I have a lot of problems with 4th Edition (in fact, I have a list of topics I’d like to address eventually), and one is the change in weapon tiers. 3rd Edition had “exotic” weapons, for weapons that required a greater degree of expertise to use effectively or gave small, narrow mechanical benefits like a +2 to trip attempts. 4th Edition replaced them with “superior” weapons, which are designed to be mathematically better. Gone is the feeling of taking a feat for a character reason, and instead players take a feat to gain a damage bonus or a clear numerical advantage.
I wanted to do something about this, presenting another option for weapons while keeping the current weapons intact for anybody who for some (obvious) reason likes them. But then I realized that most people would give their left pinky and every silver piece they’ll ever earn for another at-will power, especially at high levels. So what about weapons that grant at-will powers? As long as the powers aren’t too broken, they can add another option to players from round-to-round without tipping the game too hard one way or another.
The idea is that there’s nothing anybody needs to do to use these powers. They’re available to all characters, as long as they meet the requirements. Here’s my first go at them (I took out the Price and Weight columns so this table was in any danger of fitting, but the background colors still don’t work. I’ll probably load the original up someplace.):
UPDATE: The weapons are available here.
Ideas? Comments? Pastries?
I like these, but you accidentally duplicated the power names.
I also like the fact that even without proficiency, you can still use these – you’re just operating at a mechanical disadvantage in addition to not having your regular weapon or implement handy.
…balls. That’s leftover from when I fixed all the white text to be black (because it wasn’t on a dark background any more). Fixed now, though without the names you weren’t really missing anything.