Restrict the Forge Blade talent by giving weapons a maximum amount
of steps by which they may be increased.
Why ?, it's highly unlikely that a dagger can cause more damage
than a two-handed blade.
We use the following formula : Maximum increase is equal to the base
damage step doubled.
For example the maximum damage step for a dagger would be 4 (2*2),
for a battleaxe 12 (2*6), and so on...
Problem : Players with very high ranks in the Forge Blade talent
( namely >11 ), might argue that it is unfair to restrict their ability
in this way, since the Earthdawn Basic book states, ...equal to his
rank in Forge Blade... , of course this includes failed uses, but theoretically
it is possible to increase any weapon by 15 or more steps.
Solution : Think about a weapon itself. It does not only consist of
a damage step, but also of other aspects, like weapon speed, durability,
etc... , you might allow a Weaponsmith to increase the Initiative Step
of a weapon by one if he manages, say three tests in a row, with increasing
difficulty number or something like that.
Its for the GM to decide what can be done and what can not.
Solution No. 2 :
Weapon degeneration : Fighting does cause weapons to get blunt, when
this happens is up to the GM, but I would think that after one to three
fights a specially forged blade may loose some of its "performance", in
other words, one step.
But wait, I have a whetstone and sharpen my blade every evening
! Aside from the fact that you would be in the possession of a rapier
after one month, it is incredibly difficult to maintain the sharp edge
of a "forged" blade. Why ?, because the more difficult the construction,
the more difficult is also the maintenance, for example a knife can be
easily sharpened, but a Katana (Samurai Longsword) is very difficult to
sharpen, because it consist of many layers of metal, making it flexible
and durable, but likely to get damaged by using the wrong materials for
sharpening, which may cause internal fractures in the metal sheets. The
same is true for forged blades.
We use the following rule: A character can automatically repair a weapon
if he or she possesses the Forge Blade talent or the Weaponsmithing skill
with a rank at least equal to the increase in the damage step of the weapon.
If he or she does possess the talent, but lacks the necessary ranks, he
or she may make a talent test with a target number equal to the total damage
step of the weapon to repair it, only one attempt of course. This does
mean that a weapon with no boni can be repaired by anyone ! The time needed
is equal to the "pluses" of the weapon in half-hours, per bonus step lost.
(A broadsword+6 would need 3 hours to repair)
The only thing needed for repairing are metalworking tools, no fire
or forge.
And by the way you can of course use both solutions at once.