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So as far as stats go, it seems like the kerambit is an incredibly terrible weapon. It is inferior to a dagger in every single way. The only thing the kerambit has going for it is the +2 Sleight of Hand for concealing it but daggers have that too. Is there any reason in-game to wield a kerambit instead of a dagger? It's frustrating and disappointing because I'm learning to use kerambits IRL and they're pretty amazing. Frankly, I think they are statted completely wrong. I'd give them a +2 versus Disarm, or maybe a special bonus to Performance Combat. But is there any way at all to make them worth using as they are currently written?
I think IRL daggers are a superior weapon, not that this generally has any relevance on weapons in game. I mean the bardiche has reach and brace while a halberd does not. ;)
That being said kerambits do have a X3 crit multiplier.
It's underpowered for a martial weapon. I'd be tempted to give it a 19-20/x3 critical.
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It's underpowered for a martial weapon. I'd be tempted to give it a 19-20/x3 critical.
I can agree with your first point there. Not sure about the second one.
Don't bring personal feelings about a weapon into the game.
It's as bad as all the people who complain about katanas being represented as a bastard sword.
The stats are what they are, assuming you are not playing PFS use a dagger mechanically and call it a kerambit and describe it as such if you want. Hell call it whatever you like, it doesn't matter.
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I'd give them a x4 multiplier before a 19-20/x3. It's makes sense, they're designed to make massive ripping cuts, but the small blade makes it harder to get those cuts started.
I personally think you can do more damage with a dagger. However, I don't want to start that argument here. ;)
So I'll agree with Claxon to some extent.
Another idea for the OP is to use the weapon creation rules in The Weapon Masters Handbook to create a kerambit that they think is more correct.
I'm learning to use kerambits IRL and they're pretty amazing.
If you also trained on certain martial arts that focus on dagger combat, you would also think that daggers are freaking amazing.
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Don't bring personal feelings about a weapon into the game.
It's as bad as all the people who complain about katanas being represented as a bastard sword.
The stats are what they are, assuming you are not playing PFS use a dagger mechanically and call it a kerambit and describe it as such if you want. Hell call it whatever you like, it doesn't matter.
I think everybody knows by now that a katana should ignore hardness and auto decapitate on a crit. :P
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I think everybody knows by now that a katana should ignore hardness and auto decapitate on a crit. :PDon't bring personal feelings about a weapon into the game.
It's as bad as all the people who complain about katanas being represented as a bastard sword.
The stats are what they are, assuming you are not playing PFS use a dagger mechanically and call it a kerambit and describe it as such if you want. Hell call it whatever you like, it doesn't matter.
And have an 18-20/x4 Crit range!
Bringing up the weight of the kerambit actually gives me a fantastic idea for my halfling telekineticist! I wanted him to use daggers for his "ammo", but all that weight was going to drag him down REALLY quickly. Kerambit fixes that problem!
IRL doesn't seem really important here. Regardless of personal feelings, we have a weapon printed in a book that basically has no reason to exist because it's completely utterly worse than any of its counterparts.
And that's terrible.
Actually I guess that's not true, it weighs less than a dagger (nothing at all, actually). Maybe there's something you can do with the fact that you can carry thousands of them on your person at once. Though there are other weightless weapons that might be better to mess around with.
Yeah we've had that since the light and heavy pick.
IRL doesn't seem really important here. Regardless of personal feelings, we have a weapon printed in a book that basically has no reason to exist because it's completely utterly worse than any of its counterparts.
And that's terrible.
There are plenty of weapons in the game that aren't useful except from an RP standpoint (if you're only looking for optimization).
Why use any two-handed non-reach weapons except for the greatsword or nodachi? Mechanically speaking those are the best two-handed weapons in the game if you're not looking for reach. I guess you could make an argument for higher crit multipliers or different damage types...but those mostly don't matter in the game. Most people want as high of damage dice as possible with the biggest crit range possible.
Plenty of weapons are weak enough that they don't have much reason to exist, but they do.
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Why are there any models of cars other than the most fuel efficient and cost efficient one of each class? Why are there any flavours beyond the most versatile one? Why are there books other than the most well regarded of each genre?
Because people like options, and some of them don't care what's "best" more than what interests them.
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Looks like I should step in and give some clarification. I wasn't saying that I think kerambits are "better" than other knives IRL, or that I thought the dagger in-game shouldn't have the stats that it does. I just can't figure out why they even bothered to make the kerambit a separate weapon when it's so drastically weak for a martial weapon vs. a dagger which virtually every single class in the game can automatically use.
The weapon rules are a hodgepodge of things different authors thought was interesting at the time over a wide range of books. If anything, the "rarer proficiency, better weapon" correlation should be disproved by all the weak exotic weapons (c.f. exotic tri-bladed katar vs. simple light pick).
There's really no consistency among weapons but there are enough of them to make this complicated!
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We're not talking about cars though. We're talking about numbers on a table. Where the only difference between A and B is that B is inferior to A in every respect.Why are there any models of cars other than the most fuel efficient and cost efficient one of each class? Why are there any flavours beyond the most versatile one? Why are there books other than the most well regarded of each genre?
Because people like options, and some of them don't care what's "best" more than what interests them.
There are plenty of things in life that are clearly inferior in every respect to an alternative, but they still exist and are still chosen. This is no different.
As the kids say "you do you", others will be over here using weapons that shouldn't exist. :P
The weapon rules are a hodgepodge of things different authors thought was interesting at the time over a wide range of books. If anything, the "rarer proficiency, better weapon" correlation should be disproved by all the weak exotic weapons (c.f. exotic tri-bladed katar vs. simple light pick).
There's really no consistency among weapons but there are enough of them to make this complicated!
Really, the rarer the weapon, the more unwieldy and unsuited to battle it is. Common weapons are common because they work.
It is just another example of the 'need for content' problem. They want to make something different to fill pages, but they have to balance trying to make the weapon desirable, without making everything else obsolete. That is particularly true since the items are fairly linear in their stats- bigger damage dice are better, bigger crit range is better, bigger crit multiplier is better. There is only so much you can balance this before it becomes the same as something else. Or breaks previous rules and just stands as better than everything else (such as a 2d6 light weapon).
Generally, I am more in favor the a representational approach. As in, it would be better if they didn't bother trying to make everything they find in wikipedia pages into a unique weapon, and just let certain weapons cover a general class. IE- kerambits would fit under daggers, katanas under scimitars as 'curved blades', etc.
Inferior options generally cost less IRL.
We're not talking about cars though. We're talking about numbers on a table. Where the only difference between A and B is that B is inferior to A in every respect.Why are there any models of cars other than the most fuel efficient and cost efficient one of each class? Why are there any flavours beyond the most versatile one? Why are there books other than the most well regarded of each genre?
Because people like options, and some of them don't care what's "best" more than what interests them.
You do remember that this is a Role-Playing Game, right? There are infinite possibilities, and rules need to be made for them since it is a game. You make it sound like there are only a few correct choices, and frankly that attitude destroys the very concept of a Role-Playing Game.
Inferior options generally cost less IRL.
Inferior quality maybe, inferior design not so much. Its not like there's a research team parsing the effectiveness of various weapons on the mortal form somewhere in golarion.
They look nasty, and undoubtedly will kill someone if you stick it into them. They're also nonstandard items in an artisan crafter world.