[spoiler]So in my campaign world there are no magic shops to just go buy or upgrade whatever you want, so I asked my players to tell me two specific items they want for their characters, so I can place them in the campaign. One of my barbarians has a +1 greatsword (his father's sword - it was stolen, he recovered it, and that is how he met the party), and one of his "wants" is to have it upgraded to a +1 Berserker Greatsword (I'll let him choose which version of berserker, too).
My campaign is about to start following the framework of Red Hand of Doom, so I figure I'll place a +1 Berserker greatsword in place of the +1 Frost Bastard Sword that is hidden in the vault of Vraath Keep, but I don't want the party to keep the one they've got, so I'm going to replace the minotaur bodyguard "champion" in Vraath Keep with a Tanarukk Fighter 2/Barbarian 2 that has Power Attack, Leap Attack, Improved Sunder, Imp Bull Rush, Combat Brute, and Shock Trooper (CR 6/GCR 5 - my party is gestalt, and will be 7th level by then). He will charge into battle after a few rounds have gone by, Leap Attacking to sunder the Party Barb's +1 Greatsword with a +1 Great Axe (+27 vs the PC's +13-ish opposed attack roll; 1d12+32 damage [+1 greatsword has 32 hp's]), and following that up with a Sundering Cleave. At that point, his AC will be 6, and will probably be barely alive come round 2.[/spoiler]
So, I will take away the character's father's sword (he doesn't have any attachment to his father, who disowned him), but will almost immediately replace it with the "upgraded version." (assuming they search the keep).
Q 46: Is this too dirty of a thing for a DM to do?
Q 47: When using the Heedless Charge ability of Shock Trooper, when does the penalty to your AC apply? Only after you've attacked, or would it apply to any movement-related AoO's you incur while charging?