Katana, Double Walking Stick.... .... such a confusing weapon

[Momo Kimura]

Cost: 50 Gold
Weight: 6 Lbs
Small Size: 1d4/1d4
Medium Size: 1d6/1d6
Crit Modifier: x3
Damage Type: Bludgeoning
Special: Double
Benefit: This weapon can be used as a quarterstaff.
Description: This single case conceals a pair of matched fighting swords perfectly balanced to be wielded as a pair. Despite their name, the blades more closely resemble the shorter wakizashi.
Weapon Family: Heavy Blade

Barrage of Questions:

Why is it x3 damage multiplyer if in quarterstaff form but does not also list 18-20/x2 if its also meant to be a pair of wakizashi.

Why is it listed as part of the heavy blade family if it is two light blades inside effectively a quarterstaff?

Why is this damage typing not B/S if it can be unsheathed to become two blades?

Are the blades themselves even Wakizashi?

Are the blades themselves so blunt that they deal B damage or is that I am fighting still with the wooden parts when they are unsheathed with the blade pointing towards my character?

When sheathed can this be given the special material darkwood to make it lighter in quarterstaff form? If not, why cannot darkwood be used on the quarterstaff form?

If darkwood is possible then can I also add mithral to each sheathed blade to halve that weight again? (each blade itself weighs 2 lbs if it is a Wakizashi, 2+2+2= 6 Lbs counting quarter staff form, if I did would that make the weight with both darkwood and mithral = 3 Lbs? 2lbs for swords together and 1 for the staff wood)

Can I put magical enhancements both ends of the quarterstaff while it is sheathed? If the quarterstaff becomes two unsheathed blades, do the blades receive the benefits of the enhancement if the same enhancement was put at each end (like Holy for instance)?

Do they count as seperate weapons or one weapon for the purpose of enhancements (quarterstaff form and two blade form)?

Do I need to apply Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff), Weapon Focus (Wakizashi), or Weapon Focus (Katana, Double Walking Stick)?

If I pick up the feat Improved Critical, does it only apply to the Quarterstaff form making it a 19-20/x3, the Wakizashi form to make it 15-20/x2, does it apply to both forms?

Can a monk even treat this as a "quarterstaff" for the purposes of flurrying like he could with a normal one?

I would appreciate some very helpful answers as this weapon just seems in a way... "unfinished" to me.

[Skeletal Steve]

Honestly? I have no clue. So I am FAQing.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

I agree; the weapon itself seemed very 'out of place' in comparison to what they intend to use it. I will FAQ, and I hope they errata it to better suit its purpose.

[Tactical Monkey]

"It just raises to many questions."
- Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne (Movie: Batman Forever)

Defiantly a FAQ candidate IMHO.

[Chris Kenney]

Honestly, a lot of these questions are answered if you assume the damage type is a typo. If we assume the damage type is Slashing, not bludgeoning, then the stats listed are only for when the blades are unsheathed. When the blades are sheathed, it functions as a quarterstaff for purposes of stats and proficencies, but it's not one and cannot be enchanted as one.

Of course, that also means that there are no rules for actually wielding only one of the blades, but that's a lot less strangeness than the base.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Doesn't each end of a quarterstaff have to be enchanted separately?

If so, then just have each blade take the enhancements of one end. That would make the most sense, (although some corner cases like impact and such wouldn't work, but those would be handled like the transformative property, i would propose)

It definitely needs to not be the heavy blades category, should be light blades when unsheathed. The D6 damage works for both wakizashi and quarterstaff... so fine there.

Bludgeoning when sheathed, slashing when unsheathed.

You should take WF Katana, double walking stick so it applies to all forms the weapon is used in.

[Momo Kimura]

@ Chris Kenney: One can always assume one thing, but it would help us all if there was an official FAQ page about this weapon. After all this weapon can be taken and wielded in Pathfinder Society, yet it is confusing on what to tell a player unless you yourself were the person who designed the weapon in the first place about how the thing worked.

@ TGMaxMaxer: Ah there comes an extra rule problem then. Then one has to consider "Keen & Vorpal" (Slashing or Piercing only) when it comes to quarterstaff form, along with "Impact" (Cannot be placed on Light Weapons, Wakizashi counts as light). Which does mean the weapon would have "forms", as one cannot decapitate with a vorpal edged quarterstaff and nor can one "impact" with a Wakizashi for its incorrect weapon category.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Like I said, the transformative property would be the model for this, if you have keen or impact on the weapon, and it is in a form that normally doesn't allow that property, then that portion stops functioning.

[YogoZuno]

I would say, treat it like a two separate double weapons - each blade and each end of the quarterstaff form are separate weapons, and need to be enchanted separately.

Also, the fluff talking about the blade being the size of a Wakizashi is misleading - it's called a Katana, the rule text says it's a Heavy blade, therefore, both ends are a heavy blade, even if they only do 1d6 damage.

And, honestly, if you're wanting to use this weapon for it's effectiveness and not so you can play a Blind Fury type of character, you should be looking elsewhere. I will agree an FAQ would be good, though.

[Tactical Monkey]

Strange indeed.
A double weapon that can have two separate +10s worth in weapon enhancements. The staff form could easily be a +5 Bane (Elemental)[+1], Neutralizing[+1], Mimetic[+1], Planar[+1], Quenching[+1]. Which would be good if the character is all about taking down Earth and Fire Elementals.

Though wait. Are we treating the two inner blades as one double weapon or two separate weapons themselves in addition to the quarterstaff being treated as it own weapon but are all part of one weapon?

[YogoZuno]

Well, look at what is being modelled here...it's normally a stick (i.e. quarterstaff). You hit a button, and it's now a double-katana. So, in some ways, it's two totally separate double-weapons. Potentially, it could be built to allow one or the other blade to pop out separately, but the (very brief) description doesn't seem to support that.

Alternatively, you could treat it in a similar way to a spiked shield - despite a shield being usable as a weapon, you can't apply weapon enchantments to it. So, you could rule that, in this case, the staff portion is not able to support weapon enchantments, only the blade.

[Momo Kimura]

^
I can get behind that as it allows for a lot more options while committing the player/npc to effectively one weapon with two different purposes without needing to carry the "golf bag" worthy amount of different weapons.

[Nevan Oaks]

Just to point out you can put weapon enchantments on a shield RAW. I would tend to lean toward tgmax's thinking in my game IMHO.