[dnd 3.5e] Renaissance/Industrial weapons?

[Achernar]

In-game, I think the primary issue is that it was producing too much hp damage for the level where we were. It ended up extending the amount of early game time where getting hit was just about a death sentence.

Huh. I would have thought that unmodified die rolls of that magnitude would only be one-hit lethal at levels 1-2, maybe up to 4 for wizards... was it that big of a problem? (I rarely run games under level 5). I hadn't thought of it that way before...