In 3rd, masterwork weapons were essentially non-magical +1 weapons. I didn't see these mentioned in the DMG, and I suppose I can understand why. Bonuses are clearly at more of a premium in 5E, and I think that's overall a good thing.
I would like to have masterwork weapons in my game however, and I'm not convinced a non-magical +1 would be OP, but I'm open to, and yet coming up short while attempting to think of other ways to impliment non-magical weapons of impressive quality. I can of course stick strictly to the roleplaying aspect of it, simply telling the players how well balanced the sword feels and such without actually adding any practical benefit, but I would rather have them have added value of some kind.
What do you think some good ways are to incorporate masterwork weapons into a 5E game?
I'd not bother giving them stat bonuses, but instead simly describe em as special. give them a name, and make them sound really nice. and when/if they sell it have them sell for more money.
being told "the sword is an exquistiatly crafted longsword, bearing the mark of the legendary smith Roland, the blade despite being a century old is still as sharp as even. the Pommel is a gorgous peice of amber.. etc. make it a sword that they'd basicly be proud to own
I am confused, I was under the impression there was already +1 Weapons in the Magic Items. I mean, you can even find a couple of +1 weapons in the currently published adventures.
I m still very confused.
Echamil wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Echamil wrote:
Ah, so the +1 Weapon is +1 to hit and damage still? Alright.
What about +1 Armor? I mean, obviously +1 is goin to give a +1 to AC, but was it different in 3.x?
Echamil wrote:
I am definitely enjoying 5th Edition more and more. It is just so much simpler.
Echamil wrote:
I'd avoid flat plusses to accuracy, even thoguh that would make sense, especially with custom weapons set for a specific person's hands and body. That said I found the non-magical crafting options of 3e to be sparse, and often dissappointing. What I advise is that masterwork weapons cost some amount of gold plus the price of a normal version, and have 2-3 'slots', these slots can be filled by augments decided by the crafter, and these augments do things like add minor bleed damage, allow the easy use of poisons and/or alchemical products, add the ability to grapple with a weapon, attach a wire spool, just generally cool tricks that could be done without magic and just a little fudging fo rthe sake of fun.
rampant wrote:
And what does that fluffy bit of boring have to do with my suggestion? You can dress it up all you want but it's still a flat +1, and that is boring, besides accuracy bonuses still do funny thigns to the game math. If you want a cool memorable item my experience tells me that you have to make using it fun and engaging, and flat plusses tend to just fade into background unless they're rediculously huge. My suggestion was for features, tricks, and add-ons, not trying to use fluff to cover a lack of crunch.
rampant wrote:
Well, at least I tried.
Echamil wrote:
I'd go the boring route and either just have it be a really well-crafted, ornate and/or a custom piece with no mechanical benefit. Or, have masterwork weapons do +1 damage and masterwork armor do as someone said above, increase max dex +1 for medium armor, and negate the disadvantage to stealth for heavy armor. Not quite sure what to do with light armor.
I'd simply make up minor stat bonuses. A mastercrafted bow might have a slightly longer reach. A mastercrafted siege weapon might do a bit more damage. And a mastercrafted melee weapon could have a +1 bonus to damage, or to hit. It could also have special features. Like a compartment hidden inside the hilt. Or a phrase inscribed in the blade itself. It could also have a bonus to resist sunder attempts, which makes sense if its an extraordinary well crafted weapon.
Huntsman57 wrote:
vonklaude wrote:
If im not mistaken, there was a thread talking about the like of adamantine weapons in the DMG, and one of the comments was that some one took two special properties off of some table, unbreakable and something else, to make adamantine weapons. IDK what the name of the table is I dont have a DMG, but why not use something like that? BOnuses to reach, hidden compartments, and even ornate decoration could help.
Adventure hook idea, that masterwork sword your fighter has been carrying around for awhile has drawn the attention of the local noble(really easy after some downtime living where NPCs can see it and spread a few rumors) Turns out its an ancestral weapon and he is bringing chargers down against the fighter. Try to escape, legal fight, or a jail break out.....SO many possibilities
cowleymen wrote:
I was thinking about Masterwork items being removed from 5E and I rather that the +1 attack/damage belong to magical weapons only.
I have a couple of houserules that go something like this. Regular weapons and armor get wear but can also break from mighty blows. If a player rolls a natural 1 on their attack,
they break their weapon (vs a armored or natural armored opponent). The weapon becomes useless.
If someone gets damaged by a critical hit, their shield or armor gets damaged and reduced by 1 AC until repaired. If the player uses their weapon to parry, you can use the above example instead.
Masterwork weapons and armor would cost way more than regular items but could still break but not so easily. If the player rolls a natural 1 with their Masterwork weapon, there is a 20% that it breaks vs automatically breaking with a regular weapon. You do the same with Masterwork armor but maybe with a 25% to crack if you get crit.
This makes Masterworks weapons sought out more, maybe make it Dwarven or Elven forged only though a greatly skilled human could forge Masterwork weapons/armor too, depends on your world.
The mastercrafters wouldn't be at your local village, maybe they only craft you such a weapon based on favor or request by a King, making that special is cool too.
