As seen on http://www.fudgefactor.org.

Objective Weapon Design System

by DW (Infornific @ aol.com)

The standard Fudge rules base the ODF bonus on weapon size and sharpness. While this works for a simple system - a dagger (tiny, sharp) does +1, a club (medium) does +2, a great axe (large, sharp) does +4 - it leaves a few questions. Can a character with Mediocre Strength use a two-handed axe intended for someone with Great Strength? If you have Superb Strength and pick up a weapon considered medium sized for someone with Poor Strength, what's the bonus? You could just go with tradition and fudge the results. However, this would leave me with no article. Therefore I propose the following as an objective weapon design system for Fudge.

Melee weapon design for Fudge should meet the following criteria:

1. Larger, heavier weapons should do more damage.
2. Larger, heavier weapons should require more Strength to use properly.
3. The weapon rules should be scalable - designs should provide logical results for giants, pixies and where needed, normal humans.

Seemingly, the first two criteria could be met by simply increasing the damage bonus with the required Strength. This breaks down when unusual Scales come into play. Because FUDGE uses a logarithmic scale, a +3 to ODF is a relative, not absolute bonus. A weapon adding +3 to damage for a Scale 6 giant adds far more damage in absolute terms than a weapon adding +3 to damage for a Scale -8 pixie. Therefore, instead of adding a bonus to Strength, weapons in this system will have a ODF based on the minimum Strength required for the weapon plus other weapon characteristics. Strength over the minimum for the weapon will add to damage but a character is best off using a weapon designed for his Strength.

Basic System

The ODF for a weapon is equal to the minimum Strength +2. Thus a weapon requiring Mediocre Strength would have a base ODF of +1.

Required Strength	Base ODF
Terrible	-1
Poor	0
Mediocre	+1
Fair	+2
Good	+3
Great	+4
Superb	+5

If a weapon is sharp, add +1 to ODF. If a weapon requires two handed use, add +1 to ODF.

Club - requires Fair Strength, blunt, one handed. +2 ODF.
Great Sword - requires Great Strength, sharp, two handed. +6 ODF.
Large Knife - requires Poor Strength, sharp, one handed. +1 ODF.
Quarter staff - requires Good Strength, blunt, two handed. +4 ODF.

Excess Strength and insufficient Strength

For every two levels of Strength a character has above a weapon's minimum, add +1 to ODF. Thus a character with Fair Strength using the Large Knife mentioned above would have a +2 ODF. A character with Great Strength would have a +3 ODF. if the minimum Strength for the weapon is far below the character's Strength, the weapon will be of little use. A pixie's sword is of no use to a giant.

If the character has Strength below the minimum for the weapon, skill is at a penalty equal to the difference. For example, a character with Poor Strength using a weapon with a Fair Strength minimum will have a -2 penalty to skill.

Scale

Scale is simple - just give the weapon an appropriate Scale that applies to both the ODF and the required Strength. Thus a Scale 6 large knife would have a Scale 6 +1 ODF (+7 ODF to a Scale 0 human) and requires a Scale 6 Poor Strength (Legendary Strength for a Scale 0 human.) There would also be a penalty for using off Scale weapons due to awkward grip. Use your judgement depending on the weapon.

Advanced System

This adds a little more detail by taking into account weapon balance. Weapons can be balanced (like a sword or staff), unbalanced (axes and maces) or with fencing balance (epees, rapiers, etc.)

Balanced - This is the default - just like the basic system.

Unbalanced - This is a weapon where the center of gravity is at the "business end" of the weapon, like an axe or mace. Such weapons will do more damage, but are slower and harder to parry with. An unbalanced weapon gets an extra +1 to ODF, but has a -2 penalty to speed and parry. For every point of Strength above the weapon's minimum reduce the speed and parry penalty by one. Thus, a Great Axe designed for Great Strength would have a total ODF of +7: +4 for requiring Great Strength, +1 for two handed use, +1 for sharp and +1 for being unbalanced.

Fencing balance - This is a weapon where the center of gravity is near the hilt. This makes the weapon easier to maneuver and parry but reduces damage. Fencing balance weapons get +1 to speed and parry, but -1 to ODF. When relevant, there is an additional -1 to swinging damage - fencing weapons are designed to stab, not slash. Often, a fencing weapon will not have an edge and thus the sharpness bonus will be lost as well on a swing.

Missile Weapons

Thrown weapons do the same damage as melee weapons. A knife does the same damage with a throw or a stab. Bows and crossbows are handled a little differently.

