When an operative takes the Shuriken Assassin Exploit, the text specifically says "you can trick attack with this weapon." It does not, however, make the weapon into a small arm or operative weapon. So wouldn't you still add full level to damage with Weapon Specialization?
Although the weapon gets treated as having the operative quality for the purpose of "melee attack rolls," I am not seeing how that wording adds the operative quality to melee DAMAGE rolls, or to ranged/thrown rolls of any kind...
At later levels, this would still leave the shuriken as a basically-free-but-slightly-weaker weapon than most available small arms and operative melee options, in addition to its range and fusion limitations. So it feels like the more balanced way of ruling it as well as the proper RAW approach. Am I wrong?
