D&D: Five Weapon Mastery Properties With Some Surprising Punch
In the 5.5E Player’s Handbook, Weapon Mastery properties are a not-so-secret boon to weapon-using characters. And these are our favorites.
One of the biggest changes in D&D 5.5E is to weapons of all stripes. From the humblest club to the mightiest musket (which are also now in the game), weapons got an upgrade in the form of Weapon Mastery properties. Which is a clunky way of saying something like weapon masteries instead. But they are abilities unlocked from the “Weapon Mastery” feature, which you can get from classes, like Fighter and Barbarian, or from a feat, namely Weapon Master.
These properties giveyou a little something extra with every attack. You can knock a foe down, potentially, or shove them around, or even make an extra attack under the right circumstances. But, you won’t ever have access to them all, so you’ll want to pick and choose what you know how to use. While your mileage may vary, these are some of our favorites.
Nick
Nick is right up there with two weapoon fighting these days. This weapon mastery property makes two weapon fighting actually a fun and good thing to play in D&D 5.5E. In a nutshell, it lets you make the extra attack you’d make from the Light weapon property as part of the Attack action instead of as a Bonus Action, effectively granting you one extra attack without needing to use your Bonus Action. It frees up the BA for characters like Rogues who want to do cool things with it – which is great because now pretty much everyone has something cool to do with their bonus action.
Cleave
Cleave is another great weapon mastery property, again, because it often gives you an extra attack that you get to make on your turn. When you hit an enemy with an attack using a Cleave weapon, you canmake a second attack roll against a different creature within five feet of the target and also within your reach. So you could, theoretically, attack two creatures standing in a line if you’re using a Halberd, which has the reach property, but either way, you can start hewing into foes grouped up together, which is a classic D&D idea.
Graze
Perhaps the sleeper hit of the Weapon Mastery properties – Graze lets you do damage even when you miss. When you miss with a Graze weapon, you instead deal damage equal to the ability modifier you used to make the attack roll.
That sounds unimpressive, I know. But trust me; this is probably one of the most significant increases to your overall damage as a character. With Graze, you’re always doing damage, even if you miss. So as long as you’re attacking, you’re dealing damage. But don’t take my word for it, YouTuber Treantmonk has done the math, the nightmarish, terror math, and seen that Graze can make a meaningful difference if you care about doing damage overall and not just rolling big numbers. But this is D&D, home of “roll big number good.” So I understand if you continue to sleep on this one.
Sap
A rare defensive option for Weapon Mastery, but it’s my favorite of the defensive ones. Sap lets you impose Disadvantage on the next attack that enemy makes when you hit a target with it. No save. Do not pass go. Just boom, disadvantage for whoever is hit. But what makes this shine is when it combos with other defensive features, like a Battle Master’s Riposte maneuver. An attack on your turn could provoke a miss from the enemy, which triggers your Riposte, which in turn lets you reapply Sap. And that’s just the most basic combo out there. You start mixing in Sentinel and other similar things and there’s a lot to play with.
Topple
Finally, Topple. Hit them hard and knock them down. Hitting an enemy with a Topple weapon forces your target to make a Constitution save (DC 8 + your modifier + Proficiency Bonus) and if they fail, they’re prone. No matter how big or small, no matter whether they’re flying or on the ground (which is why Tridents are a great anti-air option now), they go prone and fall down.
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