Melee Weapon Damage

JB at B/X Blackrazor has said a lot about weapon damage. He was a big proponent of class based weapon damage as featured in his B/X Companion, he has proposed an 'attackless' combat system and he currently plays d6 damage for all weapons.


His post on d6 damage for all weapons is cleverly argued but in the end I just can't agree. Who would you rather fight a man with a pen knife or a man with a samurai sword? Both can kill but one kills a lot more easily. Why else would mankind devote so much time to making better and better weapons if the humble knife was the only killing weapon required. To be fair to JB there are ways around this. Weapon speed, weapon length, weapon attack against armour, weapon breakage... but these are complexities I'm mostly trying to avoid (though weapon attack against armour I am dabbling with). B/X combat as JB states so well is abstract but d6 damage for all weapons is one abstraction I can't share.


That all said, I remain a true fan of class based weapon damage as featured in his B/X Companion. To me the cleric and magic user are liberated! Come on Gandalf, wield that sword. Shame you're not as good as Aragorn, but no surprise there - he's quite well practiced. Class based weapon damage achieves a number of positives.


1. It encourages variety in weapon choice
2. It liberates the cleric and magic user
3. It makes sense
4. It is still abstract and simple (especially if you put the class based damage onto the character sheets)




Now JB divides weapons into Small Weapon, 1-Handed Weapon and 2-Handed Weapon.


For whatever reason I crave greater variety. What happens if I wield my one-handed weapon, two handed? Not just the ubiquitous AD&D bastard sword, but an axe or a hammer?


This is my table, adapted and expanded from JBs.

CLASS	Small Weapon	Medium Weapon		Large Weapon 2-handed
		1-handed	2-handed
Cleric	1D4	1D6	1D8	1D8
Fighter/Elf	1D6	1D8	1D10	1D10
Magic-User	1D4	1D4	1D6	1D6
Thief	1D6	1D6	1D6	1D6
Dwarf	1D6	1D8	1D10	N/A
Halfling	1D4/1D6	1D8 (2h)	N/A	N/A

Notes

N/A - that class is unable to use the weapon in this way.

Small Weapons - a small weapon is any small, light weapon for example: dagger, short sword, cosh, roll of coins.  A halfling (DM discretion) may wield a small weapon 2-handed. Damage is 1D6 and the halfling has no additional penalty (apart from the inability to use a shield) and will strike as per normal determination of initiative, without penalty.

Medium Weapons – medium weapons are usually wielded 1-handed but at DM discretion and player choice may be wielded 2-handed. Medium weapons that can be used 2-handed often have a longer pommel or grip and are heavier overall increasing their encumbrance. If wielded 2-handed a medium sized weapon will deal extra damage as per class for 2-handed weapons but without the benefit of Large Weapon reach/intimidate  (see Large Weapon) and will strike LAST in every round of melee and a shield may not be used. Medium sized weapons may be able to be thrown (DM discretion) but at -2 penalty to hit, unless designed to be thrown (eg spear).

Large Weapons may only be used 2-handed. Large melee weapons strike last in combat unless they have Reach (see below); deal two-handed class based damage; 

will usually have the added benefit of either reach or intimidate; 

a shield cannot be used except for the lance, which may be used one-handed when mounted. 

Reach (eg polearm, lance) the weapon will strike first in the 1st round of melee against an opponent with a medium or smaller sized weapon but on all subsequent rounds the wielder of the large mêlée weapon will strike LAST as usual for two-handed weapons.

Intimidate (eg two handed sword, great axe) when facing a wielder of a large weapon with intimidate morale is at -1.