Game Mechanics Add the Option to Choose Your Starting Weapon During Character Creation

[Russ Guss Doodles]

Terraria has four excellent classes that offer different playstyles for fighting enemies and bosses. Many players, including myself, like to stick with a specific class from the beginning of their adventure all the way to the end. The problem is that when you start with a new character you are always given a Copper Shortsword and are forced to craft/find a different weapon if you don't want to play Melee. This can be especially annoying for Magic and Summoner players whose most basic weapons are not easily crafted or are found in loot chests that aren't guaranteed to be near spawn or in the world at all.

To help players who play this way I would like to suggest a new character creation option that allows you to choose a starter weapon for each class. This addition would give all classes something to defend themselves with while they begin to look for materials and better equipment. However, this option would not be available until the player has defeated the Wall of Flesh/Moon Lord to make sure new players don't feel pressured into a specific class. Also, choosing a class would not lock you into that damage type for the entire playthrough, it would just change the character's starting inventory.

Finally, these are the weapons I would choose for each class and some small changes I would make...

Copper Shortsword for Melee
- No changes, if it’s already broke don't fix it

Copper Bow (+100 Arrows) for Ranged
- Stats would be swapped with the Wooden Bow
- Damage reduced from 6 to 4
- Velocity reduced from 6.6 to 6.1
- Use time increased from 29 to 30

Amethyst Staff for Magic
- Mana cost reduced from 5 to 4 so you can cast a few more bolts before running out of mana

Amateur Whip for Summoner
- A brand new Whip crafted from 4 Copper Bars and 3 Rope Coils
- 9 damage
- Extremely weak knockback
-1 summon tag damage
- Slow speed of 32
- 6 tile reach
- "Crack the whip"

And finally here's what the weapon selection could look like in game...

I hope anyone else who does pure class playthroughs likes this suggestion and any feedback would be much appreciated!
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Spoiler: Bonus Tin Equivalent to Amateur Whip

Beginner Whip
- Crafted with 4 Tin Bars and 3 Rope Coils
- 10 damage
- Extremely weak knockback
-1 summon tag damage
- Average speed of 30
- 8 tile reach
- "Humble beginnings of a vampire hunter."

 

[Vella]

Amethyst Staff is a copper shortsword of mage weapon that is worse in every way possible (compared to Wand of Sparking) except for range, so I'm surprised it didn't get used in your showcase.

Also a quasi-stat sheet for Rope Whip:
Rope Whip:
Crafted with 5 rope coils and 3 copper.bars.
7 attack, plus 1 summon tag damage.
Average speed (21)
Weak knockback.
Only hits two enemies, tags monster that takes full damage.
"Humble beginnings of a vampire hunter."

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

Amethyst Staff is a copper shortsword of mage weapon that is worse in every way possible (compared to Wand of Sparking) except for range, so I'm surprised it didn't get used in your showcase.

Also a quasi-stat sheet for Rope Whip:
Rope Whip:
Crafted with 5 rope coils and 3 copper.bars.
7 attack, plus 1 summon tag damage.
Average speed (21)
Weak knockback.
Only hits two enemies, tags monster that takes full damage.
"Humble beginnings of a vampire hunter."

I mainly chose the Wand of Sparking over the Amethyst staff because of the Mana cost. With the Amythest Staff you get 4 shots before running out of Mana which, when combined when the slow use time, made the staff a pain to use and worse then the Copper Shortsword (in my opinion). With the Wand of Sparking you get 10 shots before running out which felt more balanced and comparable to the Shortsword (until you get more Mana after which it becomes much stronger).

Looking back though, I think I should have chose the Amethyst Staff instead of the Wand of Sparking to have a complete Copper Set. I think I’m going to update this post to fix that along with proposing a nerf for the Copper Bow, a Mana cost reduction for the Amethyst Staff, and making a Rope Whip sprite to go along with your awesome proposed stats.

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

Update: I've replaced the Wand of Sparking with the Amethyst Staff and I replaced the Finch Staff with a new basic whip (hopefully the sprite looks decent). Now all the weapons are made with Copper and should hopefully be about equal in power. Also, if anyone has ideas for what to do with Journeymode Charcters I would love to hear it!

 

[maranethan 🐿]

I still don’t get how whips are considered summon weapons.

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

I still don’t get how whips are considered summon weapons.

The short answer is that they deal Summon damage and boost the damage of your Minions.

The long answer is… long. This video by Shyguymask is mainly about the modded community’s reaction to Whips, but this 3 minute clip explains why they aren’t Melee and why they perfectly fit Summoner’s playstyle.

The rest of the video is also pretty interesting and brings up some good points.

 

[Maddie.]

