Dnd 5e tweak no1: Martial-Caster damage gap

When I fell out of love with DND5E during the pressure cooker of the pandemic shutdowns, I got frustrated with not just the system, but the whole of its player base. Eventually, I realized the simplicity I disliked was just my pessimistic view of straightforward gameplay convenience. Now, I'm returning to it with an optimistic attitude, and ironing out some of the system's major kinks at my own table.

I'm starting with the most talked-to-death and disruptive problems 5e has been wrestling with, and working my way down from there. I'd like to share this journey with others, especially aspiring GMs who might be new to the hobby as a whole; if experienced readers find I'm repeating stuff "everyone already knows", I refer you to XKCD comic number 2501. 

All these tweaks will be put in the three step format of: 

- Spelling out the problem
- My proposal to counter it
- Summing up the "why" behind my specific approach to the problem

I yap first, then playtest them later. Most of my proposals are probably overcorrections, but I can read your comments to find out how they worked when you tried them either as-is, or as tuned down versions of the suggestion.

Issue 1: Damage gap between Martials and Casters

Problem:

Community consensus is that by base, martials are usually less fun to play when alongside casters. Multiple other blogs, articles, and YouTube videos go into depth behind why, but I'm focusing on one primary reason among many: the martial/caster damage gap. Martials dedicated to using weapon attacks (or unarmed attacks, a natural weapon, etc) should be made more potent in terms of damage to keep up with a caster's options. Even taking leveled spells out of the equation, cantrip damage scales automatically as a caster levels; this kicks in at 5th level, and the Extra Attack feature most martials get around the same time doesn't close the gap very effectively. Adding more attacks per turn just means that each extra dice of damage is gated behind another attack roll, which may or may not hit - each individual attack has the same amount of punch behind it.

The detriments of being single-target attackers and dealing often resisted physical damage types are massive sore spots that compound this issue, and most martials lack appropriate counter-balance that makes them feel good, especially when doing their thing when alongside a caster doing better damage. Even if they get buffed to do exactly equal damage on average by the numbers... it's still up against creatures who have physical resistance, which grows to an almost-every-combat reality the higher in enemy CR you go.

Attack range is another issue: with damage between melee and ranged martials being equitable, why risk their neck to charge into melee? Is it worth it when you're a Dexterity build and have access to both?  Why not pick a race that has flight at level 1, grab a bow, and plink away from relative safety? The easiest way to not get hit is to be out of reach, AC and saving throws be damned.

Some (sub)class features address this nicely, but too many of the effective ones simply add casting capabilities onto martials for my tastes. As a result of this stance, I don't think introducing complexity a la Battlemaster techniques across the board for all is the right answer for this particular question of closing the damage gap; the damage is added via a finite resource (when applicable, usually it's that OR a non-damaging buff or debuff going on), and this complexity should be opt-in by way of specific class/subclass choice.

If you would like to see a video going over this issue at length (and an alternate solution I discovered was VERY similar to my own upon watching it myself), check out the Youtuber Bone Wizard and his video on the topic here:

Proposal: 

Buff martial damage directly and innately. The above mentioned video by Bone
Wizard suggests an adjustment on how magic weapons work, but my own proposal detailed below lets martials be powerful without relying on the GM actively doing more work with item distribution. Alongside all the other work of a campaign, I know I've forgotten to sprinkle in magic items on someone's wish list, be it in loot piles or as an item available for purchase in a shop.

Seasoned Weapon Striker (SWS) is a homebrew class feature for martials (defined any class that grants no spell slots by base, even if their subclass can grant them slots) which improves their damage output automatically as they level. This works by simply increasing the number of damage die on any weapons when they wield them. The math works similar to how cantrips do the same, but at an accelerated rate. 

A lesser version of this feature, with slower progression than SWS but at the same pace as cantrips, is called Intermediate Weapon Striker (IWS). It's given to half-casters, who are still expected to use weapons more often than full-casters given their smaller pool of available spell slots; a Warlock's Pact Magic is treated as them being a half-caster.

Full casters who wish to partake in this ability should multi-class, if their table allows. A DM tempted to give them to certain weapon using full-caster subclasses (Bard's College of Swords or Bladesinger Wizards, for example), but I would recommend against this. These casters often have access to cantrips like Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade already, and Bladesinger specifically has a version of Extra Attack that lets them swap a normal attack for a cantrip. If the DM is firm on it though, they should only grant these classes IWS.

Critically: This ability should not be "counterbalanced" by nerfing or removing Extra Attack from classes that have it in their chassis. If the decreased longevity of enemies on the field is an issue, GMs should consider the following:

• Increase enemy health across the board. First, try maximizing their hit points. For example, if their health entry says "Hit Points 7 (2d4 + 2)", instead of accepting the average d4 dice roll of 2.5 (which makes that formula result 7 HP), maximize the die result to the highest possible roll of 4 to equal 10. If that's still not enough, take that maximized result and multiply it by a factor of 1.5 (15 HP for our example) or a factor of 2 (20 HP), etc. Don't be afraid to walk back an adjustment step if you think you've overshot it.

