Not sure if this is auto-done or not, but...
 

~AlphaFlame~

How about an updateweapon weapon-name; script command? Causes the NPC to 'update' itself to the latest in the database.

The database could record the dates an NPC was added, and thereby allow NPCs to be simply have a simple
--->if (created)updateweapon this-weapon-name;
And tada, no worries about having to make every player go back to (enter level here) and get the weapon when you update it.

And if this is already there, excuse my ignorance... 5 a.m. brain storms are always fun.

It get's automattically done when a player logs on, although it would be nice if it could be done when it's updated and the player already is online. (E.G. Add a little line which the server.version with the client.version and then make the system update itself)

could be done

if (this.version!=server.version) triggeraction 0,0,replaceweapon,;

and in control

if (actionreplaceweapon) addweapon hoe;

When the NPC weapon stored in the database is updated the weapon gets updated. It does it all automatically.

Yes the server only stores one version of the
weapon, so when its updated then other players
get the new weapon script when they login again.
On servers with npcserver the weapons are
stored on the npcserver (that's why you can do
join and have server-side parts there), and when
the weapon is updated it sends the new script
to the players.
On free servers the weapon editing would be possible
too, although a client-side command 'addweapon <name>'
might be too powerful (cheating/hacking), but possible