D&D 5.5E’s New Weapon Mastery Means Fighters will be Juggling Weapons – Rules Breakdown
WotC revealed the new Weapon Mastery rules for 5.5E, and Fighters will be wanting to be covered in different weapons. Here’s why.
Oh, what a feast of previews we’re getting this week. Over on D&D Beyond, WotC revealed the full Weapon Mastery rules as they will appear in the upcoming 5.5E Player’s Handbook. And while there are still a few surprises lurking in store (subclasses that once had weapon masteries don’t seem to appear here, and there’s a reason for that), if you want to know why your Fighter will want to carry many weapons, or how exactly you’ll be using weapons when the new rules come out?
Read on. You can start using these rules immediately, even, because all you really need to know is what mastery goes with what weapon. And what all the masteries do. But they’re out there in the wild now.
So, let’s start with what the Weapon Masteries are.
5.5E Player’s Handbook Weapon Masteries
First up, Weapon Masteries are special abilities that you can use with certain weapons as long as you have access to them. You can learn a number of weapon mastery properties, and Fighters will eventually get the most.
You pick a weapon mastery property like Cleave or Nick, and then you can use them with any weapon that has that mastery property. So if, for instance, you know Cleave and Graze but not Nick, you couldn’t suddenly pick up a pair of daggers and dual wield. Though you can swap out Weapon Masteries after a Long Rest.
Got it? Good. Let’s take a look at the properties.
Cleave – With Cleave, you can make an extra attack against a creature within 5 feet of your target (and within your reach). Sure, you can’t add your ability modifier, but you do get to deal weapon damage to an extra target for free. And it can combo with reach on weapons like a Halberd, meaning you can cleave a wide arc indeed.
Graze – Graze is pretty simple. When you miss with a Grace weapon, you still deal damage equal to your ability modifier. So you’re always doing something.
Nick – This is the Dual Wield weapon mastery. This lets you make a Dual Wield attack as part of your initial attack action, instead of using a Bonus Action, which is great for freeing up your Bonus Action for something like applying Hunter’s Mark or what have you.
Push – As it was in the playtest, Push lets you shove enemies you hit 10 feet away from you without a save. You can push targets into hazards or just out of reach so you can move freely.
Sap – Weapons with Sap let you impose a disadvantage on your target’s next attack roll before the start of your turn.
Slow – Slow weapons aren’t actually slow, as you might think, but instead, they slow your enemy, reducing their speed by 10 feet for a turn, so you can outdistance your enemies.
Topple – The only Weapon Mastery to require a saving throw, Topple lets you knock someone over if they fail a Constitution saving throw. Once they’re prone you can keep wailing on them.
Vex – And finally, Vex. When you hit someone with Vex, you gain advantage on the next attack roll before the end of your next turn.
And a fun thing about these, is you’re not limited to using just one per turn. You can keep juggling weapons between attacks. So you might hit someone with a topple attack, follow up with a cleave, and then with another attack, get a vex by switching from axe to short sword or what have you.
Of course, you don’t have to. But…
All these Weapon Mastery Properties await you in 5.5E, due out September 17th, 2024!
