What's up with Druid weapons and sacred oaths?

[Ixe]

So it just bugs me that druids are prohibited from wearing any metal armor due to the nature of their oaths, but they may use any weapon from what seems like an arbitrary list, metal or not.

I have been debating making a "house rule" change in my CORE Pathfinder campaign that allows druids to use any weapon that they are proficient in, provided that it is not made of metal. This would include: bows (if the arrow heads are flint), and any type of sword (if it is made from bone or obsidian). This would then exclude dagger, scimitars, scythes, etc. if they were made from metal. (The druid in this particular Party is an elf; obviously the use of a bow would make a lot of sense.)

The "upside" to this would be a system that makes a lot more logical sense to me and my players, and I am a big stickler for "suspension of disbelief".

The "downsides": As a Storyteller, I will always have to decide what material weapons are crafted from during design-time (effectively hand-picking which weapons that are placed as treasure will be accessible to the druid in the Party - most weapons used by NPCs of other classes will be steel); it will be much more difficult for druids to purchase weapons in civilized areas (though perhaps that is logical); penalties associated with such less-than-ideal materials would have to be reviewed (the ones listed in the Core Rules are incredibly crippling); creation of such weapons will no longer fall under Craft(blacksmithing) (meaning that their weapons will likely have to be crafted by themselves or other druids)...

What is your reaction to such an idea? Can any of you think of other unforeseen consequences to such a change in the CORE Rules system? Have any of you done something like this in any of your Campaigns?

[Zaq]

Seems pointless to me.

You said that the benefit is that it makes more sense to you and your players. If it already “makes sense” to a player for a Druid not to use metal weapons on a Druid, then they can just not use them. They don’t need a rule saying that no one else can have ideas that are different. But even if you like adding unnecessary restrictions (which I do not), you admitted that this will cause additional work for you.

So you’re leaving players who don’t want to use metal weapons on Druids unaffected, since they could already obey the restriction. The same is true for your NPCs: if you already want them using non-metal weapons, that can just be a thing. (Neutral; no benefit.) You are making players who DO want to use metal weapons unhappy with nothing to compensate them. (Downside.) You are adding additional work for yourself without actually having a good effect on game balance. (Downside.)

I don’t see why you’d bother. I also don’t see why it was necessary to add three layers of emphasis to “core,” either, but being core or not had zero effect on this discussion anyway.

[ChaosStar]

Seems pointless to me.

You said that the benefit is that it makes more sense to you and your players. If it already “makes sense” to a player for a Druid not to use metal weapons on a Druid, then they can just not use them. They don’t need a rule saying that no one else can have ideas that are different. But even if you like adding unnecessary restrictions (which I do not), you admitted that this will cause additional work for you.

So you’re leaving players who don’t want to use metal weapons on Druids unaffected, since they could already obey the restriction. The same is true for your NPCs: if you already want them using non-metal weapons, that can just be a thing. (Neutral; no benefit.) You are making players who DO want to use metal weapons unhappy with nothing to compensate them. (Downside.) You are adding additional work for yourself without actually having a good effect on game balance. (Downside.)

I don’t see why you’d bother. I also don’t see why it was necessary to add three layers of emphasis to “core,” either, but being core or not had zero effect on this discussion anyway.
This part doesn't seem true. There doesn't seem to be anything for those who DO want to use metal weapons to be unhappy about. So the only downside is additional work for the GM, and if he's fine with that then there doesn't seem to be any problem.

[Kish]

I think the idea is that druids are permitted to handle metal (they don't get in trouble if they pick up an iron spoon, or a longsword either) but not to cover themselves in/wear it.

I don't think it's about any form of mechanical balance; if changing the rule makes more thematic sense to you there's no reason at all not to change it.

[KillianHawkeye]

The Druid's limited weapon selection is not related to their requirement to avoid metallic armor, so forcing them to abhor metal weaponry seems like you're missing the point.

[Ixe]

I just re-read the Core Rules and it does not refer to weapons in terms of the same Oath they take regarding armor. It simply refers to "proficiency". I totally mis-read this (maybe it used to be this way in 3.0 and I didn't notice the change...?) and now I feel stupid.

[El Dorado]

Druid weapons seem like an assortment of common weapons that are easy to find or construct (club, dagger, short spear) and a few whose shape are symbolic to the faith (sickle, scimitar, scythe). The curve would be representative of an animal claw or a crescent moon. Seen in that light, a bow fits right in. It’s less about the materials and more about “these are things we value”.

[nolongerchaos]

... I have been debating making a "house rule" change in my CORE Pathfinder campaign that allows druids to use any weapon that they are proficient in, provided that it is not made of metal. This would include: bows (if the arrow heads are flint), and any type of sword (if it is made from bone or obsidian).
...
What is your reaction to such an idea? Can any of you think of other unforeseen consequences to such a change in the CORE Rules system? Have any of you done something like this in any of your Campaigns?

You seem to have possibly changed your mind about this regarding vows and proficiency and whatnot, but a potentially fatal flaw with this plan is that obsidian, bone, and many other special materials... well I don't believe they're Core...