The first edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons doesn’t offer characters a lot of opportunities to improve damage done on physical attacks. This would be addressed through a variety of means in later editions, but players were addressing the issue through house rules from the beginning. What follows is one system for enabling a character to boost their combat skills through application of weapon proficiencies already present in first edition D&D.

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Core concept: Characters earn weapon proficiencies at the normal rate listed in the Player’s Handbook, and they follow the normal class limitations listed there as well, but they can use a new weapon proficiency to boost their skills with an existing weapon proficiency instead of taking up a new weapon.

Weapon specialization begins with a Basic Bonus. Once a player has gained a basic bonus, she can consider taking one of the other options for special proficiencies, but she must always have at least 1 basic bonus for every special proficiency she has taken.

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Basic Bonus: A Character simply takes applies standard +1 to hit and damage when attacking with a designated type of weapon.

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Damage Die Boost (special proficiency): A Character may boost the damage dice for a designated type of weapon. Doing so will usually raise the top end of the possible results, usually without raising the bottom end. A die 2 becomes a die 3, a die 3 becomes a die 4, a die 4 becomes a die 6, a die 6 becomes a die 8, a die 8 becomes a die 10, a die 10 becomes a die 12, and a die 12 (or 2d6 or 3d4) becomes 2d8, 2d8 becomes 3d6, and 3d6 becomes 2d10, 2d10 becomes 2d12.

Note that in most cases a straight +1 to hit and damage will be better than a damage die boost, but critical hits and backstabbing skills may boost the value of a higher top end damage a bit in favor of the damage die boost. Special Abilities may also change this calculation. It is up to the player to decide if and when the options favor the damage die boost.

Extra Melee Attacks (special proficiency): A Character may take half an extra melee attack with a designated type of melee weapon (i.e. one that applies every other round). This can be repeated twice, thus giving a character up to 1 extra attack per round with the designated type of weapon.

Extra Missile Attacks (special proficiency): A Character may boost the number of attacks for a designated type of missile weapon. This can be repeated to a maximum of 5 total missile attacks per round with the designated type of weapon. (Note missile weapons such as crossbows which require a complex reloading process cannot be boosted in this manner.)

Note: In the event that when a character boosts her attack rate with a weapon useful in both melee and missile attacks, she must choose between the rate of fire for missiles and the number of attacks taken in melee.