Potential greataxe addition, and general weapons debate.

[Hexgoblin]

Howdy.

Something that's grated me a little for a long time now -- ever since the Cyclone trident was added, in fact -- is that there's absolutely no mechanical incentive to use a greataxe. No matter your niche. An odd thing to let annoy you perhaps, but I don't think there's a more timeless DnD character aesthetic than the greataxe-wielding barbarian, and that's one you'd see with great frequency in olden times when masterly damask served as everyone's end station.

Why I say that there's no incentive to use a greataxe. The Cyclone swings within the same range of base damage, and packs a +4 enhancement/keen/1d8 cold and low DC slow on-hit out of the box. The only thing holding it back from being the potentially most powerful weapon on Arelith is the unfavorable x3/20 critical strike category. One it shares with greataxes and halberds, and to a certain degree scythes -- which in the base game are by default better than the prior two, albeit with the investment of a proficiency feat. Same crit range. Comparable base damage. Significantly higher burst. It's not news to anyone that the base game's weapon balance teeters on the verge of non-existant.

When it comes to the age-old scimitar/rapier vs. other one-handed weapons debate, you can at least make the argument that the x3/20 one-handed options outperform the scimitar/rapier versus high AC targets. The Cyclone meanwhile is just flat out better than its contemporary two-handed x3/20 alternatives, by occupying the same niche, same weapon proficiency, but carrying a far meatier statblock.

My fairly humble is suggestion is very simple, though perhaps addressing a symptom rather than the cause of an issue. Add a +4/keen craftable greataxe, which could be limited to use by the barbarian class only, though the Cyclone would still be better and is usable by anyone. It'd just make it less of a mental sacrifice to not pick a certain, thematic weapon type, knowing that you're passing up a vastly superior weapon that does the exact same thing but better.

Alternatively, just elevate all twohanded x3/20-tier weapons to having a +4/keen craftable option, including halberds. I'd leave out scythes for obvious reasons. Arguments could be made for also including heavy flails and greatswords, normalizing the two-handed weapon tier at a slightly higher spot than currently. Naginatas should be excluded though, while they've any integration with monk UBAB.

Alternatively 2.0, take the keen property off of the Cyclone, making the x3/20 tier roughly equal in potency again. Though I'd imagine that this would upset a lot of people.

[Irongron]

Approved for more variety of great axe recipes.