Masterwork weapons

Quote

Isn't limiting weapons of quality to "chivalric" weapons cutting out a huge segment of the world of Weyrth (or whatever alternate earth that you ould like to play with)? Now if you are defining it by social class, that's a different matter,

I knew I should have used quotes around Chivalric. I meant by class. So, in the East, it might include Naginatas, I dunno. My point was merely that there has to be a market for something before people will learn the skill to make that item. Just because there are adventurers in the world who might find treasure, and might want a masterwork partisan does not give anyone enough incentive to figure out how to do it.

That would be like saying that Krupps knife line should develop a line of masterwork switchblades just in case some criminal gets a load of dough, and decides to buy one.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy as well. Since the adventurer knows that nobody does it, he won't go asking. And the cycle of demand will never begin. Now, a PC could change that. He could spend a ton of money on getting some smith to work on the idea of making an improved Bill, but after the smith got done laughing and realized that he was serious, he could make a series of them trying to figure out how it would be done. And in the end, after a lot of practice, and trial and error, he might come up with the product in question. Call it six months, and 100x the cost. After which point they can then be purchased from that smith for the normal masterwork price.

Basically, for every proficiency, there's already a "best" weapon, and it's the one that the nobles are using. Why would you want to improve on an improvised weapon, when you can improve on the real thing?

Mike