Majoru Oakheart said:
The "common" way of looking at these weapons(which may or may not be actually correct in reality) is different. The way the "average" person thinks of these weapons is as follows:
Axes are weapons designed to be heavy and cut things. They have a large striking surface, so they do a lot of damage. They chop off limbs and pierce deep into someone when they hit.
Hammers are heavy, but they are blunt. They stun people and knock them around.
Maces are light and blunt. They don't have the massive hitting power to knock people around. They are used by clerics or other people without military training.
Flails have chains so they can be used to wrap around things, disarm, and trip.
Picks are piercing, but low damaging. They have a small striking surface but they pierce extra deep.
They are categories by their game effects. In the case of Whip and Scythe, you simply need to see what gave effect the average person expects them to have(hint, flail and axe).
I don't really agree with this logic... First, you really need to split hairs in order to create these definitions. Second, I don't agree that they are necessarily "common" conceptions.
First, I do agree that the flail deserves to be something different, simply because it has a chain. Actually, I would almost prefer it if it were the 'Whip" or "Chain" category, and flails in particular used both "Mace" and "Chain" as its group. At the very least, I would prefer to describe an videogame-style Snake Sword as a Light Blade/Chain rather than a Light Blade/Flail...
Getting to my main point... Even in your distinction, the difference between Maces and Hammers is neither logical or consistent. Why should hammers be "heavy" and maces be "light" when normal nail-hitting hammers are common and lightweight and maces can often be very heavy and large? Further, why should weight be the distinguishing factor for hammers and maces when axes can easily vary from small throwing axes to very heavy great-axes?
Another question is why should maces, picks, and axes be differentiated based on the kind of damage they inflict, when rapiers, knives, and broadswords all count as "Blades" even though their specific use and method of inflicting harm can vary so widely?
Fundamentally, warhammers, military picks, and maces all share the same combat function: ripping apart or punching through armor. I really don't quite see why they would need to be differentiated on a mechanical level. I can possibly see axes being used in a different manner, but I don't see why you would use different powers depending on whether you were using a mace or a hammer.
As I said before, I really like the idea of weapon groups and how they are going to be used in 4E, but this implementation just seems a bit clunky, even to a guy like me whose main familiarity with different kinds of weapon comes mostly from videogames.
