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

[Zaruthustran]

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

That's a pet peeve of mine. The swords have weird bulges and tips, the axes are straight out of He-Man, the armor is ridiculous. Why couldn't they give the 3e artists some--ANY--reference photos? Sigh. I really dislike the strappy, spiky, supersized look of 3e.

Anyway.

From a house rules perspective, I'm all for "Sure", at least for hand weapons. Polearms... too long. Metal is way too flexible--it'd be like fighting with a 10' Wacky Noodle. And if you make it rigid enough to function as wood, it's too brittle.

From a RAW perspective, the Sunder table is for reference, and includes stats for metal hafts. As someone else mentioned, Salamanders use metal spears at no penalty so a metal-hafted spear or axe should likewise have no penalty.

Just as a player is free to say his leather armor is from cow, pig, manta, rattlesnake, or whatever, so is a player free to choose reasonable material for his haft. It's up to the DM to decide any cost differences.

 

[frankthedm]

That's a pet peeve of mine. The swords have weird bulges and tips...

Oh, you mean like the Shlong Sword that is part of the D&D logo?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Actually, I've seen some Eastern blades that have a bulging tip like that...but they tend to be MUCH shorter and broader, and the blade's curved tip flows into a "pinched" waist, which then flares out again just at the hilt...a "leaf" type shape, if you will.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Leaf blades are pretty. Christian Fletcher makes one that is absolutely gorgeous:

http://www.christianfletcher.com/Site/Elven Leafblade.html

But yeah, I was talking about the shlong sword: 1d8, 15-stupid, x2

 

[Rhun]

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

Also, Frank...

Metal hafted warhammer: (2.25 lbs)http://museumreplicas.com/webstore/...axes_hammers_and_maces/spiked_war_hammer.aspx

Metal hafted pieces:
http://museumreplicas.com/webstore/...es_hammers_and_maces/flanged_battle_mace.aspx

Bar Mace (Interesting weapon):
http://www.museumreplicas.com/webst...storical/axes_hammers_and_maces/bar_mace.aspx

(These are all based on actual, historical weapons)

 

[Rhun]

And if we are talking swords, here is a cool flared long sword...

http://www.museumreplicas.com/webst...ives/historical/swords/flared_long_sword.aspx

 

[Zaruthustran]

That bar mace looks brutal. And dead simple to make. Great for orcs and goblins.