I came across this article today, where an inventor in Finland re-designed the basic wood-chopping axe (a tool thousands of years in use) to require less force and to be safer.
Immediately, I started to imagine it as a medieval fantasy weapon. Gnomes are the tinkerer race that I automatically think of (and "Vipukirves" from the article even sounds like it could be a gnomish word), so I started imagining the design from their perspective.
I came up with the idea that a Lever Axe has the same stats as a Battleaxe, except that it costs three times as much and it has the special quality "Kinetic." This negates the penalty to attack and damage that a wielder with low strength might possess.
The term "Kinetic" might need some work, but the few minutes I spent browsing the thesaurus didn't turn up anything better. Has anybody seen a weapon or special quality similar to this?
So, a wielder with a 10 or higher Strength could wield the Lever Axe the same as they could a Battleaxe, but it's unlikely they would buy the more expensive weapon. However, a low strength melee combatant who wanted to even the odds a bit might consider this weapon. I can envision this being a common weapon in a gnomish army or militia.
Another option is to make the weapon exotic and rename it to Gnome Lever Axe. This would allow gnomes to use the weapon as a martial weapon due to their Weapon Familiarity racial trait.
Thoughts?
Go with Gnome Lever Axe.
Just in case you didn't see this thread already...
Overall, I like the idea!
Just in case you didn't see this thread already...
Overall, I like the idea!
Gah, I had not seen that. How embarrassing! Thanks!
Go with Gnome Lever Axe.
Why?
Gah, I had not seen that. How embarrassing! Thanks!Just in case you didn't see this thread already...
Overall, I like the idea!
Happy to be of service.
I like the idea of it being a martial weapon for gnomes.
This weapon special ability comes to mind.
This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons that are not light weapons. An impact weapon delivers a potent kinetic jolt when it strikes, dealing damage as if the weapon were one size category larger. In addition, any bull rush combat maneuver the wielder attempts while wielding the weapon gains a bonus equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus; this includes all bull rush attempts, not only those in which a weapon is used, such as Bull Rush Strike, Shield Slam, or Unseat
It's not exactly the same as what you were going for, but it does function to maximize a weapon's base damage. Ignoring the bonus to bull rush, you could apply a similar effect to a gnome weapon. Just make it a small battlaxe, that deals the damage of a medium sized battleaxe.
Or, you could make it do the damage of a small battleaxe, but with a higher crit range, or crit multiplier, as another idea.
Or, going with the whole wood chopping idea, give it a bonus to sunder attempts against wooden objects.
Personally, I don't see the "ignores strength penalties to damage" as a very useful property, because any gnome looking for a melee weapon probably has the strength to use one effectively.