See also: Weapon, List of melee weapon examples.
Simple Melee Weapons
Simple melee weapons are either tools from common trades, like woodworking, smithing or cooking, or weapons crafted for hunting, like spears. Additionally, tools repurposed as weapons also fall under the simple category, like warscythes or swordstaffs.
Axes
Simple Axes are axes primarily used for woodworking, felling trees and butchery. Examples include Handaxes, Felling Axes, Broad Axes, Hatchets.
| Damage Types | Cleaving or Splitting |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Tripping Attack |
| 2h Maneuvers | Power Attack, Pushing Attack |
Blades
Simple Blades are blades primarily used for farming, skinning and cooking. Examples include Scythes, Sickles, Knives, Machetes
| Damage Types | Slashing, Cleaving, Piercing |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Distracting Strike, Precise Attack, Feinting Attack |
| 2h Maneuvers | Tripping Attack, Sweeping Attack |
Bludgeons
Simple Bludgeons are tools usually used for carpentry, masonry and hunting. Examples include Hammers, Sledgehammers, Clubs. Also includes equipment for mining or climbing, like Pickaxes and Ice-picks.
| Damage Types | Bludgeoning or Splitting |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Power Attack |
| 2h Maneuvers | Pushing Attack, Tripping Attack |
Spears
Simple Spears includes farming tools and fishing tools, or simple weapons for hunting. Examples include Tridents and Hunting Spears.
- Simple spears can only be of the versatile size or smaller. Two-Handed or great sizes spears must instead be polearms.
| Damage Types | Piercing or Splitting |
| Range | Melee, Thrown |
| Maneuvers | Distracting Strike, Feinting Attack, Lunging Attack |
| 2h Maneuvers | Maneuvering Attack, Tripping Attack |
Polearms
Simple Polearm examples includes most improvisational weaponry made from farming tools, or simple weapons like longer spears. Examples include Warscythes, Pitchforks, Quarterstaffs and Swordstaffs.
- Polearms must always be great sized weapons.
| Damage Types | Bludgeoning plus the Damage Types from one simple melee weapon category of your choice. |
| Range | Melee |
| 2h Maneuvers | Pushing Attack, Brace, plus the maneuvers of the chosen weapon category. |
Martial Melee Weapons
Martial Weapons are weapons explicitly made for warfare. These are more specialized, granting the proficient wielder more damage and maneuvers for use in combat.
However, certain martial weapons may impose hardships while trying to socialize if the martial weapons are visible. This depends on the region, but some people may not appreciate a halberd in their face.
- Martial weapons gain the maneuvers and properties of their simple counterpart.
- Light martial weapons can be made as thrown weapons. This reduces their damage to the simple damage category, but allows it to be thrown more effectively.
Axes
Martial Axes are either made to cleave through limbs and light armor, or split through, bend and bash armor. Examples include Battleaxes, Tomahawks, Long Axes.
| Damage Types | Cleaving or Splitting |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Disarming Attack, Positioning Strike, Restraining Attack, Arresting Strike |
| 2h Maneuvers | Commander's Strike, Sweeping Attack, Seize and Conquer |
Blades
Martial Blades include all kinds of swords and special daggers. Blades can be double-edged or single edged, curved or straight, straight and thin, or short and heavy.
| Damage Types |
| ||||||
| Range | Melee | ||||||
| Maneuvers |
| ||||||
| 2h Maneuvers | Menacing Attack, Power Attack, Positioning Strike |
Curved
→ Curved Blade
Curved Blades are swords with a back-bending blade. These are heavily favored for lightly armored combat and often in the hands of cavalry. They favor slicing, cutting and slashing. Examples are Scimitars, Falchions and Sabres.
- As a Bonus Action, while mounted, when you attack with a Curved Blade, you may make an extra attack with the same weapon.
Straight
→ Straight Blade
Straight blades are the weapons of choice for those who require versatility. They give like most swords a good balance of offense and defense, but their double-edged blade yields the possibility of either hacking and cleaving, finding gaps and piercing the opponent, but also half-swording to split and swapping the grip to bash with the pommel. Examples are Daggers, Shortswords (Arming Swords), Longswords, Bastard Longswords, Greatswords (Zweihanders).
