I had an idea for making typical, nonmagical weapons/armor more unique. As in an Elven longsword would be different from a Human forged longsword and very different from an Orc longsword. Or as a cultural difference, like a English sword compared to a Chinese sword. Not just in inconsequential flavor text, but in its game terms as well.
I have a few ideas rolling around, like Elven armor being aerodynamic and sleek, so +1 Dex or Orc weapons are wickedly sharp and usually spiked, so they give 1 bleed on a hit. Things of that nature, very much a work in progress, but I like the possibilities.
My question is, has anyone else made a crafting system like this? Pathfinder/3.5 based or otherwise? I like to look at how other DMs handle homebrew concepts before I realistically think about them in my games, but I'm having absolutely no luck finding anything close to it so far.
hmm... Could tie it into masterwork. Make a few variations of what masterwork can mean for armour and weapon rather than just one type, and have different cultures associated with those different masterwork benefits.
