Weapon Mastery, Eight Tricks Your Weapon Already Knows
Every weapon in SRD 5.2.1 carries one extra trick in the Weapons table's Mastery column. Most characters never use it. Five classes can, and for them the choice of weapon matters as much as the damage die.
Who gets it
Each weapon has a mastery property, which is usable only by a character who has a feature, such as Weapon Mastery, that unlocks the property for the character.
At level 1, the Fighter picks three kinds of weapons; the Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger and Rogue pick two. The Barbarian's choices must be melee weapons. Everyone can swap:
Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can practice weapon drills and change one of those weapon choices.
You unlock a kind of weapon, not one blade. Choose Longswords and every Longsword you pick up has Sap.
The eight properties
| Mastery | What it does | Carried by |
|---|---|---|
| Cleave | Free attack on a second creature beside the first | Greataxe, Halberd |
| Graze | Damage on a miss | Glaive, Greatsword |
| Nick | Light extra attack without the Bonus Action | Dagger, Light Hammer, Sickle, Scimitar |
| Push | Shove up to 10 feet | Greatclub, Pike, Warhammer, Heavy Crossbow |
| Sap | Target's next attack at Disadvantage | Mace, Spear, Flail, Longsword, Morningstar, War Pick |
| Slow | Speed −10 feet | Club, Javelin, Light Crossbow, Sling, Whip, Longbow, Musket |
| Topple | Con save or Prone | Quarterstaff, Battleaxe, Lance, Maul, Trident |
| Vex | Advantage on your next attack | Handaxe, Dart, Shortbow, Rapier, Shortsword, Blowgun, Hand Crossbow, Pistol |
The numbers below use a level 1 Fighter with Strength 16: +5 to hit, +3 damage. The target is a Goblin Warrior: AC 15, 10 HP, Constitution 10. The Fighter hits 55% of the time.
Graze: the miss still counts
If your attack roll with this weapon misses a creature, you can deal damage to that creature equal to the ability modifier you used to make the attack roll.
A Greatsword (2d6 + 3) averages 5.85 damage a swing against the goblin, crits included. Graze adds 3 on every miss, 45% of swings: 7.2 a swing, 23% more. Graze never drops a full-health goblin by itself, but it finishes one on 3 HP or less every time.
Cleave: the second goblin
If you hit a creature with a melee attack roll using this weapon, you can make a melee attack roll with the weapon against a second creature within 5 feet of the first that is also within your reach. On a hit, the second creature takes the weapon's damage, but don't add your ability modifier to that damage unless that modifier is negative. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.
A Greataxe (1d12 + 3) averages 5.55 a swing. With a second goblin standing next to the first, Cleave fires on 55% of swings and its 1d12 lands 55% of the time: 7.7 a swing in total. That beats Graze, but only when enemies bunch up. Alone against one ogre, Graze wins.
Topple: knock it down
If you hit a creature with this weapon, you can force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 plus the ability modifier used to make the attack roll and your Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, the creature has the Prone condition.
The Fighter's DC is 8 + 3 + 2 = 13. The goblin (+0) fails 60% of the time, so a Maul swing leaves it Prone 33% of the time. Every ally beside it then attacks with Advantage. An Ogre (AC 11, Constitution +3) gets hit 75% of the time but fails only 45%: Prone on 34% of swings, about the same.
Sap: blunt the reply
If you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature has Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of your next turn.
An Ogre's Greatclub (+6, 2d8 + 4) hits the Fighter's AC 16 half the time. A Longsword hits the Ogre 75% of the time; each hit cuts the Ogre's next swing to 25%. Over a turn, the Ogre's chance to land its 13 damage falls from 50% to 31%. Sap is armor that comes with the sword.
Vex and Nick: the Rogue's pair
If you hit a creature with this weapon and deal damage to the creature, you have Advantage on your next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn.
When you make the extra attack of the Light property, you can make it as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action. You can make this extra attack only once per turn.
Sneak Attack needs Advantage or an ally beside the target. A lone level 1 Rogue (Dexterity 16) masters Shortswords (Vex) and Scimitars (Nick). Stab with the Shortsword: a hit (55%) gives Advantage on the next attack. Swing the Scimitar as the Light extra attack, with Advantage, 79.75% to hit, Sneak Attack on. That lands 44% of turns with no ally anywhere near, and Nick leaves the Bonus Action free.
Push and Slow: move the fight
If you hit a creature with this weapon, you can push the creature up to 10 feet straight away from yourself if it is Large or smaller.
If you hit a creature with this weapon and deal damage to it, you can reduce its Speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. If the creature is hit more than once by weapons that have this property, the Speed reduction doesn't exceed 10 feet.
Push throws a goblin off a ledge or out of a doorway. Slow drops its Speed from 30 to 20 feet: a Longbow archer backs away faster than it closes. Two archers with Slow still take off only 10 feet.
Choosing
- Fighting crowds: Greataxe (Cleave).
- One big target: Greatsword or Glaive (Graze), plus a Longsword for Sap when it hits back hard.
- With allies who melee: Maul or Battleaxe (Topple).
- Rogue alone: Shortsword plus Scimitar (Vex, then Nick).
At level 9 the Fighter's Tactical Master swaps any mastery for Push, Sap or Slow on a single attack, so one weapon covers more.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
