Moved my response to Drexes down a bit.
Tried to post this yesterday but alas....so here goes:
I really like the idea of what you have here. It would make players more likely to take the weaponsmithing craft skill, making it less of a npc only thing. I think you should work on it for armorsmithing and other craft skills too. A bookbinder or scribe skill might make it quicker for wizards to memorize spells. That said I think I'll write a bit about each of your abilities because I think a few need some work, but that's just me.
I have already been working on doing some similar armor modification, as well as quite a lot more weapon modifications. I think its a neat idea if the Crafting process is so elaborate that players can customise their weapons to have really unique weapons, instead of everybody running around with a plain Longsword. I will update the list above when I finish my modifications, as well as adding new stuff.
Barbed Blade: Why is this just swords, you could easily craft large spikes on the reverse of a battleaxe or a warhammer. Also I would either make a standard damage like (1d4) for this or make it create an exotic weapon, after all this does offer some of thier advantages. I think thats too much disadvantage though. Maybe even have it so it comes with a -1 or -2 to hit due to piercing attacks.
I partly agree that a slight disadvantage might be in order, other than the increased price and the added weight. The disadvantage shouldn't, in my opinion, be too great though, a -1 attack penalty when using the weapon for piercing damage might be appropriate, when you take into consideration that you can easily find simple or martial weapons that have the capability to deal more than one type of damage. I fully agree that the modification should be for all weapons now that you mention it, instead of merely bladed ones.
Blood drain: okay, not what a fuller is for, but okay. A fuller was actually put in to reduce the weight of the weapon. At least that's what I remember reading way back when...maybe have it reduce the weight of the weapon too...
It is correct that the fuller is there for lightness as well as stability, which is why I made the Blood Drain modification specifically say that it means a deeper fuller as compared to normal.
Cross-blade Hilt: This is nice except that I would limit it to half the bonuses you have listed.
Well, to be honest, I was thinking that the largest of the two bonuses, the +4 Equipment bonus to the opposed roll when someone attempts to disarm the wielder, was appropriate since its a "passive" bonus which only applies when the opponent performs a certain action, while the +2 bonus is more "aggresive" since the wielder can attempt to disarm someone and gain this bonus. I thought it was a nice touch to differentiate between "passive" and "aggresive" bonuses, to give the image of a specifically defensive modification.
Dwarf Craftsmanship, Dwarf Epic Craftsmanship and Dwarf Tunnel Fighting: The first two are fine, though I wouldn't give the +2 to con. I would keep mundane craft stuff mundane. The tunnel fighting one I would change. I would give them a +2 to resist grapple checks made by other creatures and a +4 to damage if they have the close-quarters fighting feat. Oh and you need to fix the not stacking with other hilt effects text...
Funnily enough, someone else who read through the modifications thought that the Con bonus was excellent, it gives weapon-crafting a more "fantastic" feel. I guess I will leave this one to be a matter of the one using I presume. About the Tunnel Fighting though, I see your point. I unfortunately don't have the material where close-quarters fighting is presenetd (I have extremely little material available in general unfortunately), but perhaps I could make another modification with the bonus listed under Dwarf Tunnel Fighting, and add in some quality to Tunnel Fighting that makes it suitable for fighting while grappling.
Falcata Curve: Should this just be a new weapon? I'm not sure... Also a piercing weapon with a curved blade would be a little strange to me, or maybe my brain is just shot right now.
I think that some weapons will look a little bit odd with a Falcata Curve, I could imagine a Rapier or Spear looking odd, but some Piercing weapons are more appropriate, such as a Short Sword or Picks seem more appropriate. Not sure how exactly to classify the Falcata Curve in a manner that makes sense.
Folded Blade: Instead of using armor bonuses you might consider using categories like light, medium, and heavy. The only down side here is that calculating damage gets a little slower. "What kind of armor is the guy wearing again?" "What's its plus?" Categories would speed this up some.
I really wanted to use categories myself, and I was actually about to do so, but found out that monsters don't use armor categories, which makes it really hard to make a usable system that can apply to monsters too. Didn't know how else to do it other than making the modification based on armor bonus.
Elf craftsmanship: Too much. Maybe make elven one-handed weapons be considered light weapons for purposes of weapon finesse...Maybe reduce the penalty to power attacks made with two-handed eleven weapons by one.
I actually had someone else suggest that it should only apply to one-handed weapons, which is fine by me, would be appropriate to make it a different modification so that Elf Craftsmanship is something which can be applied to all weapons. I am trying to come up with something appropriate for Elves though, I think using the Power Attack, Cleave or Sunder mechanics might be a bit mis-fitting, was thinking of leaving those for other races.
Elf delicacy: Cool except with the bonuses the character would have a better attack bonus on AoO's than on his first strike. I'd just remove that part of the ability.
I thought it was actually a bit interesting combat-wise that you have a small benefit when using the opening offered to you by someone else, since AoO are basically something opponents "let you have" through their action.
Songblade: Why swords only, again you could just as easily put a flute style instrument in the haft of a hammer or axe. Just a thought.
Yeah, agree
Nagamaki Hilt: I like it, but I think a penalty to hit with reach attacks might be appropriate so it's not better than sudden reach from PHBII. (I think thats the right feat).
Yet another book I don't have >.<
A -1 penalty to hit wouldn't be inappropriate in my opinion though, I will implement that.
Serrated Blade: I don't like this one. Everybody out there has wanted to wield a blade like this at one point or another, but with this ability as written would preclude that. I would make it more like the knobbed head effect with a point or two of extra damage and a penalty to resist disarm.
What if the extra damage was awarded by dice, i.e. 1d4 points of extra damage (I did look it over and found the extra damage to be too specific). Hmmmm, thinking of some way to fix it, maybe give it extra damage based on weapon size. I think it is hard to get around the fact that a Serrated edge would be worse against armor than a normal edge.
Waved Blade: Call it flamberge. I like the ability.
I did consider using the name flamberge, wasn't sure if it was appropriate for smaller weapons though.. but.. errr. meh, not sure which is most appropriate.
Just my two fifths of a buffalo nickel...
Drexes
Thanks a bundle mate, got me a few things to modify, will modify the post once I finish up, as well as adding the new abilities I am working on.
