Chakram Wielded in Melee: Light or One-handed?

[jakebacon]

The description for the chakram in the Adventurer's Armory states it can be wielded in melee at a penalty. When wielded in melee, is it considered a light weapon or one-handed weapon? With a damage die of 1d8 (fairly large for a thrown weapon), I tend to believe it may be considered one-handed. Just wondering how much of a penalty to apply when two-weapon fighting with a pair of chakram.

On a related note, I was just reading about thrown weapons on page 141 of the Core Rulebook and noticed it says that throwing a light or one-handed weapon is a standard action. Is this referring to just improvised thrown weapons or all thrown weapons?

[Garden Tool]

A chakram is a ranged weapon. Using it in melee doesn't change that fact.

You are making a melee attack with a ranged weapon, not a light or one-handed one. Effects and prerequisites relevant to "melee attacks" will apply to your chakram attack; effects and prerequisites relevant to "light weapons" or "one-handed weapons" will not.

[Kierato]

Actually this is a good question, as it would impact two weapon fighting.

[Captain Sir Hexen Ineptus]

Kierato wrote:

Actually this is a good question, as it would impact two weapon fighting.

Yeah, it is a good question, as you can throw two at the same time with TWF.

Did they ever clarify throwing star's size?

[Kierato]

Do you mean a star knife or shuriken?

[Tanner Nielsen]

*casts raise thread*

Received an answer from James Jacobs on the matter, which is probably as close as you can get short of an official errata release.

HERE he says he considers it akin to a starknife without points, so it would be wielded in melee as a light weapon.

[DeathQuaker]

Tanner Nielsen wrote:

*casts raise thread*

Received an answer from James Jacobs on the matter, which is probably as close as you can get short of an official errata release.

HERE he says he considers it akin to a starknife without points, so it would be wielded in melee as a light weapon.

On one hand, comparing it with a starknife doesn't quite make sense, as a chakram does way more damage and has better range.

On the other, a chakram weighs one pound and a starknife weighs three. So it certainly is lightweight and likely well-balanced, making it a good candidate to count as a light weapon.

On the third tentacle, Xena could easily dual-wield her special chakram that split in half, so by that most important application of logic, it is definitely a light weapon. :)

[jakebacon]

Tanner Nielsen wrote:

*casts raise thread*

Received an answer from James Jacobs on the matter, which is probably as close as you can get short of an official errata release.

HERE he says he considers it akin to a starknife without points, so it would be wielded in melee as a light weapon.

Excellent news. Thanks for the link.

[Klebert L. Hall]

It's clearly a light weapon, because cheese is lighter than steel.
-Kle.

[LazarX]

You are noting the problems noted in using it as a melee weapon? SRD quote follows:

You can wield the chakram as a melee weapon, but it is not designed for such use; you take a –1 penalty on your attack roll with the weapon and must make a DC 15 Reflex save or cut yourself on the blade (half damage, no Strength modifier). You do not need to make this save if wearing heavy armor.

[InVinoVeritas]

Yes, wielding a chakram in melee is bad.

But if you're either high-REF or in heavy armor, it's definitely a lot better than the javelin or dart (but not the shortspear).

[Distant Scholar]

If it counts as a light weapon when wielded in melee, it's the only 1d8-damage light weapon I know about. It's like having a throwable two-bladed sword.

Would a "chakram wielder" feat, which got rid of the penalties for wielding chakram in melee, be balanced? (Prereqs: proficiency with chakram, BAB+1) I suspect it would be, compared to other feats out there, but I'm interested in second opinions.