In a world where a magical jar can produce near infinite amounts of mayonnaise. In a realm where carpets can fly and your toothbrush may be a mimic. Why the fuck do +1 weapons exist.

I’m not talking about weapons that do a thing and additionally have +1 to hit… that’s fine, I suppose.

I’m talking about that sword of goblin slaying (usually obtained after killing plenty of those) that does 2 points of damage more to goblins and forces you to either come up with another encounter with goblins to make it feel remotely relevant.

Or the magical item shop +1 longbow that’s ‘better than nothing I guess’.

You can make a +1 sound more interesting. When you get to the maths of it (which I’m not a fan of) a +1 weapons boils down to something like +5% to hit? Maybe? If D&D was a videogame it’d be different. If I got that on my level five rogue in World of Warcraft I’d be pretty chuffed. Wouldn’t brag about it in /G.

It’s a little more relevant at low levels, and might be more interesting in a really magic-item scarce campaign but… it does not spark joy.

When it boils down to it, it’s something you get, you go “Mhm, yes,” you attune and add it to your rolls and you forget it exists. You ignore it, you forget you’re using it until that moment where you acquire something neater and realise it’s taking up one of your slots.

So what to do to fix that, to make it feel more involved… to make it feel more tangible. How to make it fun and truly make a +1/2/3 weapon feel different. Hmm. If only we had something in our TTRPG world. Something we almost all universally love and has an element of variety. If only we had things whose sound alone can sometimes bring us glee. If only there was such a mythical thing that’s nigh universal to our RPG hobby.

Oh wait.

We have such a thing! MF’ing clickity clacks! Bahamut’s Testicles: rolly-pollies. Math-rocks. The source of all our joys and woes and a drain on our wallet too large to comfortably admit around family.

The next time you scramble for loot to hand out to an adventurer and you see that lack-lustre mace of +1 stop before you hand it out. Give it a D2 instead (Roll D4, take half) or D3, D4, D6 etc. etc. just stop where the power level of your campaign hangs out. The dice goblin at your table will love you. Get creative, mess with the damage type.

Here’s an example:

Flanged Mace of Whisper Keep

Weapon, uncommon (requires attunement).

This finely crafted mace once belonged to the guards of Whisper Keep. It is exceptionally well made and balanced and the heavy mithril-edged flanges have been sharpened to a razor’s edge.

Whenever you attack a creature with this weapon add 1d2 to your attack roll. This weapon deals 1D6 Bludgeoning and 1D2 slashing damage.

Next time your player attacks with this weapon instead of the upgrade being lost in maths on a sheet, they get to roll a few extra dice making it feel such a world more substantial, even though… on average compared to a +3 mace it’s probably worse but it’ll certainly feel more of an upgrade.

It makes me weep internally whenever an adventure module or dungeons ends with a +1 sword.

“After defeating the skeletons you take a look around the ancient crypt and there, laying at the feet of the statue depicting the champion of yore you find a magnificent elven blade. With the battle won, the crypt cleared of ne’er-do-wells and raised dead, the prize is yours for the claiming. After studying it meticulously and attuning it to your person, you find that it is… a tiny bit better than yours.” Congratulations hero.