Weapon Proficiencies for Pathfinder

One of the things that has bugged me about D&D post 2nd-edition is how generalized weapon training is, or rather, how inconsistently generalized it is. Characters in 2nd-edition had a limited number of slots or points they could use to gain skill with weapons. These could be spent one-for-one to gain proficiency in individual weapons, or to improve the character's skill in a specific chosen weapon, or spent in twos and threes to gain skill in broad categories of closely related weapons (all one-handed swords, or all bows, or axes).

3rd edition, Pathfinder, and 5th edition all break weapons down into three categories: Simple, Martial, and Exotic. The various classes in Pathfinder each grant a flat list of weapons selected from wide swaths of these categories (i.e. All Simple weapons and All Martial weapons) or a very specific subset which may be drawn from one or more of these three categories. These are one-and-done, you are proficient or you are not. A character can expand the weapons they are proficient with by spending a feat, but doing so is inconsistent -- one feat gives you all Simple weapons, but one feat gives you only a single Martial weapon.

Further, these categories don't really represent similarity of use, but rather a vague notion of "game balance". Simply put, Martial weapons do more damage than Simple weapons, and Exotic weapons do more damage than Martial. Even if the weapons are nearly identical -- the martial "rapier" and the exotic "dueling sword" are identical weapons except for stats, and the simple "Long Spear" and martial "Pike" are likewise, the same weapon -- a character whose class has trained with weapon A has zero knowledge of weapon B.

Then, of course, a character with a given base-attack bonus has that same bonus with ALL weapons that he is proficient with. A fighter, even if he spent his entire 20-level career only using a favorite heirloom longsword, would have the same level of skill (as represented by his numerical attack bonus) with a flail that he would with the sword he'd spent his entire life swinging.  Granted, he could take feats to get a +1-3 point bonus on attacks with the sword, or other tricks, but how does he have such vast generalized skill with other weapons without ever using them?

And don't even get me started about Slings...

Of course, you can argue all day about "abstraction". Blah-blah-blah. But I'm not hear to listen to that, I'm here to propose an alternative...




Despite all the seemingly random categorization of weapons as Simple, Martial, and Exotic, Pathfinder actually has a fairly elegant solution to this bizarre breakdown hiding in plain sight. Fighters, and strangely only Fighters, gain Weapon Training with gives them bonuses in wide categories of similar (in terms of actual use) weapons.

Pathfinder also has a fairly strait-forward skill system.

What if we take A and B to make a whole new approach to handling weapon proficiencies for the game -- Weapon Skills.

Step one: Ignore all class-based weapon proficiencies AND base attack bonuses. Because they are lame.

Step two: Each class gets a number of Weapon Skill Points (WSP) at each level. These roughly equate to the number of weapons they would get from their class: Fighters normally get all simple and martial weapons, so they get 8 WSP. Rogues normally get all simple, plus a few more, so they get 6 WSP. Clerics get all simple, so they get 4 WSP. Wizards get a shortened list of simple weapons, so they get 2 WSP. The same guideline can be applied to any other class to get the number of WSP granted.

You'll note how these numbers (2, 4, 6, 8) are the same as the number of normal Skill Points granted to various classes. Just to keep things simple.

Step three: Characters spend their skill points to learn different groups of weapons and improve in such.

There are 17 "Weapon Skills", each corresponding to one of the weapon groups available via the Fighter's Weapon Training class feature: Axes, Heavy Blades, Light Blades, Bows, Close Weapons, Crossbows, Double Weapons, Firearms, Flails, Hammers, Kobold Tail Attachments, Monk Weapons, Natural Weapons, Polearms, Siege Weapons, Spears, and Thrown Weapons. Because we've gotten rid of "Base Attack Bonus" as a thing, we'll also throw in two more: Touch Spells and Rays/Ranged Touch.

Characters can spend their WSP however they choose from among these groups. The same rules for spending normal skill points applies to WSP -- namely that you cannot have a number of ranks in a given skill greater than your character level.

So, a 1st-level Wizard who wanted to use his class's traditional Staff and Dagger, could put 1 point each into Double weapons and Thrown weapons. This lets him use his weapons of choice, with similar initial proficiency as a fighter, but also lets him, in an emergency, pick up similar weapons such as a Bo Staff, or a thrown Dart, or even a Two-Bladed Sword.

As the character advances in level, he could continue spending WSP in his chosen groups, gaining a bonus equivalent to a warrior of the same level, or branch out and have a wider variety of weapons to choose from. You could replicate the "generic" wizard by spending slots on thrown weapons and staves on odd levels, and touch spells and ranged touch at even levels, giving him (at 20th level), the standard +10 to hit with both his chosen weapons and with spells. Or he could dump everything into only one or two groups and have the same chance to hit that a warrior would.

Step four: Hit stuff. Attacks work like normal, substitution the character's ranks in the chosen weapon skill for his BAB.