@JeremyECrawford UA Brute, does Brute Force work with unarmed or no? it doesn't say "melee weapon attack" or "attack with a melee weapon" so it seems just a tad vague.
— James Lysakowski (@Hiro_Zero_Virus) January 10, 2018
If a game feature says it works with a melee weapon, it means an actual melee weapon. As of the Player's Handbook errata, the rules don't consider your body to be a melee weapon. #DnD https://t.co/4AkGFkk4Qj
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) January 10, 2018
I really don’t understand why this is a necessary distinction for the rules to make.
Why should fists / elbows / knees / et cetera NOT count as weapons? What problems arise from allowing that? Unarmed is already flatly inferior to a weapon in all cases that don’t involve a Monk. Why does it ALSO need to not count as a weapon for the purposes of abilities like these?
Put another way, what mechanical balance does this provide that makes up for the limitation of player choice in terms of style and aesthetics? What’s the practical upshot that counteracts the obvious downsides? Because so far, I’ve yet to discover one.
It just seems like a senseless limitation that exists for no reason.