OPTION #1. Use a new skill called Weapon Mastery for these weapon abilities. This simulates the practice/training that would be needed to gain these abilities. This also gives a way of staggering the abilities so that they could only be gained at every full level. Characters could spend the Development Points at half level and then not gain them until full level up.
OPTION #2. Allow automatic and free selection of one weapon ability when the characters reaches the required skill rank.
Select one weapon ability at each of these skill ranks:
10, 15, 20, 25, 30
If you don't charge DP, for these abilities that in many cases replace skills, you will give a power boost to characters who develop weapon skills. That sounds good -- give them some help at a point where the mages are really getting ahead -- but in practice I think semis can develop their chosen weapon skill to the same number of ranks as the arms characters. So the real winners are the semis, who get this for free plus the advantages of their spells.
Charge DP, and the arms characters can afford to develop these, but the semis will be tighter pressed to do the same. So the net benefit is to the arms characters.
On the other hand, if it's a skill on its own, it might be kind of dissatisfying to develop the ranks where no new benefit is acquired. You have 5-6 bonuses to spread out over at least 15 levels of development, so that's one boost every 5-6 ranks. You could figure out a way to make the bonus matter (e.g. some of the abilities need a static maneuver to activate). Or follow the precedent of the combat styles in the Martial Arts Companion -- if you want to use the benefits, your OB is limited to whichever is lower of your mastery skill or your weapon skill. (The MAC is still different, since its combat styles are front loaded, you get all the benefits immediately, whereas you are spreading them out.)
Thanks for your input. I am leaning towards a DP cost for the benefit although there might be some free abilities and some that cost to develop. Players in my campaign are fighter variants mostly with one semi-spell user. Still not 100% sure whcih way ill go. Free, DP cost or mix of both.
