Lord Darkstar's page

I don't understand why there is so much of an argument over this, it sounds more like a bunch of personal opinions on the weapon rather than actual rulings or understanding of fair play. Obviously the samurai and ninja are variations of other classes with slight differences made to better suit the flavor of the class. Regardless of its real life applications all weapons are based on statistics in game and there is nothing that unbalances the katana compared to a bastard sword. As far as the ewp argument goes it makes complete sense for the class variations made for "eastern flavor" get proficiency with their most "iconic" weapon. Considering you cant wield it diversely without taking exp no one would use it over another weapon without reason ( either loving the idea of rping a samurai or ninja, or min maxing to spite others with said weapon). That being said cavaliers don't just use bastards swords and didn't even mainly use bastard swords nor is the bastard sword popularized or well known because of the cavalier, in other words you can still fully embrace the flavor of a cavalier without a bastard sword . Now even if you set class flavor aside and just ask is giving the samurai and ninja proficiency with the katana (the proficiency allows 1h use) unfair? Again no , Is it unfair that a wizard gets a focus for nothing other than boosting his power? is it unfair that the sorcerer has a bloodline that gives bonus spells and abilities? is it unfair that a barbarian can increase his strength and constitution just by raging? No, its all a part of the class that's the way you are intended to use them. Barbarians are meant to rage, samurais are meant to use katanas, and rouges are meant to have sneak attacks . And you still have the freedoms to be unique and use things others than the classes intended weapons you just don't have to be sacrificing anything to use the weapon they intend to be used with the class. Almost everything argued is a bunch of house ruling nonsense " i don't like western stereotypes on eastern cultures " "I know a bunch of psycho fanboy manchildren who worship katanas" " Blah Blah katana Blah Blah master race blah blah Noob kids who watched tmnt " who cares , ofcoarse if your making the rules its whatever you want but if your using your experiences with others irl or the irl interpretations and uses of the weapon to decide how it should play out in game then your really narrowing the perspective and your not balancing for fairness your setting up for preference. If there honestly was a real issue here it would be addressed but the reason everyone can make a valid point one way or another is because the katana and the classes proficient with it are still in balance with the others case closed. If you want a childish argument over fairness for cavaliers consider it a trade of cavaliers get better armor prof. samurai get better weapon prof. a balance of def. vs. off.

Ive tried finding other threads that have answered the questions i have but have found nothing so far , this is my first posting and campaign as gm so im trying to make sure i cover everything well i apologize in advance if i misuse terminology or phrase something oddly if i need to elaborate on something please just ask.

To my main point the description and statistics of the kdws (katana,double walking stick) are not very accurate.

My understanding is that the weapon preforms as a quarterstaff but if unsheathed becomes two katanas. I say katana purposely because if katana is used in the name and the description states the blades "resemble" wakashi not that they are wakazashi then the blade portions of the weapon are katana based.

I think the purpose of stating they are katanas that are wakazashi resembling, is to remove the need to have the katana exotic weapon proficiency in order to hold a katana one handed. Also the x3 crit is there to take place of the "deadly" special feature of katanas and wakazashis and allow it to count for both the blades or quarterstaff.

Where my understanding of things starts to falter is where its states that it can be used as a quarterstaff. If so then it is a monk weapon as well and can be used in a flurry of blows. While its debatable to say you cant use the katanas in that way ,if it really is a quarterstaff then atleast in that form it should have the "monk" special feature.

If the monk feature counts for the quarterstaff but not the blades then i would beleive that would allow you to have seperate enchantments for the blades as well as the staff ends that dont stack. And if not considered seperate concerning enchantments then i feel that the monk feature would count for the blades as well. I cant say for sure which option i feel is more accurate and more specifically i dont see anything that says why you cant flurry while it is a quarterstaff but i want to know what the ruling on this would be.

To simplify, what im asking is:

-Why is the monk feature not listed on the kdws?

-If it should be can you only flurry with the quarterstaff or with the blades as well?

-How would you enchant the weapon, as one weapon or seperate enchantments for the blades and staff?

How would you decide weapon proficiency would you consider the kdws exotic weapon proficiency enough to be proficient with both of the weapons forms, or would you need a seperate proficiency for the forms themselves?