighting styles are general ways in which a character can equip himself for a fight and execute his attacks during the battle. If a nonwarrior wishes to learn a style he doesn’t know, he can do so at the cost of a weapon proficiency.

 

In addition too simply knowing a style, warriors, priests, and rogues can specialize in that method of fighting by spending a weapon proficiency slot. The exact effects of style specialization vary from style to style. Note that warriors can specialize in a weapon, and then specialize in an appropriate style. In fact, warriors can specialize in as many styles as they like, as long as they have the proficiency slots available. Priests and rogues can only specialize in one style.

 

Single Weapon Style

 

In single-weapon style, the character wields a one-handed weapon and leaves his off-hand empty. There are some disadvantages to this style, in that the character is shorting himself the protection of a shield or the extra offense of a secondary weapon. However, single-weapon style does leave the character with a hand free for using magical items, grabbing, or punching an opponent.

 

If the single-weapon character makes an off-hand attack, such as a punch or grab, he’s considered to be fighting with two weapons. His primary weapon suffers a –2 penalty to attack rolls and his secondary attacks suffer a –4 penalty to hit. These penalties are offset by the character’s reaction adjustment for his Dexterity score.

 

All player characters, regardless of class, know the single-weapon fighting style.

 

Single Weapon Style Specialization: The character is always free to treat his empty hand as a “secondary weapon” and punch, grab, or otherwise annoy anyone he is fighting. The normal penalties for using two weapons apply. If the character is also familiar with the two-handed weapon style and his weapon can be used either one- or two-handed, he can switch back and forth between the two styles at the beginning of every round of combat.

 

Characters who specialize in this style gain a special AC bonus of +1 while fighting with a one-handed weapon and no shield or off-hand weapon. By spending an additional proficiency slot, the character can increase his AC bonus to +2, but that’s the maximum benefit for style specialization.

 

Two-handed Weapon Style

 

The largest and most damaging weapons available to PCs are usually two-handed weapons. Obviously, a character with a two-handed weapon is not going to be able to use a shield or a secondary weapon, but he does have a lot of offensive capability.

 

Many weapons are so large that a character is required to use both hands to wield them. The rule of thumb is simple: a character can use a weapon with a size equal to or less than her own in one hand and can use a weapon one size larger than himself if he wields it two-handed. For example, a halfling (size S) can use a short sword or hand axe in one hand, since they’re size S weapons, but if he used a broadsword (size M) he’d have to use it two-handed, and there’s no way he could use a longbow or halberd.

 

Many two-handed weapons are polearms and extended-range weapons that provide the wielder with special tactical benefits in addition to their raw damage potential. Note that a character doesn’t have to use both hands just to hold a two-handed weapon; he can hang on to it with one hand to free up the other for another activity, but he can’t attack until he gets both hands on the weapon again. Note it requires two disarm maneuvers to disarm a person with a two-handed weapon style proficiency. The first disarm maneuver simply knocks the weapon askew, adding a +2 to the initiative modifier for the following round.

 

All player characters, regardless of class, know the single-weapon fighting style.

 

Two-handed Weapon Style Specialization: If a character specializes in two-handed weapon style, he decreases the speed factor of his weapon by 3 when he fights using a two-handed weapon.

 

There are a few weapons that can normally be employed one-handed or two-handed; these are noted in the Master Weapon List.doc. These include the bastard sword, harpoon, javelin, spear, long spear, and trident. These weapons’ characteristics change when used two-handed.

 

There are also a variety of weapons that are normally used one-handed but that can be used two-handed. This would allow a specialist in this style to gain the speed benefit mentioned above. In addition, the two-handed style specialist gains a +1 to damage when using a one-handed weapon in two hands, unless the character’s too small to wield the weapon any other way. These weapons include the battleaxe, club, footman’s flail, horseman’s flail, long sword, footman’s mace, horseman’s mace, morning star, footman’s pick, horseman’s pick, and warhammer.

 

Weapon and Shield Style

 

One of the most common fighting styles in the AD&D game, this style provides the character with the defensive benefits of a shield and still allows a decent offense. The character can forgo the AC benefits of the shield, and use it as if it were a secondary weapon. He may use the attack options of shield-rush, shield-punch, block, or trap. Apply the normal penalties for attacking with two weapons.

 

There are two disadvantages to this style: first, the character is limited to using a single one-handed weapon, since his other hand has the shield; secondly, if he wants to quickly empty a hand, he has to drop his weapon. Most shields are strapped to the character’s arm and take a full round to remove.

