Equipment Redefined

[Sjeng]

I wasn't concerned about the word itself, but more about how you'd use it:

I know that "this is an offhand weapon" is correct, I've seen it in many games. But is: " These weapons can be held in either main or offhand. If you equip a dual wield weapon in your offhand, you cannot
use a shield." this correct use of the word? Your main (hand) or offhand? Or should that be: "equipped as a main hand weapon or as an offhand weapon."

in other words, is "offhand" only an adjective, or also a noun?

[AerynB]

Ah, I see now. Dictionary.com was no help. It says offhand is only and adjective or adverb. However, I think you're using it correctly also. I'd just add a little bit: "Dual wield weapons can be held in either the main hand or the offhand. If you equip a dual wield weapon in your offhand, then you cannot equip a shield."

[knightkrawler]

That whole main hand vs. off hand talk just makes the rule ambiguous. I mean, which IS the main hand and which is the off hand?
That's bound to make for un-needed discussions among players and EWP.
Just formulate with expressions like "one hand weapon", "the other hand".

e.g. "If you wield two weapons at the same time you may sacrifice your next Defend roll for a second Attack roll (using the number of dice assigned to that second weapon) immediately to follow your first Attack. When equipped with two weapons you may not use a shield (of any kind)."

[Sjeng]

I think it's quite clear really... The main hand is your main weapon wielding hand. The offhand is the other hand, where you usually equip the shield. Does it really matter which hand is the main hand or the offhand? You only have two, so one is your main and the other is the offhand.

[knightkrawler]

For me it's clear, alright. But I've seen players discussing the facing of the figure and what is reachable with what hand.

[Daedalus]

Special Rules:
...
Dual Wield: These weapons can be held in either main or offhand. If you equip a dual wield weapon in your offhand, you cannot
use a shield....

If someone could spellcheck this for me, I'm not sure if I'm using the term "offhand" correctly.

Offhand or off-hand is an adjective or adverb that means abruptly or without preparation. Off hand is used in gaming as a noun to refer to the weaker or less dexterous hand (D&D 3.5 archive). It also refers to the secondary hand slot (WoW wiki). Beyond the dictionary meaning of off-hand, it is aslo used in gaming as an adjective, such as off-hand slot or off-hand weapon, as you have pointed out.

I'd ammend your text as follows with the blue edits:

These weapons can be held in either your main hand or off hand. If you equip a dual-wield [edit of an edit--d'oh!] weapon in your off hand, you cannot use a shield.

[AerynB]

*drive by spellcheck*

dual with an a instead of an e

*speeds away*

EDIT:
*comes back with some ideas*

@Sjeng: Are you still interested in other weapon ideas? What about an ordinary Club. Just plain 2 attack dice. Probably not useable by Wizard. I suppose it might not be purchased, but I don't think there are any other 2 dice weapons that are plain and don't have some kind of a modifier.

In the club/hammer family, have you thought of a Sledgehammer. You could make it a plain 4 attack dice weapon to distinguish it from the Battle Axe... or maybe it could be a two-handed 3 attack dice weapon without reach to make it different from a Halberd.

Same club/hammer family: War Hammer. Two-handed and either 4 or 5 attack dice. Probably not as good as the Greatsword or Bastard Sword, though, since they have reach. Up to you.

Have you thought of other types of armor too? I think Templar had some neat ideas for upgrades to the helmet and shield. I like his Great Helm idea in that you can roll 1 less die when a falling block trap is sprung, and you don't lose a defend die when stuck in a pit. I might restrict it to just the Barbarian and Dwarf. I also thought of some shield ideas. They all have +1 defend die like normal shields, but they also have special attributes. Iron Shield: may roll 1 defend die when a spear trap is sprung (kinda like Templar's idea). Dragon Shield: defend with +1 die against fire attacks or spells, for example when Ball of Flame is cast you roll 2 red dice and a 5 or 6 negates damage. With the Dragon Shield, you could roll 3 red dice. Magic Shield: defend with +1 die against any spell (or reduce damage from spells by 1).

Homebrew stuff like this excites me and gives me a headache. There are so many great ideas out there, I don't know how to mix them all together seamlessly. I might be getting HQ overload.

[Daedalus]

Try this link to the best info I could find on the flail. It hit extra hard against armored opponents but provided little defense. Some attributes for the weapon could include the ability to reduce the defender's defense by 1, ignoring a shield, or simply an extra attack die (4 Attack Dice). Rather than dual-wield, I'd say the need for a shield would suggest a -1 defend penalty for the wielder. The wide swinging arc also suggests adjacent-only attacks to me.

The mace could have a similar additional Attack Die bump for 4 AD, but only against a mail-armored opponent like the Chaos Knight. Maybe include the Fimir and Gargoyle as well, and even the Orc if you wanted to. Oh yeah, don't forget the Warbear, Evil Men-at-arms, and the Frozen Horror.

[Thrawn]

I wonder about not allowing most of the two handed weapons to elves, since HQ is set in the Warhammer world, and elves tend to have the best specialty units for those kinds of weapons.

[Thrawn]

Some minor rework suggestions.

I think 5D should be reserved for artifacts and magic.
I think you undervalue diagonal, thrown, and especially ranged.
I think some of the non-elf weapons don't fit in the Warhammer Universe. (The best greatsword and great axe users in the world are elves.)
Changed or dropped a few items (some based on suggestions in this thread).
Sorted by Price to better compare items as you upgrade.

Item Dice 2-Hand Range Thrown Offhand Reach Special Cost Notes
Staff 1 Y - - - Y 75 Usable by Wizard
Club 2 - - - - - 175
Sling 1 - Y - - - 125
Dagger 1 - - Y Y - 150 Usable by Wizard
Whip 1 - - - Y Y 150
Shortsword 2 - - - Y - 225
Shortbow 2 Y Y - - - 250
Spear 2 - - Y - Y 275
Hand Axe 2 - - - Y - 225
Broadsword 3 - - - - - 300
Halberd 3 Y - - - Y 350 Not usable by Dwarf
Mace 3 - - - Y - 350
Flail 3 - - - - - 75 375 Opponent -1 defense
Longsword 3 - - - - Y 375
Crossbow 3 Y Y - - - 425
Battle Axe 4 Y - - - - 475
Greatsword 4 Y - - - Y 575 Not usable by Dwarf
Longbow 4 Y Y - - - 675 Not usable by Dwarf