Revising Core Feats: Improvised Weapon Mastery... +8 BAB?

[Mok]

I've finally decided to go in and houserule the heck out of Pathfinder to get the game to fit what I want out of it. One thing I'm not satisfied with are a lot of the core feats. So I'm going through to see what can be done to make every feat an exciting and tantalizing choice to made and feel like a real power upgrade for the character. Every time a feat is written down on that character sheet it should feel like the moment when an Immortal in Highlander cuts another Immortal's head off.

First, a look at the feat:

PRD wrote:

Improvised Weapon Mastery (Combat)

You can turn nearly any object into a deadly weapon, from a razor-sharp chair leg to a sack of flour.

Prerequisites: Catch Off-Guard or Throw Anything, base attack bonus +8.

Benefit: You do not suffer any penalties for using an improvised weapon. Increase the amount of damage dealt by the improvised weapon by one step (for example, 1d4 becomes 1d6) to a maximum of 1d8 (2d6 if the improvised weapon is two-handed). The improvised weapon has a critical threat range of 19–20, with a critical multiplier of ×2.

So really what I find as the head scratcher for this feat is why it has a +8 BAB prerequisite? As far as I can tell this is nothing like getting Improved Critical.

In a certain way, due to the cap on damage, it's like getting martial weapon proficiency as a class feature because the cap damage functions like a great sword. I'm not really sure how level 8 is a moment where this finally makes the game balanced, versus having it at level 1.

Another wrinkle is that this feat almost completely invalidates the previous feat, while at the same time gaining the other prerequisite feat, since IWM gives you all of these features for any weapon, regardless of it either being melee or ranged. It's kind of a weird feat tree.

Still, I just don't see how you need to wait this long for it. You need to spend two feats, one of which gets subsumed under this one and almost completely becoming worthless. So it's kind of pricey, and replicates an effect that half the classes are going to give you anyways.

So I'd feel comfortable just scrubbing away the prerequisite and leaving it at that.

[Kierato]

While I disagree with many of your previous "Revising Core Rules" threads, I agree whole-heartedly with this one.
but one thing...

Mok wrote:

Another wrinkle is that this feat almost completely invalidates the previous feat, while at the same time gaining the other prerequisite feat, since IWM gives you all of these features for any weapon, regardless of it either being melee or ranged. It's kind of a weird feat tree.

I think this is kind of the point, This feat would be a complete waste (i.e. wasting 3 feats for the benefits) if you needed both to qualify, although both throw anything and catch off guard give you a bonus you don't get here.