In the current playtest packet, martial damage dice scales with the currently available martial classes in order to give them more stopping power. However, at higher levels, it makes your weapon selection barely significant; eventually the damage earned from increased martial damage dice overshadows and washes out the damage your weapon actually deals based on its size and type. The current rules make using two-handed weapons disadvantageous because as characters level, smaller weapons become much more appealing because you can couple them with shields for better AC, they weigh less, you can dual-wield them, some are finesse-able, etc.

See http://criticalwits.info/2012/12/27/article-dd-next-an-alternative-to-combat-expertise/

Critical Wits released an interesting fix that caught the attention of D&D Next designer Mike Mearls, and will likely somehow see its way into the next 5E playtest packet to replace or alter the current martial damage dice rule.

For now, we will use their rule of increasing weapon dice for martial classes. This rule will make your character’s weapon choices matter consistently; larger two-handed weapons will consistently deal large amounts of damage, while smaller weapons will deal less but retain their other benefits (i.e. finesse, low weight, manageability, ease of hiding on one’s person, etc.).

However, the Critical Wits fix was released in December and is not updated for the current playtest packet. In order to keep it up to date, I’ve updated the current classes to accommodate the weapon dice house rule.

Using Weapon Dice

To use the rule, simply multiply the amount of damage dice by the number indicated by your current class level. For example, an 8th level barbarian wielding a greataxe will deal 3d12 damage (plus any damage modifiers from strength, magical enhancements, class abilities, and so on) instead of 1d12. The same barbarian wielding a dagger would deal 3d4.

Multiclassing and Weapon Dice

If your character has multiclassed, use the weapon dice indicated by your current class progression. For instance, a 6th level Fighter uses two weapon dice, but if he gains a level in cleric upon reaching level 7, he will not earn an additional weapon dice because the cleric class has a lower weapon dice progression. If he reaches level 8 as a Fighter 6/Cleric 1 and takes a level in fighter (becoming a Fighter 7/Cleric 1) he will earn his third weapon dice, but will effectively be behind a level in earning more weapon dice. If he instead takes another level in cleric instead of fighter (becoming a Fighter 6/Cleric 2) he will not earn another weapon dice (until he becomes a Fighter 7 OR a Cleric 6).

Class Weapon Dice Progression Tables

There are three weapon dice progressions. Non-spellcasting martial classes have the best weapon dice progression, while spellcasting classes have the worst.

• Good (Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Paladin*, Ranger, and Rogue)
• Fair (Druid*, Cleric)
• Poor (Sorcerer*, Wizard)

This rule has not been extensively tested and is subject to change at any time.

*Indicates class is not written up yet.

Barbarian

Cleric

Fighter

Monk

Paladin

Ranger

Rogue

Wizard