just use inverted sword asset on mace weapon if you're lazy. melee is what you're talking about though. probably best to make melee a different weapon configuration and change to it when wielding. or make melee a weapon modifier. but the assets would differ, at least, in how the attack is drawn, but we could be talking about only a backend here, and UI is irrelevant.

So there's some weird Sword method that changes the sword to a Mace? Seems bug-prone. What if there's a special quest that triggers only if you're carrying a Mace? The message boards will be full of clever people saying, "Guess what, if you switch sword grips, you can actually get the Mace quest!"