Weapon HP & Hardness

[Miriad]

Why does this:

One-handed metal-hafted weapon 20 HP

Have more HP than this:

Two-handed hafted weapon 10 HP

I am very confused. I am trying to calculate the HP and hardness of my item familiar (Since my DM will eventually try to sunder it) and it is very confusing so far. It is a:

Large, Gold, Minotaur Greathammer +2.

[Miriad]

According to Magic of Ferum:

Magically treated gold weighs twice as much as
steel, has hardness 10, and has 30 hit points per inch
of thickness.

How do I resolve the whole Thickness vs its a hammer thing?

[Ashtagon]

One-handed metal-hafted weapon 20 HP
Two-handed hafted weapon 10 HP

The key difference is an assumption that the 1-h metal-hafted weapon is metal-hafted, whereas the two-handed hafted weapon has a wooden haft.

The following two tables summarise the data better.

Hit Points
{table=head] Bulkiness | Bladed | Metal Haft | Wooden haft
Light (Small) | 2 hp | 10 hp | 2 hp
One-Handed (Medium) | 5 hp | 20 hp | 5 hp
Two-Handed (Large) | 10 hp | (undefined) | 10 hp
[/table]
(Projectile = 5 hp)

Hardness
{table=head] Bulkiness | Bladed | Metal Haft | Wooden haft
Light (Small) | 10 | 10 | 5
One-Handed (Medium) | 10 | 10 | 5
Two-Handed (Large)| 10 | (undefined) | 5
[/table]
(Projectile = 5)

Basically, two-handed metal-hafted weapons were left undefined, as historically, they did not exist.

Sadly, also undefined is how special materials change a weapon's hardness and hp for sundering purposes.

----

Houserules

The missing space in the above table (two-handed metal-hafted weapons) is ONLY used for weapons made of special materials that are of exceptional cost (more than regular steel), noted as being some kind of metal, and hardness 10 (or higher). The values are hardness 10 (in line with all other metal weapons) and 40 hp (following the pattern of x2 hp at each size increase).

The above paragraph should apply to your great hammer.

The hit points are calculated as the base hp for the weapon type, multiplied by the hp per inch of the new material, and divided by the hp/inch of the old material.

So an adamantine great hammer would have a base 40 hp (metal-hafted weapon) x 40 ÷ 30 = 53 hp.

Since your magically treated gold has the same hp/inch as regular steel, it will not modify the hp for the weapon on that calculation, although it will use one of the "metal" columns on that table above.

The final hardness of the weapon should be the hardness of the material it is made from.

Conclusion

Based on my houserules, your weapon would be hardness 10, 40 hit points.

[HalfQuart]

This thread might be useful:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?202344-List-of-all-Armor-and-Weapon-Hardness-amp-HP-s