I want to address this a little bit before I dive into this topic today. If you prefer RC, use it. If you don't like what I am doing here, don't read it. Plain and simple. I am doing this ultimately for my desires, and if you don't like that, jog on. I will not cater to the bad-wrong-fun crowd, ever.
Or as Mark taught me;
Now that that is out of the way, let's move on.
For me the Weapon Proficiency (hereafter WP) system from 1e and then expanded in 2e is one of the sweetest things from AD&D and earliest forms of character customization I ever saw. To move, as a Fighter, to Weapon Specialization sang to me. When the Complete Fighters Handbook came out, Weapon Groups and Fighting Styles were the icing on the delicious cake.
So I am bringing that back, after a fashion.
Old School Essentials already gives us WPs for B/X, so I am not breaking any new ground here, despite Grognard cries of foul! What I am proposing is as follows.
Martial Classes start with 4 WPs, Semi-Martial with 3, and Non-Martial with 2 (Magic-Users can take a melee and ranged this way), but where these come into their own is for the Fighter.
The Fighter, with his 4 WPs can use them to buy Groups, Specialize in a particular weapon (thereby opening up improvements over time), and even purchase a Fighting Style to further their dominance of the battlefield. Let's break these down one at a time.
Weapon specialization: Instead of allowing all Martial Classes to use this, ONLY Fighters in BXR may Specialize in a weapon, costing 1 WP to do so, on top of the original WP spent to be proficient in the weapon. This gives them a +1 to hit and a +2 to damage with said weapon, and also opens up the multiple attack options for them.
| Level | Melee Attacks per Round | Ranged Attacks per Round |
| 1-7 | 3/2 | 5/2 |
| 8-14 | 2/1 | 3/1 |
So a Fighter specialized in long sword for example would get 1 attack on the first round, and 2 on the second, rinse repeat, until they hit 8th level, when they would get 2 attacks per round.
The same fighter specialized in longbow would get 2 attacks on the first round, and 3 on the second, rinse repeat, until they hit 8th level, when they would get 3 attacks per round.
Obviously this is a very powerful thing, couple with the +1/+2 bonus as well, which is why a Fighter can only Specialize in one weapon, it is their specialty after all, but it gets a bit better at 4th level, when the Fighter gains another WP and can choose to Double Specialize. This means they double-down and focus on their primary Specialization gaining an additional +1 to hit and +1 to damage, raising it to +2/+3 in total.
Characters using non-proficient weapons with suffers a penalty to attack rolls;
Martial Class characters incur a -2 penalty.
Semi-Martial Class characters incur a -3 penalty.
Non-Martial Class characters incur a -4 penalty.
Another form of WP Specialization the Fighter, and ONLY the Fighter can take is Fighting Style specialization. For the cost of 1 WP they can choose from the following;
| Style | Description | Benefit |
| Ranged Weapon Style | Archers, marksmen and snipers use ranged weapons as if they were an extension of their body making uncanny shots. | Increase all ranges by 25% and eliminate point blank penalties. |
| Single-Weapon Style | The character wields a single weapon in one hand and nothing in their free hand. | Gain a +1 to AC when wielding a single weapon only. |
| Two-Hander Style | The character wields a weapon that requires or accommodates two-hands such as pole-arms or bastard swords. | You may add +1 to damage when wielding a two-handed weapon. |
| Two-Weapon Style | The character wields a weapon in each hand, making two attacks per round. The weapons may be the same size. | You reduce the penalties for Two Weapon Attacks by 1. |
| Weapon and Shield Style | The character wields a weapon in their primary hand and a shield on their off-hand. | You gain the Shield Punch maneuver, allowing you to make a 2nd attack with the shield at -2, doing 1d3 damage. |
A Fighter may only ever be Specialized in 1 style, again as this is their specialty, and there are no Double Specializations for Fighting styles. That said, a creative DM could make those rules if they wanted to, they are just outside the purview of these rules in specific.
Lastly we have Weapon Groups, another benefit of being a Martial Class. Unlike Semi-Martial and Non-Martial classes who can only spend their WPs to gain proficiency with a single weapon at a time, Martial Class characters may spend a single WP to take a Weapon Group Proficiency. These groups are mostly open and are as follows;
| Group | Includes |
| Axes | Battle Axe, Great Axe, Hand Axe, Throwing Axe |
| Bows | Long Bow, Short Bow, Composite Long Bow, Composite Short bow |
| Clubs | Club, Mace, Morning Star, Tetsubo, Warhammer |
| Crossbows | Heavy Crossbow, Light Crossbow, Hand Crossbow |
| Long Blades | Bastard Sword, Long Sword, Rapier, Scimitar, Two-Handed Sword |
| Medium Blades | Cutlass, Sabre |
| Polearms | Bardiche, Fauchard, Glaive, Halberd, Lucerne Hammer, Ranseur, Voulge |
| Short Blades | Dagger, Dirk, Knife, Short Sword, Stiletto |
| Spears | Harpoon, Javelin, Long Spear, Pike, Short Spear, Trident |
By spending a single WP on a group, the Martial Class Character is considered to be proficient with all the weapons listed in that group.
Bringing it all together, we will look at Gus, the 1st level Fighter.
He has 4 WPs available to him. He see's himself as a Sword & Board fighter, so he makes the following choices;
1 WP for Long Blades Group
1 WP for Specialization with Long Sword
1 WP for Specialization in Weapon & Shield Fighting Style
1 WP for Short Blades
Gus is going to dominate his battle field in melee, but his choices have made him very vulnerable at range, where he will suffer a -2 non-proficient weapon penalty, but he will be minimum +1 to hit, +2 damage with his long sword, and get his Shield Punch as a additional attack each round.
I hope you find these revisions to the rules useful and they give you plenty of excitement playing what I consider to be my favourite class of all time, the Fighter.
Look for a whole Fighter Revisited article coming soon and thank you for your time today.
Until next time...
Andrew Collas
a.k.a. Celtic Viking, Grumpy Old Gamer, Bear
"Steampunks dress as though they are Russian royalty; Dieselpunks as though they’re off to assassinate them!." — From the Internet
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