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With the release of the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron came the double-bladed scimitar. From players of 3.5, I've heard there were more double-bladed weapons such as axes and swords, along with dire flails and many more that were classified as exotic weapons.

Are there exotic weapons that have been added, but are now classified as martial weapons instead of as exotic?

V2Blast
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bubbajake00
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  • @DerekStucki we do have megaquestions, for instance, about all the different classes/subclasses there are in 5e and in which publications those are located. It's okay for a question to have an answer that might change over time and need to be updated. – Carcer Aug 14 '18 at 23:07
  • @DerekStucki no, what weapons used to be considered exotic weapons in previous editions are now considered martial weapons in 5e. Like the hand crossbow and whip I've been told were exotic weapons before, but now are martial weapons in 5e. – bubbajake00 Aug 15 '18 at 15:13

2 Answers2

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What weapons were exotic weapons in 3.5e but are now martial weapons in 5e?

The only weapons that fit this description appear to be

  • hand crossbow

  • net

  • whip

  • Valenar double-scimitar

All of the core weapons in D&D 3.5e can be found here. Non-core additions are too numerous to list, and (to my knowledge) no convenient online source for them was provided by Wizards of the Coast.

KRyan
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There are exotic weapons, but they're just refluffed versions of normal weapons.

5e has a philosophy of simplicity and a lack of exotic dependencies on feats and as such there is not an extensive list of unusual and exotic weapons. A double bladed axe is a greataxe with a fancy name. A dire flail is a flail. You can see how this is handled with the monk's Martial Arts feature:

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama). Whatever name you use for a monk weapon, you can use the game statistics provided for the weapon in the Weapons section.

The DMG likewise has some advice on exotic weapons, when describing Wuxia settings (DMG, p. 41):

Having players refer to a tetsubo or a katana rather than a greatclub or a longsword can enhance the flavor of a wuxia campaign.

That said, there are homebrew versions designed to implement a category of "exotic weapons". Here is an example.

Nepene Nep
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  • The double axe to my understanding was a single handle with a full axe head on either end of the handle. Think Darth Maul's lightsaber, but instead with an axe on either end.

    I edited my question to be clearer; what I am asking specifically what weapons currently listed as martial weapons used to be considered exotic weapons, like the whip and hand crossbow, not just ones that could be reflavored to be like the exotic weapons of old.

     – bubbajake00 Aug 15 '18 at 15:18