#Homebrew better unarmed strike 5e how to
#Homebrew better unarmed strike 5e full

In part because realism: armor is made to deflect blows and prevent a blade from biting into the skin, not to harm others by conducting bludgeoning force. And I'd argue against giving it for free. Gauntletīut know that just giving 1d3 for being in heavy armor is not RAW. It's kind of weird they are not part of the base game. They are weapons after all! And even at 1d4 they are worse daggers. I'd even say: makes them 1d4 to match daggers. I have no argument against brass knuckles. And if it's all you have, you are in an interesting situation.

There is little reason to use this unless it's all you have. This is easier to get, but weaker than unarmed fighting style and less versatile than a level in monk. Short answer, no it likely won't break anything. So I would use 1d2 with plain gauntlets, and 1d3 with spiked ones. If I'd allow them on unarmed strikes, I would want them to deal more than the 1 damage a plain unarmed strike deals, and less than the 1d4 a dagger, a 'weaponized' spiked gauntlet attack that needs class abilities, or a bigger improvised weapon deals. The improvised weapon rules require you to wield the weapon, and gauntlets are not objects you are wielding, you are wearing them. You also cannot use them as improvised weapons by the rules. The attack with spiked ones from the barbarian deals 1d4 damage (as a bonus action, making it a lot better). It takes special gauntlets with spikes and specific class features like a battlerager barbarian or an armorer artificer, or a magic item like demon armor to use them as weapons. An armor gauntlet does not.Īs you say, the rules also do not support using them as weapons. Brass knuckles have an interior bar you can grip, to redirect impact from your actual knuckles and finger bones to the palm, and they concentrate the impact to a narrow ridge.

GauntletsĪrmor Gauntlets are not designed as weapons, like brass knuckles are. I would probably give them 1d3 damage, a weight of only 1 pound, and treat them as a martial weapon, so that only fighting classes will be proficient with them.

#Homebrew better unarmed strike 5e how to

Unfortunately, the DMG does not provide guidance on how to do that (other than reflavoring existing weapons, like for Wuxia campaigns, p. In this case, they are not listed on the weapon table, so you either could treat them as an improvised weapon, or you could homebrew their stats. Brass Knucklesīrass knuckles can be considered to be a weapon, like a knife. If they can smuggle in knucklebusters, they likely also can smuggle in a small dagger. Even using an improvised weapon like a smashed bottle or stool would deal more damage (although at the cost of losing your proficiency bonus to the attack). The majority of the damage will be from their ability bonus. The characters will have access to alternatives that hit better and deal more damage in practically any combat. In several years of playing, I have yet to observe an unarmed strike from someone who is not a monk, so whatever you decide here is extremely unlikely to affect game balance in any material way. Is there a balanced way to deal with this? If I ruled that gauntlets and knuckle-dusters increase the base unarmed strike damage to 1d3 (and still don't count as weapons), would that cause any unforeseen problems? I'm fairly sure I'm not missing any relevant core rules, so the question is: My instinct is to say no, since the book doesn't mention anything about gauntlets counting as a weapon and turning unarmed strikes into weapon attacks has some implications.īut that feels odd to me, since it seems obvious that wrapping metal around your fist should do more damage than the fist alone (monks aside, naturally, and ignoring any magic items).

#Homebrew better unarmed strike 5e full

My initial thought was to treat this as a club, or maybe a slightly weaker club that deals only 1d3 damage.īut then I thought: Would I let the paladin do the same with her gauntlets? He's wearing full plate, after all. One of my players wants to buy a set of brass knuckles to keep on him as a low-profile weapon in case he can't bring his giant axe with him into a situation and feels the need to engage in fisticuffs.