Weapon Expert Feats
It's the start of another month, and that means we have more feats for you all to enjoy! This month, Julie has created some specialized weapon feats, each designed to give the dustier corners of the 5E armory some more love. There are a lot of pieces on the weaponry table that are so similar they just blend together, or else that just can't keep up with the 'optimal' weapons we all stick to. Each of these new feats set out to make some of these weapons stand out properly, or give a leg up to weapons that have always deserved better.
Blowgun Expert is perhaps the most niche of these, but takes one of the worst weapons in the game and gives it versatility and much needed stopping power. It allows a blowgun-toting character to craft specialized darts with different effects, and helps them stay hidden as they attack, both of which make it a great complement to your next assassin or any other more methodical combatant.
Flail Expert, meanwhile, adds much needed style to one of the most bland weapons in 5E. Never again will you have to worry that the flail is just a worse warhammer; the feat grants a scaling damage buff designed to simulate the growing momentum of a spinning flail, simultaneously making the weapon both more dangerous and much more unique.
Net Fighter brings a classic gladiator fighting style to 5E, the nautically-themed retiarius or 'net-man'. Now you too can wade into the Colosseum with net and trident, and be confident that the net won't slow you down and the trident won't just be Spear_2.0. (Gladiatorial loincloth sold separately)
Thrown weapons have a Fighting Style, yes, but that wasn't enough for us, so in the tradition of such feats as Dual Wielder, Thrown Weapon Expert expands one the combat style even more. The feat is tailored carefully to fit with the existing thrown weapon options without redundancy, so you can take any or all of them without any wasted content.
Lastly, Whip Expert makes an already tricksy weapon even tricksy-er. Ever wanted to two-weapon fight with whips? We got you. Grappling with reach? Well, kinda, we're not that mad with power yet (although, you can fund our descent into the howling void here). Still, we expect the Indiana Jones fanboys among you will be very pleased with this one.
We're super excited to hear what you think of these, so let us know! Who knows, there may be more specialty weapons feats on the horizon, if we could only decide which weapons to write about. After all, we have a history of making new, weirder weapon options, so why would we stop now? If you have an underrated favorite, be very loud at us and it may be next!
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Weapon Expert Feats
Feats that change the manner in which martial characters engage with their weapons have been variable in approach. Recently, a few newer feats such as Crusher strengthen the utility of a list of weapons under a category, such as damage types or weapon properties. But none are quite as specific as the Crossbow Expert, a feat that completely recontextualizes how a player uses their crossbow by altering the mechanics of it's usage and utility. It's worth noting that Crossbow Expert is a very powerful feat; it's hard to balance strengthening an already relatively powerful option for the sake of interesting flavor and mechanics that allow a character to really feel like a crossbow expert.
This suddenly stops being a problem when you give this kind of feat to a more niche and weak weapon, such as the blowgun or trident. You can afford to lean into mechanical alterations and power boosts because the base weapon simply isn't as damaging as alternative options. That's not to say they're 'bad', of course; just that these buffs will help them feel like a more viable and unique option. We hope these feats make you feel like your character has mastered a niche weapon that's deadly in the right hands!
Blowgun Expert
Prerequisite: Proficiency with blowguns
You’ve mastered the deadly art of precision and poison crafting that transforms this seemingly harmless weapon into a tool of assasination, gaining the following benefits:
When you attack with a blowgun, you can make a Dexterity (Stealth) check to not reveal your position.
You ignore the loading quality of blowguns.
In addition, you gain proficiency with the poisoner's kit, if you don't already have it. With 1 hour of work, which can be completed as part of a short or long rest, you can use a poisoner's kit and up to 10 gp worth of materials to make specialized poisoned darts. You produce a number of darts equal to 10 x the gp spent, in any combination of the options below. If a poison dart calls for a saving throw, the saving throw is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier. You can make the following darts in this way:
Acidic Dart: A creature hit with this dart takes an additional 1d8 acid damage.
Crippling Dart: A creature hit with this dart takes an additional 1d4 poison damage, and makes a Constitution saving throw, becoming poisoned for 1 minute on a failure. At the end of each of their turns, they can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success.
Knockout Dart: A creature hit with this dart does not take damage and instead makes a Constitution saving throw, falling unconscious for 1 minute on a failure. The creature wakes up early if they take damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake.
Flail Expert
Prerequisite: Proficiency with flails
You are able to wield the devastating trauma and elusive momentum of chained weapons to destructive use, gaining the following benefits:
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with flails.
The momentum of your weapon makes the subsequent strikes more devastating. Attacks you hit with the flail on your turn gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll for each attack you’ve made with the same weapon since the start of your current turn, up to a +3 bonus.
Net Fighter
Prerequisite: Proficiency with nets and tridents
You have trained in the gladiatorial fighting style of net fighting, gaining the following benefits:
You can wield nets and tridents as though they had the light property.
When you attack with a net, you ignore the restriction on attacking more than once on your turn.
When you take the Attack action using a trident, you can choose to replace one of your attacks with a special weapon attack. The creature makes a Strength or Dexterity check contested by your Strength (Athletics) check. If you win the contest, you pin their weapon with your trident. While pinned in this way, the creature cannot use the weapon and you cannot use your trident. The creature can use their action to make a contested Strength (Athletics) check to end the pin.
When you hit a restrained creature with a trident, you can choose to deal piercing damage equal to 3d4 + your Strength modifier instead of the trident’s normal damage.
Thrown Weapon Expert
Prerequisite: Proficiency with a weapon that has the thrown property
Throwing knives, hammers, axes, javelins; whatever your preference in weapon may be, you’ve become skilled in the fluid practice of engaging foes in both close quarters and medium range, gaining the following benefits:
Attacking at long range or while a hostile creature is within 5 feet of you doesn’t impose disadvantage on ranged weapon attack rolls you make with thrown weapons.
If you have attacked on your turn with a melee weapon, you can make a ranged weapon attack with a thrown weapon as a bonus action before the end of your turn.
Whip Expert
Prerequisite: Proficiency with whips
You’ve learned to wield the esoteric whip with terrifying precision and dexterity, gaining the following benefits:
You can wield a whip as though it had the light property.
While wielding a whip, if there is an appropriate anchor point you can long jump up to 15 feet using the whip.
Once per turn when you hit a creature with a whip, you can choose to start a special grapple that creature instead of dealing damage. While grappling a creature in this way, that creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you, you cannot attack with the whip, and you cannot move further than 10 feet away from the creature without ending the grapple.