You got your GURPS in my D&D 2 – slashing mace

I saw a question on the RPG Stack Exchange which got my wheels turning briefly. “Hey,” said a user. “I want to use a particular ability in 3.5, but it requires two slashing weapons, and my guy uses maces. I want a slashing mace!” The question also had a lot of rules-specific questions about some sort of wardancing, but that wasn’t what my focus was, and I’m unqualified to offer advice on that sort of thing anyway.

I put my GURPS hat on for a moment – always a mistake for D&D – and said “but hey, a top-heavy weapon that does slashing damage is a common thing. It’s called an axe.”

I was, of course, immediately downvoted. But still, Pathfinder gives a warhammer 1d8 Bashing damage (Warhammers should probably do piercing – they’re basically military picks, but easy mistake and probably legacy to the game) while battleaxes do 1d8 Slashing damage. Basically, the same weight of blow but different damage type, which is pretty much how GURPS would classify it, and how, within the one-handed martial weapons category, Pathfinder (the only 3.5-style book I have on my shelf) seems to as well.

Flip-flip-flip. Yep. D&D5 has the same similarity. 1d6 slashing for the hand-axe, 1d6 bludgeoning for the light mace; 1d8 bludgeoning for the warhammer, 1d8 slash for the battleaxe. It does have a “war pick” at 1d8 piercing (I’m sure Pathfinder does too), so all the top-heavy variants are covered.

I did suggest a combo weapon as well – mace on one side, axeblade on the other. I even found a decent example.