Thrusting
Thrusting Swords are either made for civilian life and personal protection, which are weapons designed to pierce lightly armored opponents, or made for warfare with heavier blades made to pierce and split thick armor. Examples are Rapiers, Estocs and Stilettos.
Bludgeons
Martial Bludgeons are weapons specially made for enemies with strong armor. Either with a splitting edge or a lump of steel, bludgeons can cause concussions, broken ribs and a whole variety of bodily harm. Bludgeons however, are not as effective against unarmored opponents.
| Damage Types | Splitting and/or Bludgeoning |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Maneuvering Attack, Avert Blow, Bait and Switch, Brace |
| 2h Maneuvers | Commander's Strike, Arresting Strike, Seize and Conquer |
Spears
Martial Spears are spears made for warfare rather than hunting. These range from javelins to longspears and pikes, and are generally the weapon of choice for large cohorts and armies. Even in one on one are they favored if the terrain is open and allows for longer weaponry.
| Damage Types | Piercing and/or Splitting |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Precise Attack, Impale, Arresting Strike, Riposte |
| 2h Maneuvers | Parry, Patient Defense, Vigilance |
Polearms
Martial Polearms are a combination of several weapons put on a stick. Often times seen as a pure battlefield weapon and made for large scale combat. Examples include Halberds, Poleaxes, Pikes.
- Martial polearms can choose to forego one of the chosen weapon categories for a hook. This grants the wielder advantage on checks when trying to unmount a mounted creature.
| Damage Types | Bludgeoning plus the Damage Types of two martial melee weapon categories of your choice. |
| Range | Melee |
| Maneuvers | Menacing Attack, Lunging Attack, plus the maneuvers of one of your chosen weapon categories. |
Weapon Damage
→ Weapon Damage
The damage a melee-weapon can do is dependent on several factors.
- Which kind of attack you make with the weapon, each corresponding to the five types of physical damage; Slashing, Cleaving, Piercing, Splitting, Bludgeoning. Cleaving and Splitting are combinations of the other damage types.
- Your modifier for Dexterity or Strength, depending on which kind of attack you make.
- The quality of the weapon; Simple, Martial or Exotic.
- Any enchantments on the weapon.
High
| Quality Type |
Great | Two-Handed | One-Handed | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | D10 | D10 | D6 | D4 |
| Martial | D12 | D12 | D8 | D6 |
| Exotic | Exotic weapons are rare and all have specific stats | |||
Medium
| Quality Type |
Great | Two-Handed | One-Handed | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | D8 | D8 | D4 | D2 |
| Martial | D10 | D10 | D6 | D4 |
| Exotic | Exotic weapons are rare and all have specific stats | |||
Low
| Quality Type |
Great | Two-Handed | One-Handed | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | D6 | D6 | D2 | 1 |
| Martial | D8 | D8 | D4 | D2 |
| Exotic | Exotic weapons are rare and all have specific stats | |||
Armor Penetration
The five different physical damage types have a varying degree of effectiveness against armor, each having an armor penetration value from 0 to 3. Slashing is the least effective against armor but great against flesh, like a sabre wielded against lightly armored or unarmored foes is almost useless against heavily armored ones. Bludgeoning however is the most effective against armor, like a warhammer wielded against a plated knight. It will however be less useful against an unarmored foe.
| Damage Type | Armor Penetration |
|---|---|
| Slashing | 0 |
| Cleaving | 1 |
| Piercing | 1 |
| Splitting | 2 |
| Bludgeoning | 3 |
Armor Penetration Calculations
Armor penetration ignores the AL calculated from your AL bonus from armor.
For example, if a creature has an Armor Level (AL) of 15, with a Dexterity modifier equal to 3 and an AL bonus from armor equal to 2, a bludgeoning weapon, which has an armor penetration of 3, will reduce the effective Armor Level down to 13 when determining a hit from an attack.
Noting ALs On Your Sheet
An easy way to keep track of your ALs during combat is to write down your base AL, your AL with the added Dexterity modifier and your AL with Dexterity and armor.
With the example described above, it could look something like this:
- Base AL: 10
- Base + Dexterity AL: 13
- Base + Dexterity + Armor AL: 15