Maces are one of the standard groups of metal weapons. They are categorically spiked weapons, meaning they primarily use crush attack options but also have a weaker stab option.
Maces are special in that most provide a Prayer bonus, a trait rarely found in other melee weapons and entirely absent from the other metal weapons.
The mace prayer bonus may be an allusion to sine effusione sanguinis, a possibly apocryphal notion that Medieval Christians and the clergy wielded maces and other blunt weapons to avoid shedding blood, in conflicts such as the Crusades.
