Why Dungeons & Dragons Should Bring Back Exotic Weapons

The current edition of Dungeons & Dragons should bring back the Exotic weapons from the older versions of the game, as they added some much-needed variety to the weapon list. The current Player’s Handbook only has two types of weapon: Simple and Martial.

Simple weapons in D&D are used by classes that lack combat training, but they’re so basic that anyone can use them. These include the club, the dagger, and the light crossbow. Martial weapons are used by classes that have had extensive training in the use of all types of weapons. These include the longsword, the pike, and the longbow. It’s possible for characters to receive weapon proficiencies from their race, such as dwarves being proficient in the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer, regardless of their class. It’s also possible for D&D characters to gain weapon proficiencies by multiclassing or spending Feats.

The third edition of D&D had a third category of weapons, called Exotic weapons. These were unusual Dungeons & Dragons weapons that required extra training to master, but they had extra benefits over the Simple/Martial weapons. The current edition of D&D dropped Exotic weapons, save for a few that were turned into Martial weapons, like the whip. The creators of the game should bring Exotic weapons back, as the weapon list in the Player’s Handbook is boring compared to the ones from the older editions of the game.

The Benefit Of Exotic Weapons in D&D

Exotic Dungeons & Dragons weapons generally had higher damage dice, a larger critical threat range, or a higher critical modifier than similar weapons from the Simple/Martial list. There were also some Exotic weapons in D&D that had special traits, like the repeating crossbow containing five bolts at once, the spiked chain having the ability to perform trip attacks, and the dire flail giving a bonus to disarming attacks. Dungeons & Dragons’ exotic weapons added some much-needed variety to the arsenal of equipment available in the Player’s Handbook and they gave players the chance to outfit their D&D characters with some unique gear.

The Downside To Exotic Weapons in D&D

Dungeons & Dragons’ exotic weapons were balanced out by the fact that characters needed to spend a Feat in order to use one effectively, otherwise they’d take a steep penalty to their attack bonus. This means that only a variant human would be able to take one at first level in the current edition, at the cost of all of the other useful abilities a Feat in D&D can grant.

The other issue is finding magical versions in the wild. The dagger, longsword, and mace users of the world have it easy, as there are magical versions of them all over the place. It’s going to be much harder to find a magical gnome hooked hammer or two-bladed sword. This means that players will have to pay out of pocket to have magical weapons made, or scour the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse for the one +1 bolas.

About The Author

Scott Baird
(2543 Articles Published)

Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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