• Add more small fry to your battlefield. Your now way more powerful martials will enjoy mowing them down en masse with their newfound potency, and can share the load alongside the casters hurling their precious and finite AoEs.

• Add waves of reinforcements! This is an extension of the above recommendation, but the additional small fry are spaced out between rounds, instead of rolling for initiative all at once at the start. It's slightly distinct in that it makes the players feel like the brand of badasses that need reinforcements deployed against them. Wow, they've got more butt to kick! They'll probably having fun cockily sweeping the floor with the mooks late to the party, as heroes should every now and again.

Alright, here are the features in detail to add to character sheets:

Seasoned Weapon Striker

Applicable base classes: Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Rogue

Your class's primary method of attack is by way of weapon (or unarmed) strikes. Unlike others who use clubs and crossbows as backup plans, your armaments are your bread and butter - you are simply trained to use them better.

At 3rd level, you multiply the amount of damage dice rolled when attacking with a weapon you're proficient in by 2. For example, a dagger would deal 2d4 damage, and a greatsword would deal 4d6 damage.

If you have an ability that improves your weapon die or Unarmed Strike beyond its baseline (such as Monk's Martial Arts or the Unarmed Fighting feat), this ability compounds and benefits it as well. A natural weapon, permanent or temporary (such as one granted by the Barbarian subclass Path of Beast), also benifits - unless it has its own method of increasing the number of damage die as you gain levels.

You multiply your weapons' damage die again: x3 8th, x4 at 13th, and x5 at 18th level.

Intermediate Weapon Striker

Applicable base classes: Artificer, Paladin, Ranger (but see note), Warlock

As Seasoned Weapon Striker, but for half-casters. Make the following adjustments:

• The first paragraph of flavor text changes to: "Your class balances exotic abilities like magical spellcasting with weapon (or unarmed) strikes. Unlike others, who commit to one or the other, your approach to combat leans on both. While not as proficient as a martial specialist, you know how to use the tools for that half of the trade with solid efficiency."

• The damage die multiplication kicks in later and has slower progression: x2 5th level, then x3 at 11th and x4 at 17th. 

Note 1: A generous GM should probably throw their table's ranger a bone and grant them SWS instead of IWS. Base version or Tasha's, lord knows they probably need it. 

Note 2: Circle of the Moon druids should get something parallel to Intermediate Weapon Striker, but exclusively during their wildshaping and for their wildshape's natural weapons. I'll probably circle around to that later in its own post about the handful of full casters that can get something like IWS under certain conditions - to include Bladesinger wizard during their Bladesong, College of Swords bard when using Slashing Flourish, and Pact of the Blade warlocks who pick up the Improved/Superior/Ultimate Pact Weapon invocations.

Justification: 

Most (if not all) damage dealing cantrips scale their damage with the same formula as SWS (+dmg die at 5th, 11th, and 17th), with the ADDITIONAL bonus of dealing non-physical damage. The shift in damage type is important, because while physical damage types are often resisted against, spells deal damage types that are resisted less often (force, radiant, necrotic, etc). And when a resistance or immunity does kick in... they have more than one attack cantrip on deck, usually. Unless they're a Warlock, then Eldritch Blast is the only thing they really need.

The above proposal amps up the damage scaling for full martials to keep them ahead of the average cantrip-flinging caster, and half-casters on par with that same cantrip scaling when using their weapons or other physical attacks. I've done it this way because of the damage type situation in the previous paragraph. So while yes, they will be WILDLY more effective against creatures that lack resistances, that is the price to pay for them being able to be somewhat effective against more durable creatures that do have those resistances. Thus, my recommendation to up their health and numbers before trying more intense tweaks.

Cantrips also tend to have a debuff (ex: Chill Touch pauses healing, and for undead, additionally forces disadvantage for attacks). While the base chassis of most martials lack anything comparable to pair with the actual damaging parts of their attacks, specific subclasses almost always sort this out.

As a cherry on top, this homebrew is applicable to many homebrew/3rd party classes out the box. The GM evaluates whether the class should get SWS, IWS, or neither - depending on the class being a full martial, half caster, or full caster, then implements them accordingly. Use best judgement when a class has exotic abilities that aren't traditional casting.

Flaws:

A secret fourth category! Woah there!

Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. I'm not immune to being wrong, and I'll readily admit that while this helps buoy all weapon-swinging classes, it maintains the unfortunate imbalances amongst them. Specific class and subclass comparisons aside, Dexterity versus Strength builds are one of the things in this solution's blind spot I admit is still gonna exist. These will be their own blogposts down the line.

So, there we go. Please comment any feedback you have, and thank you for reading!