The Tavern

What if Okawaru didn't gift weapons at high piety, but instead let you use any found weapon you wanted (as though you had perfect crosstraining)?

Here's how it would work: each melee weapon skill would function as though you'd put an amount of XP into it equal to the total XP you'd actually put into all your melee weapon skills. Ranged weapon skills would work the same way. (So, a human with Polearms 20 and no other weapon skills would use all their other weapon skills at SL 20 too.)

The result is that Okawaru would still improve your weapon options pseudo-randomly, but instead of waiting until you were gifted an endgame-level weapon in your best skill, you'd use the best weapon you'd found thus far, regardless of your current skill level. (I don't know whether or not this version of Oka should still gift armor at a proportionately slower rate.)

Thoughts?

No brainers are bad.

But would this increase them?

If you've only trained one weapon skill, you should always use the best weapon available in that skill. Past early game, it's almost never a good idea to train multiple weapon skills. This switch would just increase the range of weapons you'd have to choose from. If anything, it would increase the number of difficult choices, since it'd make it more likely that you'd find different but comparably good viable weapons.

I agree this would lower the stakes in choosing a weapon skill, since you'd only be stuck with a particular type before worshipping Oka and potentially after switching to another god. I also agree that there are occasionally interesting choices about whether to switch to another weapon group if (a) you've been crosstraining it and (b) you find something really amazing. But I don't see why eliminating these choices for Oka worshippers problematically reduces the range of interesting choices overall, given that (a) they are either not that common or not that interesting, (b) properly implemented, the change would itself make the choice between Oka and Trog more interesting for players for whom access to good weapons was a major consideration in god choice.

Yes, it is a no-brainer to use the best found weapon no matter in what weapon class it is.
Currently you have to think whether you should switch, with your proposal you will always use the new weapon if it deals more damage (or has useful resistances vs monster you are fighting).
With Oka switching weapon class is very easy, you get Heroism and Finesse for that, they help you survive while switching and allow to use weapon earlier. Also you don't need weapon at min delay before you can use it.

Edit. Oka and Trog are very different already IMHO.

Kind of like this idea, actually, but it would potentially allow for and encourage more weapon swapping than is already the case. That wouldn't be fun IMO and I think that's a bigger problem.

I think that instead, or at least in addition, to plain armour/weapon drops, Okawaru should improve worn gear: each gift event has a chance to improve the enchantment of worn items. Instead of pie-in-the-sky, this is intended to make otherwise bad/mediocre gear useful:

• Okawaru equipment improvement works on artefacts.
• Chance inverse proportional to current enchantment is: quick to get that -5 CPA into +4, but don't expect too much for your +8 plate.

Switching to a different weapon for final kill would be bad.

Yes, this is something to think about. But gifts needn't come on kills. Anyway, my point is that instead of showering you with items, it'd be more interesting if Oki allowed you to get more (than everyone else!) out of stuff you have found.

He already does! Heroism is great!

Give that to smithgod!

I like the English version of this proverb! Floating pie up there always arises in my mind!

Cake in the clouds, halva in the heavens, fa gao in the firmament....

Have an ability that lets you mark an item as "favored." This gives you a +Slay boost for weapons/ +AC/+EV boost for armors, and marks it for gift enhancements. Switching favored weapon costs large amounts of piety.

You can have maximum of 1 favored item of each type:
1 handed weapon, 2 handed weapon, ranged weapon, shield, body armor, helmet, gloves, boots.