Weapons Rack

Weapons Rack By Ed Stark

Welcome to the Weapons Rack, where arms of all sorts are available for your inspection. Everything you see here is fully 3^rd Edition D&D compliant, so feel free to stroll around and see what strikes your fancy.

D&D Creative Director Ed Stark educates us on an often-overlooked weapon.

The Longspear

Because of the way weapons were designed in 2nd Edition D&D, the spear practically disappeared from the game. It did less damage than the longsword and had no other real advantages (oh, you could throw it or use it effectively mounted, and you could set it against a charge). It just wasn't very interesting. In 3rd Edition D&D, however, that's changed. It still might not be the weapon of choice for fighters, but it's worth another look.

In 3rd Edition D&D combat, there's this thing calle 626i84g d reach. It means what it sounds like--the distance you can reach an opponent. Most characters have a default reach of 5 feet. They can reach (and touch, or attack) anything within 5 feet. For purposes of attacks of opportunity or regular combat, this means they can hit anything they're next to--and usually, anything next to them can hit back. Of course, larger opponents, like giants or ogres, or those with long arms or other appendages, like dragons or ropers, can attack "from a distance." They can "reach" you but you have a hard time reaching them. When you close to attack them, they get attacks while you're doing so (see "attacks of opportunity," in April's Personality Spotlight).

The longspear is one of the few weapons available to PCs that helps negate this advantage. Better than a bow or a sling for those who prefer melee (many fighters, most paladins, and just about all barbarians), the longspear has a reach of 10 feet. In many cases, that means a fighter or other character wielding a longspear can attack an opponent before his opponent can attack him. It's a great way to keep creatures with nasty melee attacks (like ghouls and their paralyzing touch) at bay. It can also help a fighter deal with opponents who also have reach--instead of walking through a giant's "threatened area" and incurring an attack of opportunity, the fighter with the longspear can trade blows with the creature evenly.

It may not be a dramatic, new weapon--and there are plenty in 3rd Edition D&D--but it really illustrates some of the clever design that went into making the combat rules really work.

Shuriken

"Next to nunchucks, the shuriken is the most distinctive 'monk' weapon. I like a distance weapon that you can deliver three at a time. From an artistic standpoint they're great, too, because you can go a little bit wild with the design."

Cost:1 gp
Damage: 1
Critical Hit: x2
Range: 10 ft.
Weight: 1/10 lb.
Type: Piercing

You can throw up to three shuriken per attack (all at the same target).

Do not apply your Strength modifier to damage with shuriken. They are too small to carry the extra force that a strong character can usually impart to a thrown weapon.

Repeating Crossbow

"When we were creating weapons for 3rd Edition, we decided to stray a bit from past editions and recognize that D&D isn't really a historical game, but a fantasy game. There were already fantasy weapons in the game already (the D&D longsword never really existed, for example), so we decided to add more. A lot more. So I'm going to choose one of them. And of them, I guess I'll go with the repeating crossbow.

"Like its name suggests, the repeating crossbow can fire multiple times before you reload. As you can imagine, this is a big, expensive weapon (it's unwieldy, so you need to take a feat to use it properly), but it's worth it in coolness alone. It normally takes a move-equivalent action to reload a light crossbow and a full round to reload a heavy crossbow, but the repeater allows you to crank and fire, crank and fire. You can fire it up to 5 times before reloading."

Exotic Weapon - Ranged
Size: Medium
Cost: 250 gp
Damage: 1d8
Critical: 19-20/x2
Range Increment: 80 ft
Weight: 16 lbs.
Type: Piercing

The repeating crossbow holds five crossbow bolts. While it holds bolts, you can shoot the crossbow according to your normal number of attacks without reloading. Loading a new case of five bolts is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Sword, Two-Bladed

"This weapon provides a lot of 'wow' factor along with a pretty interesting set of game choices. You can use it one-handed or two-handed, one end or both ends, all without switching weapons. It represents several elements of the game's design philosophy at work: emphasize fantasy over history, make the world look cool, provide players with hard choices, and offer numerous ways to master the game (deciding exactly how to employ a two-bladed sword or any double weapon requires a good deal of thought)."

A two-bladed sword is a double weapon. You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons: a one-handed weapon and a light. A creature using a double weapon in one hand (such as an ogre using a two-bladed sword) can't use it as a double weapon.

Cost: 100gp
Damage:1d8/1d8
Critical: 19-20/x2
Weight: 30 lb.
Type:  Slashing

Quarterstaff

"Third edition D&D captures the power and grace of the quarterstaff better than any previous edition of the game by treating it as a double weapon and recognizing that it's a two ended weapon, not a club."

This is the favoured weapon of travellers, peasants, merchants, and wizards. You can strike with either end, allowing you to take full advantage of openings in your opponent's defences.

A quarterstaff is a double weapon. You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons as if you are using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as a Large creature using a quarterstaff, can't use it as a double weapon.

Cost: n/a
Damage: 1d6/1d6
Critical: x2
Weight: 4 lb
Type: Bludgeoning

Jambiya

A heavy dagger, the jambiya has a slightly curved blade similar to a kukri but with a more gradual curve. However, jambiya have a narrow central rib along the blade, rather than a blood groove or flat metal. They are sharpened along both blade edges, and some wielders even sharpen the central rib (though that leads to some weakening of the blade and no noticeable increase in damage). Given its curve and weighting, jambiya cannot be effectively thrown like other daggers.

Masterwork jamibya contain silver koftgari decorations, made by engraving the metal blade with crosshatching, then hammering silver plate or tape into the rough areas and forming the decorations. The hilts and scabbards are often composed of heavily decorated metal as well, though equally common are wooden or flat metal hilts of a more utilitarian nature. Simpler versions of the weapon are more common (90 percent of all jambiya) and contain carvings and acid marks instead of the silver inlay.

Jambiya can most likely be found upon the persons trading or living in southern or eastern exotic lands. There, they are as common as daggers and knives are in standard settings, and their prices drop accordingly, though the price noted below indicates the weapons' cost outside their usual home. Still, they are not so rare that one cannot purchase numbers of them at once if one so chooses. Given their unfamiliar but effective shape, jambiya could easily be carried for show as elaborately decorated daggers. Depending on their level of decoration or what precious metals are used to decorate the blade and the scabbard, jambiya also make excellent exotic pieces of treasure without being relegated to the relative uselessness of strictly ceremonial items. They also could be purchased by groups to use as a trademark: Imagine an assassins' group whose members are identified only by their choice of weapon -- the jambiya.

Cost: Basic jambiya 6 gp (masterwork jambiya 306 gp
Damage: 1d4
Critical: x3
Weight: 2 lb.
Type: Slashing