Thoughts on AD&D Weapon Selection

Players should consider both which weapons and abilities will make his character stronger, and which are needed for the general improvement of the party. For example, I recommend that every party have one character who is trustworthy who has some skill at valuing gems and jewelry; I allow a character who has a "previous skill" in the area to identify and value such things, or one who takes at least one slot in gemcutting. But if the party is comfortable that that character will give them honest appraisals, they don't need more than the one--the proficiency slots of the others should be spent on abilities in other areas. It is similar with weapon skills: there are some weapons which are very valuable from the perspective of the party which may not be so important for the character. Here are my recommendations.

Other than the samurai (and maybe the bushi), oriental characters should take a martial arts style; the strongest styles are those which are not weapon-oriented but do use a weapon, and the strongest weapons are those which do the most damage but require only one hand to wield--the lajatang and the kau sin ke. Even though the character will not use a shield, and only a kensai can effectively use a weapon in the off-hand, having that hand free for maneuvers is valuable in martial arts combat.

Characters who may specialize should specialize. MyWorld rules provide some advantages to "weapon generalists" in the form of special maneuvers; but without such a variant to benefit the generalist, the specialist has significant advantages at level one which increase as the character advances, and the detriments--a limit on the number of initial weapons--is not great, and rapidly eliminated.

Selecting a weapon of specialization may be daunting; however, there are a few considerations to remember. Since the character will primarily rely on his weapon of specialization, he should look for that weapon which gives him the best advantage. If the character gains a racial bonus with a weapon, that should be considered; thus elves will consider long and short swords and long and short bows, and hobbits will lean toward the sling. Of more import, characters with high strength should take a melee weapon, while those with high dex should prefer a missile.

Another consideration in the selection of specialization is the needs of the party. Every party needs several strong melee fighters, and a specialist is one of the strongest; but one or two long bow or daikyu specialists are extremely valuable to a party, and may put an end to an opponent before the party has lost any blood. If the character could go either way, he should fill the niche.

It should also be noted that the popularity of particular weapons is important. Among occidental treasure troves, 65% of all magic swords are long swords; but generally 80% of party members want them, so a character may find that he stands a better chance of getting a powerful magic sword if he takes the slightly less powerful broad sword (20% of magic items) or the more potent bastard sword (only 4%, but not often taken, and not a primary cavalier weapon), even though this weapon is not more effective if used with one hand.

If the character uses martial arts, a weapon related to his style is almost always the best choice for specialization, unless his dexterity is high enough to justify putting that advantage in a missile weapon.

What is said of specialization also applies to weapons of choice--if you can take one, do so, and choose the one which will give you the best advantage.

Whether you first choose a melee weapon or a missile weapon, for most characters you will want both. This is why most magic-user types begin with the dagger--it serves both functions in one weapon. (However, a magic-user with good dex and low hit points may do better with a sling: it's a more potent missile weapon, and gives you one more excuse to stay out of melee. I would also take healing or herbalism for such a character, so that he may do something useful during the fray.)

Once you have a strong melee weapon and strong missile weapon, the remaining slots (if any) should be filled based on tactical considerations. Here are some of those.

At least for occidentals, the strongest melee weapons are edged--a few key swords, the battle axe, some edged pole arms. But there are a few monsters who only take half damage from edged weapons--skeletons chief among these. Most fighters will spend an extra slot on a blunt weapon when they can.

For the standard cleric, the hammer is almost obvious. Although the morningstar is best for blunt damage, and the staff sling is a potent missile (a good combination for many clerics), the hammer serves both functions--and before the character will gain another weapon, he will gain the powerful Spiritual Hammer spell, which is much less useful if the character is not proficient in the hammer.

Thieves will want to consider a good backstab option. Although you can easily kill an enemy with a sword or a dagger, you may be able to do it more quietly with a sap or garrot--and may be able to eliminate an opponent without killing him, which opens other options.

Many scenarios call for innocuous or easily concealed weapons. Daggers and knives fit in boots or seams of robes; staves and bo sticks are often overlooked as walking sticks. There are quite a few oriental weapons which lend themselves to this--the kiseru is only a smoking pipe, and the chain and the kau sin ke may be mistaken for belts around the waist.

Polearms may have significant tactical uses. In the right circumstances, they may be able to attack an opponent at a safe distance, or hold him at bay. I've seen a party use two polearms and two bows in narrow passages to devastate an attacking column of monsters having no missile capabilities. However, these are awkward weapons which are not easy to use in tight spaces, and often characters with such proficiencies leave the weapons behind more often than they take them along. Many polearms are also effective at unhorsing cavalry, although cavaliers themselves have skills to remain mounted.

There are a number of weapons which have applications outside the arena of the attack itself. A lasso may serve as an effective grapple, or may be used to capture a creature or retrieve an object. Humming bulb arrows (requiring a bow) are marvelous signaling devices, and may be quickly converted to fire starters. Frog crotch arrows also have obvious applications in cord cutting. The whip suggests many uses which most DM's will accept, although the rules for such use are not clear.

For characters permitted to use poison, a very few weapons lend themselves to this. The blowgun will permit poisoned darts or needles, and the hand crossbow is similarly designed to use with poisoned missiles. (Note that the ninja needle may not be poisoned, as it is stored in and fired from the mouth, so the character would poison himself and not his target.)

If the player is not certain which weapon is the best option for his character given the various options, I recommend calculating average damage per round. The concept of the ADR is explained on my D&D website, and there is a BASIC program available for download which will do the calculations quickly and easily. This will give the player easily compared numbers which show the typical damage he would do with any given weapon, considering all of his attack and damage bonuses however derived, and the number of attacks he would get. Most of the information needed for this--weapon damage, ability bonuses, racial bonuses, and specialization--is on other pages of this site, or on the related martial arts site. You will also need to know your chance to hit AC5 (for reasons explained in connection with the ADR explanation). For first level cavaliers, fighters, and clerics, that number is 15; for first level magic-users and thieves, and for 0 level characters such as apprentice cavaliers, the number is 16.

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