fantasy crafting

[brianfb]

I imagine balancing would just be to do an amazing job of having the width be uniform, as well as finding an ideal piece of wood.

[Enoch]

Armoury (Melee Weapons), but I would allow Carpentry-3 for a default.

[malloyd]

Building a weapon always uses Armoury in GURPS. In this case, for 4e, Armoury (melee weapons)/TL.

Despite what is printed in the RAW, I wouldn't allow a default to Smith-3 for a weapon not made of metal, but I would permit another skill for working with the same material -3, and Machinist -3 should be OK, even at lower TLs.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by brianfb

I imagine balancing would just be to do an amazing job of having the width be uniform, as well as finding an ideal piece of wood.

Not quite. You ideally want a gentle taper to the ends, reducing the thickness of the staff in the last foot or so.

While a uniform thickness is perfectly adequate for a well made staff, one of Fine or Very Fine should be tapered and will be shod (or treated in some fashion to harden it).

You cannot apply Balanced to a staff.

[brianfb]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

You cannot apply Balanced to a staff.

Reference?

Taper or no taper, perfect symmetry would be well balanced.

[Culture20]

Originally Posted by brianfb

Reference?

Taper or no taper, perfect symmetry would be well balanced.

The question then, is "does the extra balance to a weapon already designed to be mostly balanced offer any extra benefit?"