Hi. I'm new to this game and have decided on a ninja kitsune for my character. Naturally, I picked a katana as my weapon, and chose a patchwork cloak for my clothing. My GM and I had a discussion about whether or not a cloak will conceal a katana (Sheathed on my belt, not wielded. I know I could conceal it under the cloak in my hand/paw at a penalty for it's size, but that's not what we are discussing). He says you can't, but I say I can, and here's why:
He says that the 28 1/2 inch blade that wikipedia gives as the max was designed for a 5'6" (66 inches total) samurai, and would scale up or down based on my character's height.
In real life, I am 5'10" (70 inches total). My belt line to the floor is approximately 37". My beltline to slightly above my ankle is 32". 66/70 = 0.943. So a samurai of my build (roughly average legs proportional to my height) and 5'6" height would have a belt to floor height of 34.89 and a belt to slightly-above-ankle height of 30.176".
Of course, we will not be counting the hilt for this, as that would rise above my belt line, and there is an abundance of space there, so it won't be factored into our calculation.
Basically, a 5'6" character wearing a floor length cloak and a standard 28 1/2 inch katana would have an excess of 6.39 inches of cloak below the tip of the sheath, and an excess of 1.676 inches in an ankle length cloak.
So, since both the length of the katana AND the length of the cloak would scale with the character using them,if this calculation works for one character, it should work for all characters.
Therefore, my character should be able to wear his katana inconspicuously underneath his cloak (to say nothing of whether or not the cloak itself is inconspicuous, of course). Am I right in this?
Follow up question: can I swear a cloak over my starting outfit, or does the cloak replace it? My armour, obviously, works with both
