A question for the hive-mind: Too Powerful?

[Takeda]

I've mulled this over for awhile ... It is a weapon enhancement akin to Gravity Bow or the Bashing enhancement.

Massive:
A weapon with this special ability is designed to hit hard, really hard. A massive weapon looks too big to wield comfortably, but it deals damage as if it were a weapon one size category larger (a Medium dagger thus deals 1d6 points of damage and a Medium handaxe deals 1d8 points of damage).

Moderate transmutation; CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Gravity Bow; Price +1 bonus.

Is this too powerful for a +1? I'm thinking not as it is by and large much less advantageous than an elemental enhancement. It does jump a bit from d8+ but that's core rules. It does allow for Cloud's Massive Greatsword or that bizarre Greatsword wielded by PF's iconic Barbarian Amazon.

What do you think?

[GeneticDrift]

It actually is a weak enchantment, which is fine since it has roleplay flavor. And average plus one damage but no bonus to hit.

[Bobson]

I feel like it ought to be a +2, since (unlike an elemental enchant) the extra dice can be multiplied on a crit, it usually makes enlarge person even better (normally enlarge gives a longsword 2.5 average damage, but it would give a Massive longsword 3.5 average damage), and at the upper end stacks well with the Vital Strike chain (the more dice the better).

You also might want to consider using Lead Blades as the prerequisite for melee weapons.

[Takeda]

Well that's one vote for +1 and one for +2.

It is a good point that the entire crit multiplier would apply to the greater damage dice rolled ...

Maybe a -2 on Crit Confirmation based on the unwieldliness of the weapon would balance it out?

I'm reluctant to go to +2 unless there is no way to balance it.

Another option is that any attack with a Massive weapon is at -1 attack (including confirmation).

So a +1 Massive Shortsword would be at a net +0 attack but damage would be d8+1, crit on 19-20, x2.

Nope ... that's too punitive. Makes it less than a +1.

Maybe it makes any weapon so enchanted an Exotic Weapon ... like a Massive Greatsword does 3d6 damage and requires an Exotic Weapon Proficiency. A Massive Scimitar ... Nope.

In my game we have a Great Scimitar which is a scimitar version of the bastard sword but -1 die step. Thus it does 1d8, can be wielded as a Martial weapon in two hands or in one hand as an exotic weapon and has a crit range of 18-20.

That's worth it to wield one-handed. Any weapon could be similarily treated though. Waraxe and Battle Axe, Bastard Sword and longsword, Seige Hammer and Warhammer, Fellspear and short spear, Deathstar and morning star, etc. Note these don't follow the usual rules on damage increase. It goes up by one step but not one size category. So d4 becomes d6, d6 becomes d8, d8 becomes d10, d10 becomes 2d6, 2d6 or d12 becomes 2d8.

Just brainstorming.

[GeneticDrift]

I still don't think it deserves a +2. but you could give it a penalty to initiative during surprise rounds. If you feel it has an edge over other enchantments. Or a penalty to how much a character can carry, to represent the space it takes up, maybe -2str only for encumbrance.

[Dorje Sylas]

The dangers of sized increased damage die is that once you jump two or more sizes you will get way more of a return then comparable options.

A solution would be to treat it like the elemental and their Burst variants. The bigger the jump the more the enchantment costs.

[Bobson]

I'd call it a +1 if it also explicitly made the weapon damage not increase if you were subject to enlarge person, lead blades, or similar effects. That would cut out a lot of the abuse potential, making it more reasonable to go for the cheaper value.