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

[moritheil]

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

Yes, and other spells/powers as well.

 

[Rhun]

I have both wooden hafted and metal hafted replicas of several medieval weapons in my collection...battleaxes, war hammers, maces, etc. In many cases, the weapons with the metal hafts actual weigh LESS than those with wood, as the metal haft can be much thinner.

I see absolutely no reason why you couldn't have metal hafted versions of just about any weapon. Increase the cost a couple of gold pieces if you are worried about it, and go from there.

 

[frankthedm]

I have both wooden hafted and metal hafted replicas of several medieval weapons in my collection...battleaxes, war hammers, maces, etc. In many cases, the weapons with the metal hafts actual weigh LESS than those with wood, as the metal haft can be much thinner.

I see absolutely no reason why you couldn't have metal hafted versions of just about any weapon. Increase the cost a couple of gold pieces if you are worried about it, and go from there.

Mayhap it is a "package deal" when shelling out the 300gp for masterworking?

Our Host is a blade enthusiast as well. He had a fairly nice battle axe with a square steel shaft [pretty thin though, thus the HP and hardness of same sized blade idea ], but he did note, the balance of a weapon could easily be thrown off dependant on the handle material.

He also called the PHB illustration of the warhammer 'ridiculously heavy' citing actual war hammers were of the shapes shown below.

http://www.maskworld.com/pix/new/large/a0605-2.jpg
http://www.mwart.com/images/p/Other_Weapons_German_War_Hammer_M600366_1753.jpg
http://grendelscave.net/armory/i/ax627/ax627-01.jpg

 

[Wish]

I'd allow it for hand weapons. Some sort of reinforcement for pole arms. But the most critical house rule for me is that breaking the shaft of a wooden shafted weapon doesn't ruin the enchantment. Just put a new handle on it and you're good to go.

 

[frankthedm]

But the most critical house rule for me is that breaking the shaft of a wooden shafted weapon doesn't ruin the enchantment. Just put a new handle on it and you're good to go.

That is a popular house rule in my group too!

 

[Storyteller01]

Depends largely on how the weapon is used, and what metal is used. In the dojo we had two types of jo staffs; the metal ones and the woden ones. The metal weapons were harder to manipulate. Too much friction between the weapon and the hands. Your hands couldn't slide into position quite as fast.

Just my experience though, and I don't think anyone here ever had thet problem with metal bats.

 

[FireLance]

Why apply real-world logic to a game that already has salamanders who use metallic spears at no penalty to hit?

 

[Rhun]

Mayhap it is a "package deal" when shelling out the 300gp for masterworking?

You know, that isn't a bad idea at all.

Our Host is a blade enthusiast as well. He had a fairly nice battle axe with a square steel shaft [pretty thin though, thus the HP and hardness of same sized blade idea ], but he did note, the balance of a weapon could easily be thrown off dependant on the handle material.

Absolutely the case. All weapons of the day had to be properly balanced. That was what made the difference between a good blade and a bad one. I suppose one could come to the conclusion that this is part of why Masterwork weapons have a +1 attack bonus...better balance.

He also called the PHB illustration of the warhammer 'ridiculously heavy' citing actual war hammers were of the shapes shown below.

It has always been a huge complaint of mine that D&D has treated war hammers like they were some kind of massive maul. Looks like Mjolnir to me!

 

[Rhun]

Why apply real-world logic to a game that already has salamanders who use metallic spears at no penalty to hit?

Because there isn't anything better to do?

 

[frankthedm]

Why apply real-world logic to a game that already has salamanders who use metallic spears at no penalty to hit?

I love that weapon for a few reasons

BTW Are there any other DMs in this thread who have houserules for saving throw penalties against electricity for those who are wearing metal armor (or made out of metal, carrying a lot of metal, or the like).

On a serious note, I'd be confident fire immune creatures have some forging tricks to make a metal haft. A wooden hafted spear just does not work when you sweat lava. With enough time [and heat] to reforge the spear over and over, i would suspect a salamander can get the right balance between spear head and spear haft.

That 'real-world logic' is a similar reasoning behind why a improperly sized weapon has a -2 to hit per size catagory off and a really well made weapon gets a +1 to hit. The weight in the wrong place really effects a weapon badly in performance.