You know about Weapon Proficiencies from pages 51–52 of the Player's Handbook. Here, we'll talk about some additional, special things you can do in a campaign with Weapon Proficiencies.
Intelligence and Proficiencies=[]
We're going to be showing you a lot of interesting things you can do with the Weapon Proficiencies rules. Therefore, you need to use the rule for extra Proficiencies given on page 51 of the Player's Handbook. There, it says that you may, with the DM's permission, take extra proficiencies when first created equal to the number of extra languages the character gets from high Intelligence (see Table 4, page 19, Player's Handbook). These extra proficiencies may be divided as the player chooses between Weapon Proficiencies and Nonweapon Proficiencies.
Single-Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Specialization[]
In the Player's Handbook, the only things you can do with Weapon Proficiencies are take single-weapon proficiencies and specialize in particular weapons.
To briefly review the information from that section:
A character must have a Proficiency with a weapon to use it normally. To become proficient, the character "spends" one of the Weapon Proficiency Slots he has on that weapon. Each slot can buy proficiency with one weapon. If he uses a weapon he's not proficient in, he suffers an attack penalty: –2 for weapons which are completely unfamiliar, or –1 for weapons similar to those with which he already has proficiency. (That penalty is worse for non-Warriors.)
To specialize in a particular weapon, the character must devote an extra weapon proficiency slot to it. (In the case of bows or crossbows, it takes two extra slots.) When using his special weapon, the character gets a +1 to attack rolls and +2 to damage. (With bows and crossbows, he instead gets a new range category, point-blank: 6–30 feet for crossbows, 6–60 feet for bows. Within that range, he gains a +2 to attack rolls. Also, if his weapon is ready and there's a target in sight, he can fire in the combat round before initiative is rolled.)
Only Fighters (but not paladins or rangers) can take weapon specialties. Such a character can only take one when he is first created, but may specialize in more weapons as he gains new slots.
With that in mind, let's elaborate on the use of weapon proficiencies...
Weapon-Group Proficiency[]
Moreover, let's look realistically at weapon proficiency. Currently, if a character has Weapon Proficiency with Dagger/Dirk, he doesn't have it with Knife. He certainly doesn't have it with Short Sword. Of course, the DM can always decide that such weapons are related to one another. If he does, then the warrior would suffer a –1 to attack rolls with the unknown weapon instead of the –2. (See page 52 of the Players Handbook.)
Still, to be proficient in all sorts of blades, from the Player's Handbook and additional blades from this rulebook, you'd have to spend around 14 weapon proficiency slots, and that's too many.
So, we're making it possible to take weapon proficiencies with whole weapon groups.
For our purposes, there are two types of groups: Tight Groups and Broad Groups.
Tight Groups[]
A Tight Weapons Group consists of a set of weapons that are very similar in the way they are wielded.
It costs two Weapon Proficiency Slots to become proficient in an entire tight group. After paying those two slots, the character will know how to use every weapon in that group without the usual –2 penalty for unfamiliarity (that –2 is for Warriors; with other classes, the penalty is more severe, as described on page 52 in the Player's Handbook).
Following are several examples of Tight Groups. Any weapon marked with an asterisk (*) is a weapon described in The Complete Fighter's Handbook, in the Equipment chapter.
Axes:
- Battle axe,
- Hand/throwing axe.
Bows:
- Composite long bow,
- Composite short bow,
- Daikyu*,
- Long bow,
- Short bow.
Clubbing Weapons:
- Belaying pin*,
- Club,
- Footman's mace,
- Horseman's mace,
- Morning star,
- Warhammer.
Crossbows:
- Hand crossbow,
- Heavy crossbow,
- Light crossbow.
Fencing Blades:
- Dagger/Dirk,
- Knife/Stiletto*,
- Main-gauche*,
- Rapier*,
- Sabre*.
Flails:
- Footman's flail,
- Horseman's flail.
Lances:
- Heavy horse lance,
- Light horse lance,
- Jousting lance,
- Medium horse lance.
Long Blades:
- Bastard sword,
- Katana*,
- Long sword,
- Scimitar,
- Two-handed sword.
Medium Blades:
- Cutlass*,
- Khopesh,
- Wakizashi*.
Picks:
- Footman's pick,
- Horseman's pick.
Polearms:
- Awl pike,
- Bardiche,
- Bec de corbin,
- Bill-guisarme,
- Fauchard,
- Fauchard-fork,
- Glaive,
- Glaive-guisarme,
- Guisarme,
- Guisarme-voulge,
- Halberd,
- Hook fauchard,
- Lucern hammer,
- Mancatcher,
- Military fork,
- Naginata*,
- Partisan,
- Ranseur,
- Spetum,
- Tetsubo*,
- Voulge.
Short Blades:
- Dagger/Dirk,
- Knife/Stiletto*,
- Main-gauche*,
- Short sword/Drusus*.
Slings:
- Sling,
- Staff Sling.
Spears:
- Harpoon,
- Javelin,
- Long Spear*,
- Spear,
- Trident.
Whips:
- Scourge,
- Whip.
You'll notice there's a little overlap between the Fencing Blades and Short Blades group; some weapons are common to both groups.
You'll also notice that some groups don't look like they save you any weapon proficiency slots. The Axes, Flails, Picks, Sickles, Slings, and Whips group all have two weapons each in them. Since a tight group costs two proficiency slots, it appears that there's no savings. Which is true... unless, in your campaign, other weapons related to those groups are developed or introduced. If they are—if, for instance, a medium-sized war-axe appears in the campaign—then the character with the group proficiency will be able to use it at no penalty, while the character with proficiency in just the two existing axes will suffer the attack penalty.