 

Warriors and priests know the weapon and shield fighting style.

 

Weapon and Shield Style Specialization: Normally, a character employing a shield in his off hand can shield-rush, shield-punch, block, or trap as if it were a secondary weapon, with the normal penalties for attacking with two weapons. The disadvantage is that the shield’s AC bonus is forfeited for any round in which it is used this way.

 

However, characters who specialize in weapon and shield style can choose to make one of these secondary attacks every round without losing the AC benefit for carrying a shield.

 

Two Weapon Style

(See also; Chapter 9: Combat – Attacking with Two Weapons)

 

Not to be confused with the two-handed weapon style, two weapon style uses a weapon in each of the character’s hands. The advantage of this is clear: the character either has more attack power or can use the secondary weapon defensively to block incoming blows. Another benefit lies in the fact that even if the character loses a weapon, he’s still armed.

 

The character can use any one-handed weapon in his primary hand, but his secondary weapon must be a size smaller than his primary weapon. Knives and daggers can always be used, regardless of the primary weapon’s size. Note that this means that for Man-sized characters, the secondary weapon has to be size small (S). The character suffers a –2 penalty to attacks with the primary weapon, and a –4 to attacks with the secondary weapon. This penalty is offset by the character’s reaction adjustment for high Dexterity.

Warriors and rogues know two weapon fighting style.

 

Two-Weapon Style Specialization: Characters who specialize in this style reduce their penalty to 0 and –2, respectively. The character’s reaction adjustment for Dexterity can reduce this further. Ambidextrous characters that specialize in this style suffer no penalty with either attack.

 

If a character chooses to try different techniques with each weapon he suffers an additional –1 penalty to attack with each weapon. For example, attacking with the primary weapon and blocking with the secondary weapon would incur the –1 to hit penalty.

 

Under no circumstances can a character (size M) wield two size medium weapons. Important Note: While the character receives his normal number of attacks for class, level, and specialization with his primary weapon, he only receives one additional attack with his secondary weapon.

 

Missile or Thrown Weapon Style

 

Regardless of a character’s size, using a bow, crossbow, sling, or blowgun at its normal rate of fire requires both hands. Crossbows can be loaded with both hands and then aimed and fired in one hand, if the attacker’s size is equal to the weapon’s size or larger. However, heavy crossbows suffer a –2 penalty to the attack roll if aimed one-handed. If a character is able to cock and load several crossbows for firing, he can get several shots off very quickly. As long as the character has loaded weapons close at hand, he can triple his normal rate of fire. When he runs out of loaded weapons, he’ll have to resume firing at the normal rate.

 

Most thrown weapons only require one hand to use; there’s no reason why a character couldn’t carry a shield or a second weapon in his off-hand. A character can’t throw weapons and make a melee attack in the same round—he has to choose one or the other.

 

Size M or larger thrown weapons can be used in conjunction with a charge attack. The character performs his charge as normal, but he pulls up short of his target by 10 to 20 feet and uses his momentum to add to the javelin or axe throw. This attack confers the movement and +2 attack bonus of a charge, but the attacker suffers the charge penalties, too.

 

All character classes begin with Missile or thrown weapon style proficiency.

 

Missile or Thrown Weapon Style Specialization: Some heroes specialize in fighting with ranged weapons; Robin Hood and William Tell spring to mind as good examples. Characters who choose to specialize in missile or thrown weapon style gain two benefits. First, they can move up to half their normal movement rate and still attack with their full rate of fire, or make a full move and attack at half their rate of fire. Second, they gain a bonus of –1 to their AC against enemy missile fire while attacking with a ranged weapon.

 

Horse Archers: A proficient archer and rider who specializes in missile style gains a special benefit when mounted: any penalties he suffers for shooting while riding are reduced by 2. Normally, a character suffers a –2 penalty to missile attacks if his mount is moving at up to half its normal speed, and a –4 penalty if his mount is moving at full speed. Horse archers suffer no penalty for half-speed firing, and only a –2 penalty for firing at full speed.

 

Shield and Armour Proficiencies

By spending a weapon proficiency, characters can become more skilled in the use of their shield. Modern re-enactments of medieval tournaments have demonstrated that the shield is a very important part of a warrior’s protection. The extra protection conferred by the shield varies by the exact type the character is carrying: