The tabletop RPG D&D is a game that can rely heavily at times on combat. It fills the space in between relevant plot points and gives players who like tactics and spreadsheets a time to shine. Not every weapon is equal, however, The Sword of Kas is not going to be comparable to the rogue's humble dagger. Then there's the question of what to do if you don't have a weapon.
You could be disarmed to meet the king or local bandit lord, you could already be in prison and you're not a monk, you can't punch things out of your way. Well here are some alternatives to your normal weapon that you can find on the fly.
10 The Tavern Brawler Feat
This is a basic solution to not having a weapon at hand. You just grab pretty much anything, call it an 'improvised weapon' and the feat gives it 1d4+Str worth of damage. The only real limitation is what the DM says cannot be considered an 'improvised weapon'.
That's easy to solve as well, just explain how you plan to use the object. "Well, the ladle was sturdy enough churn [insert cooks name]'s soup, so it's sturdy enough to strike with", "Well, the writing quill has a pointy bit don't it? It's basically a knife". Just never say you use your fists as improvised weapons, that one's not going to work.
9 Bag of Knives
Alright, this one is situational, but it's likely applicable to a lot of low-level adventurers. You're traveling through a goblin invested whatever, and the only thing of value they have is their knives or their loincloths, but seriously, your only taking one of those two things. SO before long, your bag is functionally a sheath for multiple knives.
Well, what if you drop your sword in this situation? One bad roll and it could happen. In this case, it's the goblins unlucky day, you can start swinging your knife bag. It could ruin the bag with all those blades popping through, but it's also going to ruin a lot of goblins too.
8 Flaming Gauntlets
Sometimes, you just got nothing but the armor on your back and the gloves on your hands. Are you going to resign yourself to simply rolling to hit with your fists and dealing 1+Str? No, absolutely not, douse your gloves in a flammable liquid and use a spark.
Now start punching anything you like with your fiery fists of righteous retribution. It depends on how you use them, but if you grapple a creature and hold them with the gloves that's potentially 1d8 of fire damage from consistent exposure. This ultimately depends on the DM though, as this could potentially hurt you as well. I mean, you're technically lighting yourself on fire.
7 Sack of Whatever
This is going to be a theme here, insert [objects] into a sack and proceed to beat something with it. It functionally turns any rucksack (or table cloth) into a club. This one isn't all that inventive or interesting unless you use a table cloth to bundle up a dining room set to make a weapon.
However, if you're at a fancy dinner party, there is no better way to show you disagree with someone else's dinner conversation then beating them to death with the contents of everything on the table.
6 Bag of Holding Grapple
The average bag of holding is something like a pocket reality that only has 5ft by 5ft space upwards, depends on how expensive the bag is. Now depending on the house rules in play (doing this will generate some new house rules) there should be, based on the rules as written, no way to open that bag from the inside.
However, it is known that the bag is airtight. So, anything that needs air, that you put in there, after a certain amount of time will die of asphyxiation. It works on medium-sized creatures or smaller (depending on bag size) and only needs a grapple check (in theory) to do right.
5 Another Creature
This one depends on your strength and what the other creature is. If it's a party member, well they're going to get hurt, but they are also going to get an attack in on the enemy as they hit them. However, if you hit an enemy with another enemy, they BOTH take damage, its like a multi-attack at low levels.
This does require a grappling check but is absolutely perfect against goblins. You can also swing the enemy at other enemy weapons to try to disarm them, even if you fail the thing your holding is still taking damage.
4 'Whippin' Things At Other Things
Whips may be a weapon in itself, but it's what you can do with the whip that makes it unique. Use to grab flasks of chemicals, things that burn, that freeze, that are simply flammable, and smack them into others. A little bit of whip damage followed by whatever was in that flask makes for an interesting fight.
Remember, you don't even need a whip for this one, all you need is a length of chain and some good rolls.
3 A Table Leg
The humble table leg is generally overlooked as a viable weapon. All it takes is one good wrench with an arm and it'll pop right off. Unless the table is held together with wood glue or the like your suddenly getting a reasonably sized chunk of wood with nails sticking out of it.
It's pretty difficult not to argue that's not a club that comes with both piercing and bludgeoning damage to boot. It does depend on the quality of table though, the fancier the dining room the better the odds your gonna get a decent weapon out of this. Might even be a +1 table leg.
2 The Bards Musical Instrument
If you've just had enough of that bard's lack of instrumental talent, or just don't like them that much, grab whatever it is they're playing and use that. Brass instruments make great clubs and are sturdy, woodwinds and strings will at least get a few good hits in till they break. If you just grab and swing you're not only getting rid of enemies and persistent source of annoyance.
That and it might 'inspire' the bard to actually use their weapon in combat instead of 'inspiring' their allies with their musical talent.
1 Improvised Physics
Any big object that is marginally spherical and slope can do decent force damage when pushed down. The dwarven warrior in full plate being pushed down a hill in a barrel will crash into the enemies then pop out and get their attack after. summoning a decently sized creature above an enemy to drop on them can make an improvised missile.
In 18 seconds two move earth spells and a minor illusion to cover the whole can generate 1d10 falling damage. Dropping a chandelier on someone, any of these could work. All of this will cause some damage, but the DM might not be that thrilled with it.