Weapons size damage bonus

[Slimcreeper]

This came to me while I was reading through the preview, but I think it is a new idea rather than an errata or editing thing, so new topic. Not something that could be play tested and run in the new edition at this point.

(at least I think its a new idea ...)

Mechanically, most of the weapons are pretty similar. Consider the implications of adding the size of the weapon as a straight bonus to damage. Size 4 weapons and larger have a -1 initiative penalty. All of the sudden, the larger races are much more terrifying in melee - which they should be.

[Dougansf]

The larger races aren't terrifying in melee (or at all, really) because their Dex is subpar, and thus they can't hit in order to bring their high Str to bear. Effectively, an Obsidiman is taking a -1 step to hit, in return for a +2 step to damage, a Troll has a "free" +1 to damage. When they actually hit, it's pretty terrifying, but ED is a Dex game.

Similarly, reducing their initiative even more is not helpful. If anything, the larger weapons should get an initiative bonus for having reach.

[Lys]

Weapon size is already taken into account by the fact that large weapons do more damage. But suppose we experiment with your idea and decide that the base damage for swords is Step 2. In that case a Size 2 short sword have Step 4 damage, while a Size 3 broadsword have Step 5 damage, and a Size 6 two-handed sword Step 8 damage. Turns out those are exactly the damage values that those weapons already had, so the effort proves redundant.