These categories are very close to the related weapon groups described from page 52 of the Player's Handbook, and your DM can, if he wishes, use these categories as related groups. This helps determine whether or not a warrior gets the full attack penalty when he uses a weapon unfamiliar to him, or whether he receives only half the penalty for using one similar to a weapon with which he has proficiency.
Broad Groups[]
A Broad Weapon Group consists of a set of weapons that are somewhat similar in the way they are wielded.
It costs three Weapon Proficiency Slots to become proficient in an entire broad group. After paying those three slots, the character will know how to use every weapon in that group without the usual penalty for unfamiliarity.
Following are several examples of Broad Groups. As before, any weapon marked with an asterisk (*) is a weapon described in The Complete Fighter's Handbook, in the Equipment chapter.
Blades:
- Bastard sword,
- Cutlass*,
- Dagger/Dirk,
- Katana*,
- Khopesh,
- Knife/Stiletto*,
- Long sword,
- Main-gauche*,
- Rapier*,
- Sabre*,
- Scimitar,
- Short sword/Drusus*,
- Two-handed sword,
- Wakizashi*.
Cleaving/Crushing Weapons:
- Battle axe,
- Belaying Pin*,
- Club,
- Footman's mace,
- Footman's pick,
- Hand/throwing axe,
- Horseman's mace,
- Horseman's pick,
- Morning star,
- Warhammer.
Pole Weapons:
- Awl pike,
- Bardiche,
- Bec de corbin,
- Bill-guisarme,
- Fauchard,
- Fauchard-fork,
- Glaive,
- Glaive-guisarme,
- Guisarme,
- Guisarme-voulge,
- Halberd,
- Harpoon,
- Hook fauchard,
- Javelin,
- Lucern hammer,
- Long Spear*,
- Mancatcher,
- Military fork,
- Naginata*,
- Partisan,
- Ranseur,
- Spear,
- Spetum,
- Tetsubo*,
- Trident,
- Voulge.
Small Throwing Weapons:
- Dagger/Dirk,
- Dart,
- Hand/throwing axe,
- Knife/stiletto*,
- Shuriken*.
Again, you'll see some overlap between the Small Throwing Weapons group and other groups.
These groups may not be used to calculate weapon similarity for determining whether a character receives the full or partial attack penalty for using an unfamiliar weapon.
Non-Groups[]
Finally, the following weapons do not belong in any sort of group whatsoever. To learn any of these weapons, the character must spend a weapon proficiency slot on it, and none of these is similar in use to any other weapon. When a character picks one up and uses it without being proficient in it already, he suffers the full penalty.
Weapons Not Belonging To Any Group:
- Arquebus,
- Blowgun,
- Bola*,
- Chain*,
- Gaff/hook*,
- Lasso,
- Net,
- Quarterstaff/Bo stick*,
- Nunchaku*,
- Sai*.
- Special Note:The Cestus* doesn't require any Proficiency. It enhances punching damage, and everyone knows how to punch.
Weapon Specialization and Weapon Groups[]
Although it is possible to become proficient in an entire group of weapons, this doesn't mean a character can specialize in an entire group of weapons.
As before, each weapon specialization costs one Weapon Proficiency Slot in a weapon the character is already proficient in. A character can't pay two points to be proficient in the Fencing Blades group and then another two to specialize in the same group: He'd have to take one-slot Specializations individually for Dagger/Dirk, Knife/Stiletto, Main-gauche, Rapier, and Sabre.
Let's say a character wants to know how to use every type of blade ever made... but he wants to be especially good with the Long Sword. As a first-level Warrior, he receives four Weapon Proficiency Slots to start with. He spends three to take Proficiency with the entire Blades broad group, and spends his fourth to specialize in Long Sword. He has his wish: He can pick up and use any blade weapon without penalty, but is particularly adept with the Long Sword.
Similarly, a character might wish to be proficient with all bows, and especially good with the Composite Long Bow. He spends two weapon proficiency slots to be proficient with the entire Bows tight group, and spends two more slots (because it is more difficult to specialize in bows; see the Player's Handbook, page 52) to specialize in Composite Long Bow. This character is at a disadvantage with any sort of weapon other than bows, but can use all bows, and is especially good with the Composite Long Bow.
Note[]
That's all you need to know now about the use of Weapon Proficiencies... as they're used to buy proficiency and specialization with weapons. But there are more things to use these proficiencies on, as you'll see as you proceed through the chapter.
Ambidexterity[]
If a player wants his character to be ambidextrous, as described above under "Off-Hand Weapons Use," he must devote one weapon proficiency to Ambidexterity.
If he does so, he'll be able to fight normally with both hands, and will be equally adept at non-combat tasks with both hands.
This doesn't give him two attacks per round. It just means that if he loses the use of one hand, or drops the weapon in that hand, he'll be equally adept with the other.
Style Specialization[]
You can use Weapon Proficiencies to specialize in certain styles of fighting, such as two swords, two-handed weapon, and so on. We describe how to do this below, under "Fighting Styles."
Punching and Wrestling Specialization[]
As you can specialize in certain weapons, you can also specialize in Punching and Wrestling. You already know about Punching and Wrestling from the Player's Handbook, pages 97-98; here, you'll learn how to improve a character's Punching and Wrestling abilities. You'll find this information below, under "Punching, Wrestling, and Martial Arts."
Martial Arts[]
Additionally, you'll learn how make your character proficient (or even a specialist) in eastern-style martial arts. These rules work like the existing Punching and Wrestling rules, but constitute a whole new set of maneuvers and tactics a skilled fighter character can use in combat. These rules, too, you'll find below under "Punching, Wrestling, and Martial Arts."