Can a ‘normally’ wood hafted weapon be made with a metal haft?

[kirstar]

you could have several optiions.

metal reinforcements, and complete replacemebts

think about wooden hammer and metal hammers. sameish weight its only the half which is smaller thickness.

Increase the harness and hit points to similar to blades.

 

[Firebird]

I have no problem with replacing wooden hafts with metal ones. This was actually quite commonly done. As a modern example, we have baseball bats of both wood and metal construction and I've never heard a baseball player complain about the "balance' of an aluminum bat.

 

[Twowolves]

I'm fairly certain that the long axes used by the vikings had to have wooden hafts because they had to bend almost like a golf club when swung with both hands. A metal haft wouldn't have that springiness to it. But this is D&D, so I don't see why not.

 

[Xath]

It depends on the metals that are available in your campaign. But for ease and simplicity, I'd say avoid a penalty by using Mithril or Ironwood.

 

[MarkB]

I think that to maintain the weapon balance and feel (diameter of haft etc), that you would need to use mithral. Metal is typically denser (and therefore heavier) than wood, and mithral seems to the the best way to redress that.

That would be my suggestion also.

I have no problem with replacing wooden hafts with metal ones. This was actually quite commonly done. As a modern example, we have baseball bats of both wood and metal construction and I've never heard a baseball player complain about the "balance' of an aluminum bat.

Most D&D settings don't include access to aluminium - and baseball players might well start complaining if you handed them a steel bat.

 

[Aaron L]

Sure, but it will probably be damn heavy and Id give it penalties to hit without an exotic weapon proficiency.

If its normally made of wood and not metal, theres probably a good reason...

 

[Dracorat]

A metal shield vs a wooden shield carry no stat differences, yet you still have to weild them on your shield arm. Extrapolating that upward, I see no reason why weapons should be any different. And for the record, if balance needs to be preserved, the weaponscrafter can make the blade/blunt end of the weapon a little longer or add weights to it. The overall weight might increase some as a result. That would be up to you or your DM.

 

[moritheil]

My answer is, "If your DM allows it."

The weakness of hafts is somewhat mitigated by darkwood, but it remains a problem. If you're truly worried about this vulnerability in a strict RAW campaign, there are some things that might help: ironwood, and various powers/spells that allow one to modify an object's hardness.

 

[Dracomeander]

Most of your one-handed hafted weapons did have metal hafted variants particuliarly in the latter era before firearms became widespread. Those that didn't typically had metal strips protecting the collar and a small part of the haft to make them more capable of blocking blows without becoming fouled.

The longer hafted weapons such as spears and polearms were impractical to make fully of metal, but the smaller weapons were actually quite frequently all metal.

 

[Nail]

If you're truly worried about this vulnerability in a strict RAW campaign, there are some things that might help: ironwood, and various powers/spells that allow one to modify an object's hardness.

Like the spell Hardening (Sor/Wiz 6, SC p. 109)?