Specialised Weapons

Specialised Weapons

Specialised Weapons are advanced tools of warfare, designed with unique properties that make them difficult to wield but devastating in the right hands. Mastering these weapons requires extensive training, as they go beyond the complexity of even martial weapons. They bring a distinct tactical flavour to combat, rewarding skill and creativity while introducing new possibilities on the battlefield.

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Specialised Weapon Training

When a character reaches 4th level in any class that grants proficiency with all martial weapons, they may choose one type of Specialised Weapon to gain proficiency with. A character only gains access to the weapon’s special properties if they are proficient with the weapon. Creatures that are not proficient in a Specialised Weapon cannot effectively wield it and gain no benefit from its special properties.
If a Specialised Weapon requires specialised ammunition, characters proficient with the weapon also gain proficiency in handling and using its ammunition effectively.

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Specialised Weapon Properties

Blackpowder
Blackpowder weapons fire projectiles with thunderous force, capable of piercing armour and devastating foes. When fired, they emit a deafening crack audible up to 300 feet away. However, blackpowder weapons are highly vulnerable to moisture. If exposed to heavy rain, submerged, or drenched in water, the weapon becomes unusable until dried.

Brutal
Brutal weapons are designed to inflict maximum harm. When you hit a creature with a Brutal weapon, you deal additional damage equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). Additionally, when you score a critical hit with a Brutal weapon, you can roll one additional damage die for the damage dealt.

Cumbersome
Cumbersome weapons are unwieldy but deliver powerful blows for those with the strength to use them. When making an attack with a Cumbersome weapon, you must use your Strength modifier for both attack and damage rolls, regardless of any feature or ability that would allow the use of a different ability score.

Momentum
Momentum weapons are designed to maximise the impact of a charge. If you hit a creature with a Momentum weapon after moving 20 feet or more in a straight line this turn, the weapon’s damage dice increase to its Momentum damage dice value.

Repeater
Repeater weapons are engineered for rapid fire, whether through multiple barrels or quick reloading mechanisms. When you take the Attack action with a Repeater weapon, you can use a bonus action to make one additional attack with the same weapon. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of this additional attack unless the modifier is negative. This bonus action can be made even if the weapon has the Loading property.

Swift
Swift weapons excel at quick, reactive combat. When you miss an attack with a Swift weapon, you gain advantage on the next attack roll you make with that weapon against the same target.

Scatter
Scatter weapons are designed to damage multiple enemies in a single attack. When you hit a creature with a Scatter weapon, measure the weapon’s scatter range from the point of impact (the square the target occupies). All other creatures within the scatter range must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Scatter DC (8 + your proficiency bonus + the ability modifier used for the attack). On a failed save, they take damage equal to the ability modifier used for the attack. This damage is the same type as the weapon’s base damage.
Vaulting
Vaulting weapons allow for dynamic movement on the battlefield. Once per round, when a hostile creature moves into your reach while you are wielding a Vaulting weapon and not wearing heavy armour, you can move up to 15 feet in any direction, ignoring difficult terrain and opportunity attacks. To use this property, you must have a speed of at least 15 feet and not be incapacitated. When you use this property, your speed is reduced by 15 feet until the end of your next turn. Additionally, while wielding this weapon, your jump distance becomes 15 feet if it isn’t already greater.

Armour Piercing
Armour Piercing weapons are designed to penetrate heavy protection. When you make an attack roll against a creature wearing heavy armour or with natural armour that provides AC 17 or higher, you gain a +2 bonus to the attack roll.

Cleave
Cleave weapons are designed for sweeping strikes. When you hit a creature with an attack using a Cleave weapon, you can make a second attack against a different creature within your reach. If the second attack hits, you do not roll for damage; instead, the target takes damage equal to the ability modifier used for the attack.

Cripple
Cripple weapons hinder enemy movement. When you hit a creature with a Cripple weapon and deal damage to it, its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.

Fast
Fast weapons allow for quick reactions and exploitation of openings. Once per round, when a hostile creature moves into your reach or makes an attack against you while within your reach, you can make one attack against the creature with your Fast weapon.

