Bastard Sword Balance Question

[Segev]

Another thread brought up the Exotic Weapon Master's ability to wield a bastard sword in two hands for 2x damage, which is meant to somewhat give a use to making a bastard sword a one-handed weapon if you spend an EWP feat on it. This led me to think on the subject a bit.

Would it be broken (or, to the other extreme, still underpowered) to have the Bastard Sword be a weapon which counts as being wielded in two hands despite being wielded one-handed, if you have the EWP? Basically, you'd get 1.5x str, any bonuses for having extra hands on the weapon in disarm attempts, etc., but you only occupy one of your hands.

[Ellowryn]

To be honest, i doubt it would matter much. This seems to lean towards being able to duelwield them, but most, if not all, twf builds generally dump str so that doesnt really bump them. As for Uber-Charger builds, most dont have the feats or the Dex to spare to duelwield them, or rather no reason to keep that extra hand free as there is really nothing worth doing with it.

[Segev]

Honestly, the only way a bastard sword's one-handedness seems all that useful to me is that it would let you get a shield. :/

[Seppo87]

This would make Oversized 2wf more appealing to some characters. But why limiting it to the bastard sword then?

[Segev]

This would make Oversized 2wf more appealing to some characters. But why limiting it to the bastard sword then?

The Bastard Sword is relatively unique in that it is a weapon that is a martial weapon if wielded two-handed, but which can cost a feat to wield one-handed. Wielding it one-handed is almost always weaker than wielding it two-handed, so the proposed change is to make the feat more worth taking.

[Snails]

I am not sure it is "overpowered", but it would make every normal single handed weapon underpowered (except for those users who are relying on Sneak damage or similar).

The original proposition gave you (on average) +1 damage for 1 feat, when compared to a long sword. While perhaps underwhelming, it made enough sense in context, as it is a bennie that should not overshadow Weapon Specialization.

Your idea would give +4 damage (or more) for 1 feat, when compared to a long sword.

I would suggest the real problem is that shields are too weak, relative to 2Hing. Fix that, and the rules for the bastard sword as is will be fine.