So, item qualities. Are those okay?

What system are you using this in? I don't know if there's enough granularity in, say, D&D for this many distinct categories.

Anyways, I think this would work best in a very low-tech system that cares a lot about gear durability and a good weapon is a very real rarity, so that your players are going to have to replace their gear fairly often (it breaks or is stolen or what have you). Otherwise, your system stops mattering once they're able to afford the better weapons.

>Broken should be appended to any of the other descriptors
How about Shattered then?

At that point you're just playing Zweihander

That is the same thing, my friend

user has a point. In a system like DnD any functional difference would be dramatic, and would just be a way to buff/already powerful weapons (the masterwork +5 vorperal for example).

But alone, or replacing a system's already established +X system, there's no problem. I'm working on something similar, where a quality scale replaces the + system.

A scale needs to have a small number of entries and needs to have terms that are distinct in some way as to make it easy to remember.

Here's an example of a bad scale

>Fine
>Diminutive
>Tiny
>Small
>Medium
>Large
>Huge
>Gargantuan
>Colossal

Unless you're familiar with the system this scale is from, you probably can't tell me off the top of your head how Gargantuan compares to Colossal without having to look it up. That's a bad scale. It has more entries than is easily memorable and a lot of them are pretty much just synonyms for big and little. People get these terms mixed up A LOT.

You also have to think about how often are people going to use things far away from the middle of your scale. Are the vast majority of things going to be "average?" Does it really matter how far away from "average" something is? In the above example there is almost no difference between Huge, Gargantuan, and Colossal. They have different reach and take up different space on a mini grid, but it never matters. If you charge them you have to move through a different number of squares that they can hit you in, but they can't hit you more than once so what's the point? There is a numerical stat tied to these categories, but if that's the case you're better off using just using that number instead of assigning a term to it. Everyone knows the difference between 4 and -2. No one can quickly tell you the difference between Diminutive and Huge.

Here is, in my opinion, an example of a perfect scale.

>Very Low
>Low
>Average
>High
>Very High

You can adapt this to a wide variety of things. In my size example from above it would be

>Very Small
>Small
>Medium
>Large
>Very Large

For your weapon quality case I might go with something like

>Very Poor
>Poor
>Average
>Good
>Very Good

It's a little bland, yes, but it's if it's meant to convey important system-critical information, you're better off sacrificing a small bit of fluff to make it understandable. Or just use a number.

Craftsmanship level: Masterful/Very High/High/Average/Low/Abysmal

Negative Qualities: Dull, Bent, Cracked, Rusted, Unbalanced, Heavy, Loose, Broken

>Heavy
>Negative
It should be neutral, it should have positive effects along with negative ones.

The all could, in theory

>Dull: Any cuts take longer to heal, and you can pin them down and saw at limbs and shit as a way to get information from them

>Bent: Maybe this one is just neutral, it just means you cant do as much stuff with it like stabbing, but its rather easy to get it to some kind of blacksmith to work it out, although after repairs it would count as one quality lower (for instance, you'd have to have your masterwork sword unbent, and then repaired again into masterwork quality)

Cracked: Similar to bent, but maybe you have to roll a d20 with a DC based on how bad your shit is cracked when you roll below a monsters AC, then when you hit not only will it do half damage, but if you fail the check it will break the rest of the way. Same repair rules as bent.

Rusted: Similar to dull, just a less effective blade that hurts more to be cut with and causes infection

Unbalanced: You can use the unbalanced nature to swing it into impressive haymakers, especially if you're unbalanced weapon is a hammer with too much weight up front.

>Heavy: Same as above, but its just a flat damage increase for blunt weapons, and a sitational bonus for greatswords and shit if you're trying to sunder. Maybe make it so you cant take reactions with it if you're using them to attack, because its too heavy to raise that quick

Loose: I don't understand what this means, for bows maybe?

Broken: Shits just broke, oh well.

>Maybe make it so you cant take reactions with it if you're using them to attack

to expand, a character cant ready an action to block something with a heavy longsword, because even though he'd react in time, he wouldn't get his blade up in time, unless he had some good reason like being large sized, having 20str, shit like that.

Make it so that even 'defects' just feel like a way to flavor up your character.

Maybe he doesn't have the best gear, hes just big as shit so when he swings his big heavy greatsword into your arm, it doesn't cleave through you and into your ribs, but its still going to cut you to the bone, break the bone, and then break/bruise some ribs if you're just in your shirt and pants.

Then if he manages to get a masterwork heavy greatsword it's like a fucking buster blade that will cut you right in half if you're not careful.

As far as attacks of opportunity, no saying he cant still throw an arm out and clothesline you as you try to slink by, its just hes going to need you immobile on the ground for a second before he brings his sword down and finishes you off

Sorry for the walls of text

The guy you're replying to ain't a saint, but you are ten times worse.