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Specialised Melee Weapons

Specialised Weapon	Damage	Properties
Battleaxe	1d12 Slashing	Heavy, Two Handed, Cleave, Cumbersome
Broadsword	1d8 Slashing	Versatile (1d10), Cripple
Cavalry Hammer	1d8 Bludgeoning	Versatile (1d10), Momentum (1d12), Armour Piercing
Claymore	2d6 Slashing	Heavy, Two Handed, Brutal, Cumbersome
Dragon Dagger	1d6 Piercing	Light, Finesse, Thrown (Range 20/60), Fast
Polearm	1d10 Slashing	Heavy, Two Handed, Reach, Vaulting
Sabre	1d8 Slashing	Finesse, Swift

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Specialised Ranged Weapons

Specialised Weapon	Damage	Properties
Blackpowder Pistol	2d4 Piercing	Ammunition (range 25/100), Loading, Light, Repeater, Swift
Blunderbuss	1d10 Piercing	Ammunition (range 20/30), Loading, Two Handed, Blackpowder, Cumbersome, Scatter (15-foot cone).
Recurve Bow	1d8 Piercing	Ammuntion (range 100/400), Two Handed, Heavy, Brutal

Jacobs Musing
Humanoids have always been creatures of contradiction. Capable of creating soaring symphonies and breathtaking works of art, yet equally adept at devising implements of destruction that embody both cruelty and ingenuity. Why, I wonder, have we poured so much of our collective intelligence and creativity into crafting new and inventive ways to mutilate and kill one another? Weapons, after all, are as old as civilisation itself. They are tools of survival, instruments of war, and symbols of power, all wrapped into one.

At their core, weapons serve a practical purpose. A bow to hunt game, a dagger to fend off predators—these are simple, necessary things. Yet, somewhere along the way, our ingenuity turned grim. It wasn’t enough to create tools for survival; we began forging weapons not just to defend ourselves, but to dominate, to maim, to annihilate. Each innovation seemed to inspire another, a grim arms race in which the only victors were the weaponsmiths and the lords who wielded their wares to cement their power.

I have, in my travels, encountered blades so sharp they could cleave a man in two with a whisper of effort. I have seen siege engines that hurled flaming stones, reducing fortresses to rubble. And, most terrifying of all, I have heard of the arcane weapons of the old empires, created in the days when magic flowed freely and was harnessed with reckless abandon. It is said that one such weapon, imbued with destructive magic, was powerful enough to turn entire cities to ash with a single strike. Were these creations acts of genius or madness? Perhaps both.

Still, I cannot deny the ingenuity behind these creations. A well-crafted blade or a finely-tuned bow is as much a work of art as any painting or symphony, a testament to the skill of its maker. And while the purpose of a weapon may be grim, the craftsmanship behind it can be awe-inspiring. There is beauty in a perfectly balanced sword, in the deadly precision of a crossbow, in the meticulous engineering of a trebuchet. I often find myself torn—admiring the brilliance of the craftsman, yet lamenting the purpose their creations serve.

It is perhaps fitting that weapons have shaped the history of Estara as much as they have stained its soil with blood. Empires have risen and fallen on the strength of their armies, and armies are only as strong as the weapons they wield. The mighty axes of the dwarves have held back waves of invaders. The swift, curved blades of the elves have carved paths through battlefields. Even here in Mournland, I cannot travel far without seeing the remnants of some ancient conflict—a shattered sword, a rusted helm, a forgotten battlefield where dreams of conquest and survival met in violent collision.

And yet, for all the destruction they bring, weapons are not inherently evil. A sword is just a sword, after all—a piece of sharpened metal. It is the hand that wields it and the mind that commands it that determine its purpose. Weapons have defended the weak, overthrown tyrants, and brought freedom to the oppressed. They are tools, and like all tools, they can be used for good or ill. Perhaps that is the real tragedy—that something so neutral can so easily become a vehicle for cruelty.

Still, I wonder at the cost. How many lives have been ended prematurely because of the sharpness of a blade, the speed of an arrow, or the blast of a cannon? How many children have lost their parents, how many lovers have been torn apart, how many dreams have been extinguished in the name of power, vengeance, or even misguided justice? The sheer scale of the suffering weapons have wrought is staggering. And yet, for all our lamentations, we continue to forge them, to perfect them, as if we cannot imagine a world without them.

There is something profoundly human in this contradiction. We abhor violence, yet we prepare for it. We dream of peace, yet we arm ourselves for war. Perhaps it is our nature to be both creators and destroyers, to seek beauty and inflict pain, to build and to break in equal measure. Weapons are a mirror, reflecting both the best and the worst of us.

And so, I remain conflicted. I wish for a world where weapons are no longer needed, where disputes are settled with words and not with bloodshed. But I know such a world is unlikely, at least not in my lifetime. Until then, we will continue to forge our blades, to draw our bows, and to arm ourselves against the darkness we see in others—and, perhaps, the darkness we fear within ourselves. The history of Estara is written in steel and blood, but it is also written in resilience and hope. For every sword raised in anger, there is another raised in defence. For every life taken, there is another saved. And perhaps that is where our redemption lies—not in the weapons we create, but in how we choose to wield them.