A Weapon is not a Tool

fuckin about with a heavily houseruled OD&D for no particular reason.
No thieves, no clerics, magic users powered by Wonder and Wickedness
the issue is this leaves only 2 classes, and only 1 getting unique stuff on a per character basis.
so - give Fighters a reason to not just wear Plate:

• Fighters wearing no armour add 4 to their saving throw rolls vs Wand/Ray & Breath Weapons
• Fighters wearing Leather/Light armour add 2 to their saving throw rolls vs Wand/Ray & Breath Weapons
• Fighters wearing Plate/Heavy armour subtract 2 from their saving throw rolls vs Wand/Ray & Breath Weapons

and then give them choices to make with weapons - obviously, this doesn’t have to be mechanical, but i think it helps some players. they’re all meant to be broadly comparable and useful in different situations.

All weapons deal 1d6 damage - light weapons with disadvantage, heavy weapons with advantage.

• Battle-Axe - Medium - May sacrifice 3 damage from an attack to attempt a weapon/shield strip. Roll a second attack - if successful, a weapon or shield can be ripped from the grip of the opponent.
• Club - Light - Forgo damage to attempt to stun - after a successful attack, target attempts to save vs paralysis - failure results in them losing their combat round. Further strikes against them are at +2.
• Crossbow*- Medium - Ignores armour, 1 round reload.
• Dagger - Light -Throwable, usable in grapple situation.
• Flail - Medium - Ignores shields.
• Greatsword - Heavy - Upon a killing blow, the wielder can roll another attack. This effect can be triggered multiple times.
• Hand-Axe - Light - Throwable. If 4+ damage is dealt, the Hand-axe bounces, ‘attacking’ again.
• Polearm*† - Heavy - Grant a nominated adjacent ally -2 AC.
• Poleaxe* - Heavy - AC of targets treated as 7 when attacked.
• Javelin - Medium - Throwable.
• Longbow* - Medium - +1 to hit per round spent aiming.
• Mace - Medium - Increases AC of those struck by 1 to a maximum of 7.
• Quarterstaff* - Light - Opponents must save vs Breath Weapon to approach, failure resulting in an automatic hit with this weapon.
• Shortbow* - Medium - Can split move and fire (i.e. move fire move).
• Shortsword - Light - Riposte twice.
• Sling - Light - Can be used to launch grenades.
• Spear† - Medium - Wielder may choose hold their attack until someone tries to approach them - they then roll an attack first.
• Sword - Medium - Riposte once.
• Two-Handed Axe* - Heavy - If a 6 is rolled for damage, roll another d6 and add the result. This effect can be triggered multiple times. Increase the wielders AC by +1.
• Warhammer* - Heavy - Those struck are thrown backwards if unable to make a save vs paralysis. Use the damage rolled to determine distance minus the HD of the creature struck.

† denotes a weapon with reach, being able to strike from behind another

* denotes weapons requiring two hands

Riposte: Attacks against the wielder which score below 7 (before AC is applied) result in the wielder being able to attempt a counter-attack, resolved normally.