Minimum Strength Rules (by DracoDruid)

These rules were divised after mdlthree posted some interesting insights into the (non-existent) balance of weapons and their minimum strength requirements.

They are part of the Free-Form Fantasy AGE rules set.

Basic Concept
A weapon's Minimum Strength score now always represents the necessary strength to wield it as a one-handed weapon.

However, you can choose to wield (most) weapons two-handed and use twice your Strength score (or your Strength + 2, whatever is higher) before calculating any penalties for not meeting the requirement.

Note: There are some weapons that are either exclusively one-handed (e.g. light blades, shields) or exclusively two-handed (e.g. polearms, most projectile weapons).

Minimum Strength Penalty
If you don't meet or exceed your weapon's Minimum Strength requirement (either one-handed or two-handed), you suffer a -1 penalty to all its Attack rolls for each point of Strength below the Minimum (instead of dealing 1d6-1 damage).

New Weapon stats
You can best use these rules in combination with my Generic Weapons rules.

Example
You have a Strength of 3 and wish to use a weapon with a Minimum Strength score of 5. You can either wield the weapon one-handed, suffering a -2 penalty to your attack rolls (5 - 3 = 2), or wield it two-handed, suffering no penalty (3 x 2 = 6 > 5).