Normal weapons with a family bonus are typically outclassed by a weapon with specialized damage. The reason the bonuses are put on the normal stuff is to make it a very situational weapon (wild hunting blade = those rare times lumbers spawn in wolver dens, deconstructor for those who want to take CTR boosting gear but still bide well against constructs, etc), however in the process it kills their main utility - normal damage. See, family bonuses on specialized damage makes that weapon super specialized for that enemy - we see it in the antigua line, and it does what it does very well.

But this suggestion isn't about the normal-damage weapons, it's about how the bonuses work.

I would be on board with the family bonuses stacking with other damage bonuses to a point. If the idea of family bonuses being put on knights is ever put into play for coliseum games, this would be a bit much and, arguably, the clockworks would become a bit more easy than it currently is. I would say have the family bonuses stack on top of universal bonuses but only so much - with a family MAX bonus on top of a MAX damage bonus already, it won't be a +12 to damage, rather +9. This is essentially a MAX + High damage bonus. Any damage bonuses after the current cap would be halved to make this the way it is.

Either that or family bonuses could have more weight than universal/weapon bonuses (i.e., low fiend would give 5% boost to low sword's 4%), and then depending on what you hit the family bonus would take priority.