I like that this doesn't take a away from Magical items that are unbreakable and that give you +'s to your attack and damage. With the spending gold issue in another post, here you have to go get a new weapon purchased after breaking your weapon (and the drama during combat when it breaks) or going to a blacksmith to get your armor repaired.
I've seen it in stories/movies where a weapon breaks and the hero improvises with something or yells for a friend to throw them a weapon, get creative! Or a player that loves their shield but won't get it repaired and has a huge dent in it (at -1 AC since it was crit once). Stuff like that makes for more fun roleplaying and stories. 
Just things to think about.
Well, one of the thoughts I had about this is that it's an unneeded dichotomy. First, consider the use of "magic item" as being a meta-game term and not necessarily a game world term. In other words, "magic" items don't necessarily have to be magical per se, they are just special in some way. The DMG already includes actual magical items as well as a handful of items that are arguably non-magical but just rare and powerful. There's no reason this hierarchy can't incorporate highly prized artisan-level mundane items as well.
With all that said, my suggestion is just to use the existing rules and flavor them appropriately. Grandpappy's Orc Huntin blade may not be "magical", but it was forged with perfect craftsmanship by a world-reknowned smith; categorizing it as a +1 weapon and giving it that degree of worth.
To be honest I really dont like most weapon breaking rules in a standard setting. For things like Dark Sun or lower technology settings, sure. But not in most settigs.
If any of my players bring up masterwork weapons, I will probably give it some minor properties to make it worth the gold cost.
In an adventure I'll be running soon, I put some weapons in that are of such fine quality that they can be treated as magical weapons for the purposes of dealing with creatures that have resistance to nonmagical weapon damage. They otherwise have no bonuses to attack or damage. I didn't call them "masterwork," but this seems like it could work for masterwork weapons in someone else's campaign.
@ echamil, you explained nothing, you quoted my posted about not using +s then when into a very fancy and detailed description of a sword with a non-magical +1, which is like the opposite of my suggestion, no matter how much you dress it up with descriptions or training requirements, which aren't really requirmeents btw they're just somethign that will be taken care of off screen during the next bit of down time. +s to accuracy do indeed screw with the game math in 5e because it's much more tightly controlled than it was in 3e, and magic weapons aren't an assumed part of the game anymore. Increased accuracy turns into extra damage very quickly especially for weapon users who rely on multi-attacking for their damage. If masterwork is just another plot device like regular magic items, it's probably OK to have stupid crap like flat +s, but if you want an actual system for handling masterwork gear they need to be avoided like the plague, and my suggestion was for a system.
As far as breaking items goes, I'm not a fan of it for a couple of reasons, first off anythign so over dependent on crits is likely to be rather swingy to start with, and frankly it's annoying.
In my campaign (when I start my own again), I think Masterwork weapons and armor will just be 50% lighter. (I know that for hammers and clubs and bludgeoning weapons, that might not make a whole lot of sense, but for ease of use, I'd rather have an abstraction that is simple - I guess it is more like it is so well balanced that even though it generates as much impact as a heavier weapon it is that much easier to carry and wield).
As for magic items, I actually like the idea that there will be many more magic weapons that are magical, but have no bonus to attack or damage. These weapons bypass resistances but they are less powerful than +1 or +2 weapons.
Bounded accuracy is the key.
We use mastercraft weapons as a componet for enchanting magical weapons.
Masterwork weapons and armour might give you a social bonus when talking with smiths, nobles, etc, as they recognise the very fine quality of your gear and think to themselves: "Hmm. If the legendary Hattori Hanzo made this man that sword, he must be someone of great integrity. I'd best be polite."
Masterwork weapons might lower your AC by one point and increase your to-hit by one point, to simulate enemies targeting you to take your weapon from you as well as the weapon' s fine quality.
A masterwork suit of armour might consume half the time to don, or increase your standard of living by one level without the extra cost (the innkeeper assumes you're someone of importance due to your lordly armour, so provides an excellent service to you).
If there's a niche for masterwork items, I think it's in them being useful in specialized circumstances. So maybe a weapon includes a specialized hilt that helps protect the wielder against being disarmed. Or maybe the metal of the weapon had a special ore included in the smelting process that gives it the ability to interrupt regeneration in trolls and similar creatures. An armor's stealth disadvantage is negated within a specific type of environment. Basically interrupt the process of creating a magical item midway through the formula and determine a cool effect it could grant the item without the aid of magic.
I would steer away from granting bonuses to hit or damage though.
Or a weapon that was quenched in holy water and blessed by a priest that counts as magical against fiends.
Huntsman57 wrote:
Imaculata wrote:
Diffan wrote:
colemcm wrote:
pukunui wrote:
Simple maybe, but totally boring, and broken as well.
Helaman wrote:
http://annarchive.com/files/Drmg148.pdf
The article "Always Wear Your Best Suit" might be applied to mastercraft weapons and armor. Using enameling, plating, engraving.
rampant wrote:
Masterwork swords could give a limited number of +1 per day (player either chooses before the roll to use it or chooses after seeing whether they hit). The higher quality of sword, the more pluses per day it'd have.
Imaculata wrote:
rampant wrote: