How do you handle skills that require certain weapon types?

In games which have class systems and/or which allow characters to pick from several weapon types, it’s not uncommon to have a few skills which require a specific weapon type to use. For example, an arrow barrage skill which requires a character to have a bow equipped, or a heavy swing which requires a melee weapon.

The easiest solution is probably just to railroad which characters learn which skills and keep equipment selection very limited - only bows for your Ranger character with their barrage skill, only physical melee weapons for your warriors, thieves, tanks, etc. But this isn’t always the preferable solution if character customization is meant to be a significant aspect of your game. Another possibility is to determine a character’s skills entirely by the weapon they’ve equipped, but it’s an uncommon approach which comes with its own design challenges.

So if a player wants to give their Ranger character a dagger and their Thief a bow, do you try to accommodate that when designing thematic, weapon-specific skills like the examples above? If you disable skills when the character doesn’t have the right weapon, do you attempt to offset that disadvantage? Or is it just sometimes okay to include choices for players which are inferior by design? Let me know what you think!

Well, my take on that is that I wouldn't bother restricting any skills to specific weapons in the first place. Does that mean I'll have skills with names like "Snipe" available for use, even if the character in question is wielding a sword? Yeah probably, and that's okay. Personally, I think it's okay to just assume the character in question has a backup bow he/she can pull out, use Snipe with, and then put away again.

Originally, I toyed with the idea of restricting skills by weapon type on an assassin-themed character. One of her skills, Fan of Knifes, implies the use of daggers, while the other, Whiplash, implies the use of whips. Technically, that's 4 skills total since each of those two combo-unlocks another stronger skill for use on the next turn. Anyhow, even though she can equip other weapon types besides just daggers and whips, I found while testing her out that I felt obligated to ignore the other weapon types in favor of just daggers or just whips. On top of that, the other characters so far have full access to their entire kit, regardless of weapon type, so it made her feel unfairly restricted.

So yeah, you can force your archer character to only use bows, but with that being the case, why have the restriction in the first place since that's all they can equip?

The one I really wanted to implement were shield skills, but that is not an option without a lot of tinkering.

In my current project most of my classes learn dedicated skills that match to their usable weapon types , e.g. the Warrior uses two handed weapons and learns skills like "Uppercut", the Archer uses bows and crossbows and has skills like you mentioned, "Snipe" etc.
I think thats the classic way in RPGs.
But i also have a Mercenary able to use all weapons BUT he only learns some - lets say a mixture - of Warrior, Archer etc. skills. He has only a few skills for every weapon type but I dont think its a disadvantage so i wouldnt attempt to offset this. It also can be an advantage because sometimes when you have many flying enemies for example one archer isnt enough so i give my Mercenary a bow and can deal better with it. If he uses melee then the ranged skills are disabled and vice versa but not hidden, they stay greyed out.

Its a matter of personal taste if you like to have specialized actors or that the player can specialize them by himself or some mix like i do.
I am thinking about giving every class every possible in-game weapon type but different classes deal different amount of damage, e.g. Warrior deals 25% more damage than Mercenary with two handed weapon or Archer 25% more damage than Mercenary with bow etc.

I think an extensive but not to complex and simple to understand system keeps the game fresh. :)

I don't use a class system, so all of my characters can use any weapon type they desire. The player has almost complete control over character evolution in my project.

All of the weapon types have skills unique variants of a set of universal skills, based on variations in animation, TP or MP consumption, TP or MP consumption rate, crit percentage, injury affliction rates, & number of strikes per skill because of dual wielding.

I don't try to compensate for it, because the system is rewarding the player for specialization, & the player is able to determine what that specialization is. As more powerful skills become unlockable, based upon what skills they chose to learn previously.

I went with a time consuming but, at least for me, more rewarding option: i made several skills unique to weapon types and just added a "Add skill" into the weapon themselves, not the class, that way i dont have ridiculous, in my perspective, non adequate skills available for the weapon equipped (no "fire arrow" with a sword and shield, no stabbing bows, no cutting hammers, you get it) and swapping weapons alters the actor skillset, giving a layer of strategy and making every weapon give a unique feel.

I found this way more engaging and making the choice of weapon a meaningful one, its a lengthy process, more so with a lot of weapons but its worth the time.

Just do what I do; make each weapon have an "add skill type".

I have "restricted" skills, but they're restrictions for a reason.

My Thief can only have full access to all of his skills if he's using both a Katar and a Dagger at the same time. But, there's a trade-off. He'll inflicte states half as often and counter attack half as often, as well as land half as many critical hits. He can use a Short Sword and be limited to only 2 of his 6 skills as well... but, his Attack Power will be pretty jacked due to Dual Wield. So, it's a trade-off. Half of his skills revolve around using his Agility Stat (which is the Daggers pump up in terms of stats) and the other half revolve around his Luck Stat (which is what the Katars increase). The skills he has available are based on the build you want to create with him. I do this to create options for players.

My Magic Knight has skills which can only be used if he's got different things equipped. Claymores have access to 2 of his 6 skills. Halberds another 2 of those 6. Great Axes the last 2 of those 6. Those skills can be "leveled up" into "Versatility", which will unlock for use with one of the other 2 weapons. So, your Claymores would have access to 4 skills instead of 2. Etcetera. Each skill is a specific element with specific strengths in combat. Halberds are mostly defensive. Claymores are mostly "all around" type weapons. Great Axes are massive powerhouses with a sharp drop to accuracy.

My Ranger can use swords or bows. Different set of skills for both. Depends on how you want to use her in combat. Is she a front-line fighter who deals a lot of damage with a sword or Hand Axe, or is she a back line fighter who dishes out all sorts of States and Support with the bow?

My Pirate can use many different weapons, but he's got three skills locked off by Weapon. "Cleave" is only usable with a Great Axe and has a chance to randomly inflict death on an enemy. Even bosses. In the off-chance it doesn't instantly kill, it does a TON of damage. Without the accuracy penalty Great Axes come with. But, the skill is his "Limit Break", so he's going to cast it roughly once a battle, unless you've prepared accordingly to raise his TP gauge quickly. The other skill is "Swashbuckling", which is a sort of "AOE" type attack with a Rapier. He dances across the battlefield hitting either 4 random targets once... or 1 random target 4 times (or any variation therein). He's got "Return Magic" that can only be done with a Long Sword, which gives him a percentage chance to reflect any incoming magic back at the caster (up to 90% chance) for a few turns. The choices with him are which targets you want him to be hitting. His weapons affect which targets he can hit. You can make him a Mage Killer... a Heavy Hitter destroyer... a Minion Slaughterer...

Put simply, these skills available at all times, regardless of weapon, would break the game a little. It would also make my combat far less interesting and less revolving around player choice. It would also render play styles more meaningless as well as equipment types. Every piece of equipment is useful in its own way. What the player chooses to equip on their characters, determines how they want that character to play. What role that character will play in the party.

That's why I did it.

Now, some players might hate that their skills are locked off behind Weapon requirements. Especially since most characters have like 6 skills at most. But, it forces them into interplay with other characters. Building a combo with what other characters are doing, instead of relying on a single character to take care of everything (like most standard RPG's do). My Tank can also be DPS with the right equipment. My DPS can also be Controller. My Mage can also be a Glass Cannon or a Mainline Fighter. My Ranger can be DPS or Debuffer. Etcetera, etcetera.

I find it more interesting that these options are in my game depending on decision rather than just give the characters all their skills all the time and let the player use the best stuff to make certain characters beyond broken and others not worth using.

But, I like when players make interesting decisions. When they've got options. I like seeing what they'll do.