Weapon, Armour and Equipment progression and upgrades

 There are two varieties of game that I cannot stand, they make no sense for an RPG, (yet maybe for a board game) and bog down play for both players and GMs. Lets deep dive into

Equipment, Weapons, Armour and your characters progression 

Abstracted Levelling

First, lets clarify, intentions were good, in some old computer games, when players start out at level 1, they need some kind of tiered system to upgrade weapons, before including too much magic. So many games added some kind of 'level' requirement to weapons, wooden dagger? lvl 1, iron dagger? lvl 3, steel dagger? lvl 5, mithril dagger? lvl 7.. etc

This made no 'real' sense, abstracting the 'better metals' behind a level wall, was purely a CRPG tactic to spread out the game, make it simple for players to understand, which item do I buy, steel or iron? Instead of some complex system for the play to go through to ensure they 'could' use the weapon at the right point in the game, they just abstracted it behind levels.

From a board game perspective, this makes more sense, because board games need to be more self contained. You have a restriction of parts cost, shipping costs for weight, shelf space and price point for the consumer. So items were simpler, often in only a plain, silver and gold standard.

Yet even that is slowly changing, as in the last few years (2014-2021) consumers are spending more on board games than ever, paying $400 for a box of cards where the materials to make the weapons have cards too, would have seemed unreasonable in 2008, and outrageous before then, but with over 100 games, all-in, priced at $250+, having a core game for the more elite game at $400 isn't too far of a stretch.

Roleplay games always had the advantage that the equipment list is merely what's written on your character sheet. No need for cards, art, specialty dice (i.e. per weapon) but they also, and often, had a skill set matching it.. 

Locked in Play

This one comes down to how you kind of need to choose what kind of character you're going to be from the start. Some archaic feature from Victorian education and the industrial age, that we have yet to shake off in society.

In real life, we haven't a clue how our lives will turn out in 40 years, what skills we will have gained, used, and be proficient at. Why would we think in the game world our characters are any different.

The idea that as a 'rogue' you've learned all the arts of the dagger, and you are a skilled dagger wielder, and that if you wanted to change weapons, you've be starting from scratch, and forgoing the chance at being a better dagger-smith..

To clarify, lets consider three characters, the Rogue, the Warrior and the multi-class rogue warrior.

at level 4, the rogue has taken 4 levels in dagger, giving a +4 to dagger usage.

at level 4, the Warrior has taken 4 levels in swords, giving them a +4 to sword usage.

The Multi Class has taken 2 level in dagger & sword each. giving a +2 to each.

At lower levels, the difference between a +2 and a +4 isn't game breaking, if its a d20 system, its barely 10% of hits, the advantage the multiclass has is, when a magical weapon comes in the quests treasure, he has 2 chances of getting something useful, instead of one.. IF the GM uses random treasure tables.. and if the GM doesn't, then the multi class is going to get a choice, maybe.

A few levels later, level 8, our pure rogue/warrior has a +8 in the specialty, while the multiclass a +4. this is now rather pronounced, 20% difference for a d20 system. 3 characters, all with similar skills, levels, progressions, but the multi-class character is half the skill of his counterparts.

As a result

Players are limited by, and locked into, specific 'classes' of skills, and items which level up, as they do. taking away players agency, choice and in many ways, fun.

But, how do we benefit players who choose to focus their skill, vs those that choose a broader range? yet not penalize characters?

DD12

Sure, I'm going to, once again explain how, once I saw such a problem, I solved it.

Instead of Abstract levelling;

Players can at 1st level choose any weapon, any style, any material, as long as they've saved up the cash requirements to buy it, the only 'restriction' is based on real life issues, such as weigh of the weapon, or complexity of use. 

as an example, a heavy axe, has an "initiative" cost of 15, this value counts also as a minimal DEX or STR requirement to use, and for each point difference, the character has a -1 to use, where DEX cost is a minus to attack, and STR cost is a minus to damage. Players can, through continued practice, improve their personal skill with the weapon, decrease the INITIATIVE of the weapon, to offset this 'cost' and or, increase their personal ATT or DAM for that weapon, and over time, as they improve their STR or DEX, or through acquisition of better 'heavy axes' with lower I cost, will result in them being even more powerful with the upgraded items. 

As to combat skills for multi class; 

Players have their stats broken up into layers, Their Attack stat at the base of things is their generic ability to attack, if its a melee attack, they add that bonus, then their sword / dagger skill will add to the result, and finally, they can specialise in a specific weapon.

As players progress their characters, they can boost the greater skill, at the cost of the lesser skill, resulting in the same final result, but with a broader range.

The Rogue, Warrior and lets call the multi-class guy a Pirate at 1st level, all have an attack of 10, a melee of 4 and their sword/dagger bonus at 1.

By 4th level, they have had the choice, but would similarly have gained 2 points in attack, 2 in melee, and likely 1 more in their chosen weapon, yet the Pirate, wanting to be as good in both weapons, may have only taken 1 in melee, to have an extra point in the 2nd weapon, again, like our d20 counterpart, maybe a 5-10% difference.

But, by 8th level, the major difference is, As the rogue gains levels, instead of getting more and more +1's, it would be in their advantage to specialise in their weapon, dropping the disadvantage roll, gaining an advantage attack, maybe a specialty bonus, the Warrior, might have gone for a sword & shield combat, unlocking some bonus maneuvers, while our pirate, trying to match the base combat scores, has not had the points to unlock any specialties.

The result being, All three characters have an attack of 14, a melee of 8 and their respective weapons at +4, giving them a very nice combat attack of 26, yet the pirate, having spent their extra 4 points in the 2nd weapon, the Rogue and Warrior have 4 specialized bonuses.

So, while they'll never be as good with any given weapon, the Pirate can unlock multi weapon specialty bonuses, using the sword as a dagger, or the dagger like a sword, distracting their opponent with a -2 defence.. or using some of their own clever specialties for dual weapons.

To be Clear

Players might see or hear this rule set and understand the system to be complex, but instead, its just a matter of doing minor calculation at the time of purchase, dropping their 'familiarity' stat bonus, writing their new stats on their charactersheet, and they are ready to go. players should not be calculating or changing any values, mid combat.