Did they really just suggest nerfing the copper bow? It has like, 2 more damage than the standard wood bow, boreal has the same amount of damage as is easier to get

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

Did they really just suggest nerfing the copper bow? It has like, 2 more damage than the standard wood bow, boreal has the same amount of damage as is easier to get

Yeah I did nerf it, lol. It won’t do anything since you can immediately craft any of the Wooden Bows but I changed it just to make it consistent with the Shortsword.

 

[Maddie.]

Yeah I did nerf it, lol. It won’t do anything since you can immediately craft any of the Wooden Bows but I changed it just to make it consistent with the Shortsword.

If you want it to be on par with the shortsword, id suggest reducing the projectile velocity much more, and increasing its use time, not reducing the damage. It’d give players a reason to actually want to craft a wood varient, like with the shortsword.

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

If you want it to be on par with the shortsword, id suggest reducing the projectile velocity much more, and increasing its use time, not reducing the damage. It’d give players a reason to actually want to craft a wood varient, like with the shortsword.

But there would be an incentive to craft the Wooden Bows because it would have the Copper Bows previous superior stats. However, the idea of instead reducing the Copper Bows velocity and increasing it’s use time does sound interesting and like a possible alternative solution. What would you change the stats to?

 

[Maddie.]

But there would be an incentive to craft the Wooden Bows because it would have the Copper Bows previous superior stats. However, the idea of instead reducing the Copper Bows velocity and increasing it’s use time does sound interesting and like a possible alternative solution. What would you change the stats to?

A shorter projectile arc, a use time of 40, velocity of 3.5, negates the whole extra 2 damage over the wood bow by having a shorter range, like the copper short sword over the wood sword.

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

A shorter projectile arc, a use time of 40, velocity of 3.5, negates the whole extra 2 damage over the wood bow by having a shorter range, like the copper short sword over the wood sword.

Yeah that could also work, but I feel hesitant changing the use time and velocity to something slower then any bow in the entire game. I’m going stick with what I’ve proposed but I also like your solution.

 

[vessal]

I really love this idea I also think for the mage you should start with one mana cryistal and its always fun to see a new summon weapon

 

[The Mysterious Creature]

R.I.P. throwing class

 

[FalloutGuy645]

I think this is a neat idea, but the problem is you might be giving a little more power to the terraria players who don’t stick to a specific class when starting fresh. The game isn’t designed to have players stick to one class, especially in the beginning. With that being said, in the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a nice little touch for new characters. Although, I think melee deserves a something little better than the copper shortsword. How about a copper broadsword?

 

[Aceplante]

I think this is a neat idea, but the problem is you might be giving a little more power to the terraria players who don’t stick to a specific class when starting fresh. The game isn’t designed to have players stick to one class, especially in the beginning. With that being said, in the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a nice little touch for new characters. Although, I think melee deserves a something little better than the copper shortsword. How about a copper broadsword?

but its iconic, and is too late to change

 

[FalloutGuy645]

but its iconic, and is too late to change

It’s also iconic for Terraria players to start with a copper shortsword, period. If class based weapons would be added for starting gear, a broadsword might be more appropriate.

 

[ANejat🌈🪨]

But you're not supposed to have classes before hardmode; the harpoon, for instance deals the most DPS to weapons before it while it's still ranged and not melee! No ranged/summoner(Flinx coat does not count!) armors are included in pre-hardmode so you only go defence or die (because robes are horrible)...
And copper shortsword is the worst thinkable starter weapon, adding an already existing weapon (especially the ametyst staff) to newbies is a little OP especially since you have nerfed the ametyst staff.

 

[Russ Guss Doodles]

But you're not supposed to have classes before hardmode; the harpoon, for instance deals the most DPS to weapons before it while it's still ranged and not melee! No ranged/summoner(Flinx coat does not count!) armors are included in pre-hardmode so you only go defence or die (because robes are horrible)...
And copper shortsword is the worst thinkable starter weapon, adding an already existing weapon (especially the ametyst staff) to newbies is a little OP especially since you have nerfed the ametyst staff.

I didn’t understand most of what you said because of how it’s worded, but I will respond to what I did get.

Sticking with one class for an entire playthrough is definitely not an intended way to play. That's probably why there are no easily accessible starter Magic or Summoner weapons in the game right now. It's also probably why the weapons I have proposed won't work as starting weapons, even with the nerfs I gave them, they're all better than the Copper Shortsword. In all honesty, this idea is probably a better fit for Terraria 2 where pure class playthroughs can be built in from the beginning.

However, playing mainly one class beginning in early/mid Pre-Hardmode is intended. There are multiple armor sets and accessories in Pre-Hardmode that boost the stats for specific classes and using them with the right weapons increases damage greatly, which is especially important in higher difficulties. You can still play classless in Pre-Hardmode (which is good for new players) but having a class in Pre-Hardmode is absolutely intended.

 

[ranger_dude]

As a Ranger Main I love this idea. I also play Summoner and Mage sometimes, and the starting weapons for them are hard to get sometimes.