Weapon Mastery

There are swordsmen, and then there are swordsmen. A warrior who devotes his life to the study of martial combat and the characteristics of a single type of weapon can become a weapon master - a fighter whose precision, quickness, and skill are virtually unequaled anywhere. Weapon masters are rare characters. Only single-classed fighters can ever achieve weapon mastery, and even then they do so with time, study, and sacrifice. To achieve mastery in a weapon, a character must first specialize in the use of that weapon. Then, at any time after he reaches 5th level, he can spend another proficiency slot to become a weapon master. He can continue to devote proficiency slots to the study of his chosen weapon, but can’t progress faster than the rate at which he gains new weapon proficiency slots. So, a character who becomes a master at 5th level couldn’t acquire his second slot of mastery until 6th level, his third until 9th level, and so on. Generally, only weapons that require some skill to handle or that have a history of cultural identification are chosen by weapon masters. Swords of any kind are the most common weapons mastered, followed by bows and then axes or spears. Polearms and crossbows are the subject of weapon mastery only in rare cases.

If a fighter spends another proficiency slot on a melee weapon he already specializes in, his attack and damage bonuses increase to +3 and +3, respectively. For bows and crossbows, his point-blank bonuses increase to +3/+3 as with melee weapons, and he gains an additional +1 to hit at all other range categories, for a total of +2. (Remember, this bonus doesn’t take range modifiers into account, so the archer has a total of +2 at short, +0 at medium, and –3 at long range, if the penalties are factored in.)

High Mastery: By spending a second slot on mastery, a character can become a high master. By this time, the character has spent four slots on a single weapon and is at least 6th level. High masters decrease the speed factor of their chosen weapon by 2. High masters also score critical hits on rolls of 16 or higher rather than 18 that hit their opponent by a margin of 5 or more. High masters who specialize in bows, crossbows or slings gain a new range category: extreme range. For all weapons, extreme range is 1/3 farther than long range. For example, if a weapon has a normal maximum range of 18 squares, in the hands of a master it can shoot 24 (1/3x18=6, 18+6=24) squares. Extreme range shots have a –10 penalty to hit before adjustments are made for the effects of mastery.

Grand Mastery: High masters who spend one more slot on learning their weapon of choice can become grand masters. Grand masters are capable of feats of swordplay that border on the fantastic. Grand masters gain one additional attack per round above and beyond a specialist’s rate of attacks for their level, so a 12th-level melee weapon grand master would attack 3 times per round with his weapon of choice. Grand masters also increase the amount of damage and the chance of a knockdown when they employ their chosen weapon. The weapon’s base damage die and knockdown die are increased to the next greater die size against all opponents. A long sword thus inflicts 1d10/1d20 points of damage in the hands of a grand master, and its knockdown die is increased to a d10. If the weapon causes multiple dice of damage, all of them are increased. Thus, a two-handed sword in the hands of a grand master inflicts 3d8 points of damage on large targets. Needless to say, grand masters are extremely dangerous opponents.