Dungeons & Dragons: How To Read Weapon Stat Blocks

There’s nothing like a fancy scimitar or powerful staff to make you feel incredible as a player. Weapons come in all forms in Dungeons & Dragons and often have a wide array of abilities and other functions aside from regular combat. Whether using a simple weapon or a powerful relic, weapons are all marked and tracked the same way on a Player Character’s Sheet, often having their own section in the Action tab.

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Each weapon has its own stat block that can be used to fully understand how a weapon works in Dungeons & Dragons. While they can vary from weapon to weapon, they all follow the same general format that is used to understand their basic mechanics.

Understanding Weapon Stat Blocks

Much like reading through the stats of monsters from the Monster Manual, weapons have their own stats and abilities to explain better how they work.

The Player's Handbook contains the most simple and martial weapons within Dungeons & Dragons. However, stat blocks still follow the same format when including any magical weapons you may encounter, often dictated by the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Under your Actions tab, you will see all of your equipped weapons that you can use to attack. Furthermore, if you have any special abilities or spells that are learned through specific character features, they will also be displayed here.

Below the weapon’s name, you will see the category it falls under. Often, it will either be a “Melee” or “Ranged” weapon, which is used to understand how it reacts to certain defenses and other traits from your target.

Next to the weapon name, your character sheet will have a column for its Range, otherwise called “How far can your weapon reach.” The first number will show a weapon’s regular range, where you can still make regular attack rolls.

However, you will need to roll with disadvantage when attacking a target beyond that number and up to the number in parentheses.

For example, if a Longbow has a range of “150 (600),” you can attack up to 150 feet with a normal attack roll or from 150 to 600 feet with disadvantage.

After your range, you will have a column for your weapon Hit modifier/DC. Depending on if you are using a regular weapon or spell will determine if you will need to roll an Attack Roll with the Hit modifier or if your target will need to make a Saving Throw, with the ability’s DC being the appropriate check they need to succeed on.

Spells often have much more detailed descriptions of Saving Throw circumstances, so fully reading the spell you are casting is recommended instead of relying on the DC displayed in the Actions tab.

The Damage Dice and Damage Type are also displayed with your weapon. They show the amount of damage they do on a successful hit and what kind of damage they deal (e.g., Piercing, Slashing, Bludgeoning, etc.).

The notes section is located in the last portion of your weapon’s stat block. This is where a list of the weapon’s properties will be located, which describes how a weapon can be handled/ interacted with.

In cases where Player Characters have a feature that is only used for specific weapons, you will need to check the notes section to see if certain weapons apply. For example, if a character has the “Defensive Duelist” feature, they will need to check the notes section of their weapon to ensure it is considered a “Finesse” weapon to utilize.

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