Tiers of Fantasy

These weapons are split into three lists: Basic, Non-European, and High fantasy. This is for DMs who want to incorporate some, but not all, types of exotic weapons. When creating your character, always consult with your DM about homebrewed content, and what they allow in their games!

Basic exotic weapons, oxymoron aside, are weapons that, while difficult to wield, are still relatively commonplace in average society. They include objects like scythes and gauntlets. Non-European exotic weapons are historical weaponry that were used in asian, african, and other ancient civilizations, including katanas, punching daggers, and others. High Fantasy exotic weapons are weapons that are exceedingly rare and specialized, or exclusive to a fantasy culture. This is a catch-all category for any weapons that are a little more flavorful than realistic, including Gnomish hook hammers or Orcish war picks.

Gaining Proficiencies

A character gain have proficiency with exotic weapons in a variety of ways. Chapter 8, "Adventuring" in the Player's Handbook has a downtime activity available that lets a character train for a specific tool or weapon proficiency under a mentor. In addition, races and classes may offer, upon character creation, different exotic weapon proficiencies.

The following list assumes your DM has allowed each category of exotic weapon in your campaign:

Elf: You gain proficiency with the Elven Bramblenet.

Dwarf: You gain proficiency with the Dwarven Warhammer.

Gnome: You gain proficiency with the Gnomish Hook Hammer.

Orc, Half Orc: You gain proficiency with the Orcish War Pick.

Fighter, Cleric (War, Forge Domain), Paladin (Oath of Conquest): You gain proficiency with two exotic weapons of your choice. For Cleric and Paladin, you gain these proficiencies when you take the subclass.

Monk (Way of the Kensei): You can choose any exotic weapon to make your Kensei weapon. The typical restrictions of Finesse or Light still apply.

Additionally, If your character is proficient with martial weapons, upon character creation, you may choose to lose proficiency with three martial weapons to gain proficiency with one exotic weapon of your choice.

New Mechanics

These new weapons may come with new properties or abilities associated with them. In this document, there are a total of five new abilities: Stunning, Returning, Grappling, Crit Boost, and Double.

Stunning weapons feature swift and hard strikes that can send an opponent reeling back. If you make an attack with a Stunning weapon and roll a critical hit, the target must succeed on a DC10 Constitution Saving throw, or be stunned until the end of its next turn.

Returning weapons are shaped in such a way that, if thrown, will return back to the one who threw it. When you make an attack by throwing a returning weapon, it returns to your hand at the end of the attack. Catching the weapon itself is considered part of the attack. If you are not proficient with a returning weapon, it does not return to you when thrown.

Grappling weapons are typically paired with ranged or reaching weapons. When you make an attack with a Grappling weapon, you may choose to forego the damage to instead grapple the target.

Crit Boost Weapons are particularly dangerous, and attack rolls made with them will result in a critical hit on a natural 19 or 20. If an effect or ability would result in you already having this effect, it does not stack.

Double weapons are shaped in a way to deliver rapid strikes with flowing movements. When wielding a double weapon, you may treat it as if you are wielding two light weapons, despite what the properties of the weapon say otherwise.

Enchanting

Enchanting weapons work the same way as they do in ParanoidK's Custom 5e Armor Sheet (View Here: [link])

In summary, a spellcaster may invest 500 Gold Pieces worth of gem dust, 3 days of moderate attention, and a 5th level spell slot to transform a masterwork weapon into a +1 Weapon. The process may then be repeated with a 7th level slot to make a +2 weapon, and a 9th level spell slot to make a +3 weapon.

Special Weapons

The Kukri, Macuahuitl, Gnomish Hooked Hammer, and Orcish War Pick have special properties:

The Kukri is designed to easily carve through jungle thickets. All damage rolls against plant creatures that aren't resistant to nonmagical attacks are doubled.

The Macuahuitl is lined with dozens of sharp, serrated blades. If the target of a weapon attack made with a Macuahuitl can bleed, the weapon's damage becomes 2d4. It's up to the DM whether the target has a bloodstream, as well as whether this ability works with other "life giving liquids", such as sap from a plant or machine oil. As a typical general guideline, Humanoids, Monstrosities, Dragons, Fey, Fiends, Celestials and Beasts have a bloodflow, whereas Abberations, Elementals, Undead, Plants, and Constructs do not.

The Gnomish Hooked Hammer features a sharp side and a blunt side, when rolling for damage, you may choose whether to deal Piercing or Bludgeoning damage. This must be called before the damage is rolled.

The Orcish War pick counts as a Siege Weapon, and deals double damage to all structures.