Bows

A bow, like a melee weapon has a base ODF of Strength +2. Usually, there is an additional +1 ODF for sharpness - arrows are rarely blunt. However, excess Strength doesn't increase damage. If you're using a 50 lb bow, it doesn't matter how strong you are - it won't increase the damage. A character with Good or better Bow skill adds one to Strength for using Bows. Thus a character with Good Strength and Good Bow skill could use a Bow requiring Great Strength (and having a +5 ODF.)

Bow Strength	ODF	Suggested Bow Weight
Terrible	0	15 lbs
Poor	+1	20 lbs
Mediocre	+2	30 lbs
Fair	+3	50 lbs
Good	+4	70 lbs
Great	+5	100 lbs
Superb	+6	150 lbs
Legendary	+7	220 lbs

Good Strength or better bows usually require special materials - composite bows or longbows made of yew - and are likely to cost more and be harder to find.

Crossbows

Crossbows allow an archer to store strength, using a much more powerful bow than Strength would normally allow. Damage works just like melee weapons - a Fair Strength crossbow would have a +2 ODF, not counting the +1 bonus for sharpness. However, it is possible to use crossbows above your Strength without a penalty to skill. It simply takes more time to load.

A crossbow with a pull less than or equal to the user's Strength can fire every round.
If the character's Strength is one less than bow's Strength, the bow takes a round to ready and fires every other round.
If the character's Strength is two less than the bow's Strength, the bow takes two rounds to ready and fires every third round.
If the character's Strength is three less than the bow's Strength, the bow takes five rounds to ready and fires every sixth round.
If the character's Strength is four less than the bow's Strength, the bow takes ten rounds to ready and fires every 11th round. Special equipment is required to ready such a powerful bow.

Historically, long bow archers (at least the English variety) were stronger and far more skilled than crossbow archers, resulting in as much fire power as the typical crossbow and a much higher rate of fire.

Sample Weapons

1H = One handed use, 2H = Two handed use

Swords and Knives (Balanced, sharp)

Weapon	Strength	ODF
Small Knife	Terrible	0
Large Knife	Poor	+1
Dirk	Mediocre	+2
Short sword	Fair	+3
Broadsword	Good	+4
Bastard Sword (1H)	Great	+5
Bastard Sword (2H)	Good	+5
Great Sword (2H)	Great	+6

Fencing Weapons (Fencing balance, sharp)

Weapon	Strength	ODF
Foil	Poor	0
Smallsword	Mediocre	+1
Epee	Fair	+2
Rapier	Good	+3

Axes/Maces (Unbalanced, Axes are sharp, maces are blunt)

Weapon	Strength	ODF
Small Mace	Mediocre	+2
Medium Mace	Fair	+3
Heavy Mace	Good	+4
X-Heavy Mace	Great	+5
Great Mace (2H)	Great	+6
Hatchet	Mediocre	+3
Axe	Fair	+4
Battle Axe	Good	+5
Heavy Axe	Great	+6
Great Axe (2H)	Great	+7

Maces are less effective, but likely to be cheaper as they do not need to hold an edge.

Bows and Crossbows

Weapon	Strength	ODF
Short Bow	Mediocre	+2
Regular Bow	Fair	+3
Long Bow	Good	+4
Heavy Long Bow	Great	+5
X-Heavy Long Bow	Superb	+6
Composite Bow	Good	+4
Heavy Composite Bow	Great	+5
X-Hvy Composite Bow	Superb	+6

Weapon	Strength	ODF
Light Crossbow	Fair	+3
Medium Crossbow	Good	+4
Heavy Crossbow	Great	+5
X-Hvy Crossbow	Superb	+6
Super-Hvy Crossbow	Legendary	+7

Weapons designed for exceptionally high or low Strength will most likely need to be custom made and will be correspondingly more expensive. Two Handed swords intended for warriors of Legendary Strength will be few and far between. On the other hand, creating a club or staff suited to your own Strength is a simple matter.

For those interested in more on medieval weapons, I suggest the following books

From Sumer to Rome, Richard A. Gabriel and Karen S. Metz. Includes a chapter describing experiments reconstructing and testing ancient weapons.
Longbow, by Robert Hardy. As the title says, all about long bows.
Medieval Warfare, edited by Maurice Keen. Includes several sections on medieval arms and armor.

In addition, Tbone's GURPS Diner has an elaborate weapon design system (for GURPS of course) here - http://www.io.com/~tbone/gurps/GULLIVER/BXouttakes.htm#WeaponSystem.