When to award Striking rune
I’m running Resurrection Flood and it’s going well so far. The players are still 3rd level, but they’re about to hit lvl 4 and begin chapter 2. They’ve been doing well with Reputation, so when they met Ardax he awarded them with a +1 striking warhammer. Immediately the guy who’s playing an elemental barbarian (a known power gamer) insisted that it should be easy to transfer the striking rune to his sword since he has the money and it only costs about 6.5 gold. I told him that, since no one in the party has Magical Crafting and the Torrentmoot isn’t full of people who do have it, he’ll have to wait. I also reiterated that it’s 6.5 gold to transfer IF you have the feat; hiring someone will cost more. And then I told him that the money itself does nothing, it’s the magical components that cost money which the Torrentmoot doesn’t necessarily have in abundance.
The player feels I’m being unfair. He says he’s earned the gold and the hammer, so getting the rune on his sword is something he’s owed as a player. He went on to suggest we use the rules where PCs automatically get item bonuses to stuff, because I’m being a bit of a tyrant by holding back those bonuses “until the book says we get them.” I told him to just use the hammer as is until he gets a chance and upgrade.
My question is this; am I being too harsh? Are the PCs going to have an opportunity to spend money and upgrade/create equipment in the near future? Or should I take advantage of the time they have at Torrentmoot and let it happen?