This thread is a continuation of the discussion in the Blademaster thread, where forum members expressed concern that the talent only affected bladed weapons. The most popular fix seemed to be:
- A "Weapon Master" talent that granted re-rolls to all melee attacks
- A "Bludgeon Master" talent analogous to Blademaster that allowed attacks made with blunt weapons to be re-rolled
However, the melee weapon imbalances are not confined to the Blademaster talent. There are some imbalances within the weapon statistics themselves..
Swords are significantly stronger than other one-handed Low-Tech weapons. The knife, truncheon and whip have less damage output AND don't grant a bonus to Parry checks. The shield has its uses, but attacking is not one of them. The warhammer seems like a fair alternative to the sword at first glance. When the Mono upgrade is applied to both weapons, the warhammer deals more damage and penetrates armor better but lacks the Balanced quality... and then we see that the warhammer requires two hands to use. What? It doesn't deal nearly as much damage as a great weapon, and it weighs significantly less than other one-handed weapons (6kg chainsword, 13kg power fist).
Chainswords also outperform chainblades -- the only other one-handed Chain weapon -- in every possible way. The chainaxe seems like a good alternative (and inexplicably lacks Unbalanced despite weighing 13kg...) but, again, it is a two-handed weapon. Chainaxes don't even approach the destructive power of the eviscerator, the primary use of which seems to be carving your ex's car in half out of spite.
Power weapons are better, but the power axe again feels like it should be a one-handed weapon. The power sword is (finally) not objectively better than other one-handed weapons; the power maul gains Shocking and a less-lethal mode while losing Balanced, while the power fist can't parry at all but deals enough damage to shame a wrecking ball. The Omnissian axe is just flat-out better than the power axe, so if your character can get an Omnissian axe there is no reason to ever look at a power axe. As a one-handed weapon, the power axe would provide a happy medium between the handiness of the power maul/sword and sheer destructiveness of the power fist.
The force staff confuses me. It does not have the statistics of a Best quality Mono staff as suggested by the Force quality description, and also loses a normal staff's Balanced quality. The force sword statistics match the given description, though. I realize that if both weapons followed the listed rules precisely, they would be identical save the number of hands required to use them and the type of damage they deal. This is a little awkward, but IMO either the force weapon description or the weapon stats should be changed to maintain consistency.
To summarize my suggestions:
- Make the warhammer and power axe one-handed weapons
- Make the chainaxe one-handed, give it Unbalanced, and possibly reduce the weight (13kg is HEAVY)
- Make changes to either the Force quality description or the force staff stat block so that the rules text matches the weapon's stats