Newbie to Pf2 working with the core rulebook only.
A monk can become an expert with a katana with fighter multiclass feats. Is there a way to reach master or legendary?
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If you're a Human, you can take the Unconventional Weaponry for the katana.
Otherwise, you'll need to use Archives of Nethys for this advice. You can get to Master proficiency, but not Legendary with the Monk class.
You can get weapon familiarity with katana. Choose Tengu ancestry or take Adopted Ancestry for Tengu. (if your GM gives you access to them, in Pathfinder Society everyone has access already)
The ancestry feat Tengu Weapon Familiarity will get you familiarity (You have familiarity with these weapons—for the purpose of proficiency, you treat any of these that are martial weapons as simple weapons and any that are advanced weapons as martial weapons.) with the katana. You won't be able to flurry with the katana, but you can with the wakizashi if you take the Monastic Weaponry monk feat. (If you have familiarity with an agile or finesse weapon (such as from the Catfolk Weapon Familiarity feat), that weapon also gains the monk trait for you.)
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Is there a way to reach master or legendary?
For general guidance on game design and expectation management:
Legendary with weapons is pretty much out of the question. The only characters that get Legendary with weapons are base class Fighter and Gunslinger. The other base classes cap out at Master. Archetypes generally don't give more than Expert.
For the proficiency that your class gives you with weapons, you can get that proficiency applied to additional weapons with some Ancestry feats (*ancestry* Weapon Familiarity) and some Archetype feats (such as Archer and Mauler).
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Does it have to be a katana?
A weapon with the monk trait, such as the butterfly sword, temple sword, or hook sword would enable full use of your monk abilities with Monastic Weapon feat and Advanced Monastic Weapon feat.
Yeah, I should have pointed that out.
Using a katana as a monk, regardless of your proficiency level, will simply be bad because you will lose your core monk damage feature (Flurry of Blows).
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So, Depending on how you're playing it sounds like there are some things you need to ask your GM.
"Can I have access to the katana since my character is from..." (sounds like this is part of your narrative since you are focused on Katanas)
"Can I add the monk trait to the Katana?"
And you could get a no on this stuff, since the game is tightly balanced, or you may need to do what others have suggested and reflavor one of the other weapons.
Also, since it sounds like being amazing with Katanas is something you really want to do, consider what you're looking to do with the Katana. If you want to be super-accurate and crit super-often, you may have to reconsider your build of monk with fighter archetype.
are you looking to be super accurate with frequent Crits? Or are you looking to be the best with your swords, monk is good for that. Or are you looking for more a ninja build? that would be more a rogue thing.
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Reskin a temple sword as a katana and call it a day.
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So, Depending on how you're playing it sounds like there are some things you need to ask your GM.
"Can I have access to the katana since my character is from..." (sounds like this is part of your narrative since you are focused on Katanas)
"Can I add the monk trait to the Katana?"
And you could get a no on this stuff, since the game is tightly balanced, or you may need to do what others have suggested and reflavor one of the other weapons.
Also, since it sounds like being amazing with Katanas is something you really want to do, consider what you're looking to do with the Katana. If you want to be super-accurate and crit super-often, you may have to reconsider your build of monk with fighter archetype.
are you looking to be super accurate with frequent Crits? Or are you looking to be the best with your swords, monk is good for that. Or are you looking for more a ninja build? that would be more a rogue thing.
As a GM, my answer would be "yes, you can have access to the Katana, but no you may not treat it as having the monk trait, I suggest you use a temple sword instead".
If being good with a katana is very important to the idea of thew character, then I would suggest being something other than a monk.
Playing a fighter, with high strength and almost as high dex using light armor can probably accomplish what the OP generally wants, if katana is that important.
I mean, ultimately let's look at what a katana is mechanically:
It is a 1d6 one handed weapon with deadly d8 and two-handed d10 traits, and versatile trait.
Compare to a temple sword, which is one handed 1d8 with monk and trip traits.
So katana crits are nice, and if you two hand it the damage is better.
If the player is after the two handed d10 damage....I'm just going to say no as a GM. If you're not using the katana two handed, it's honestly not as good as the temple sword IMO, especially so for a monk.
I'm not interested in giving players free damage upgrades for no justification.
I suspect, if you removed the two-handed d10 trait from katana, the OP would likely not be interested in it. At least not over the temple sword.
But the katana isn't agile...it would be terrible for a dex build.
Unless you mean having like dex be your top stat and strength be second. Which like, it's still not optimal but being 1 behind due to stat isn't the end of the world.
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Comparing the katana to existing monk options outside the core book (which the OP asked us to stay in, but I'm using these for comparison), there's a couple of weapons that stand out.
-The Khakkara* is a one-handed d6 weapon with two-hand d10, versatile piercing, and shove. Shove might be slightly weaker than deadly d8, but the Khaakkara is a bludgeoning weapon, and being able to do bludgeoning damage and piercing covers a wider variety of monsters than piercing and slashing.
-Waterfowl stance** allows you to treat the Scimitar, Danpatta, Talwar, and Zulfikar as monk weapons while you're in the stance. Of those, the Talwar and Zulfikar have similar traits to the katana
--The Talwar is a one-handed d6 sword with Two-hand d10, Versatile piercing, and forceful
--The Zulfikar is a one-handed d6 sword with deadly d8, versatile piercing, disarm, and sweep
Given the existance of similar options, I don't think a stance with monastic weaponry as a prerequisite that allowed you to treat a Katana as a monk weapon while you're in the stance would be a broken homebrew. But that's your GM's call.
* Lost Omens: Tian Xia Character Guide
** Waterfowl stance is from Lost Omens: Rival Academies. The swords are from Lost Omens: Impossible Lands.
The talwar and zulfikar don't have the monk trait. They couldn't be used in Flurry of Blows, and so have the same problems the Katana does.
To your point, waterfowl stance can resolve that but now you need 2/3 feats to make it work.
Monastic Weapons, Watefowl Stance, and possibly Advanced Monastic Weapons.
But yes, if you want to spend that much just to use Talwar then I guess that's okay. You could easily reflavor a talwar to be a katana, as it's a saber, it's not that far off in shape.
Personally I don't think waterfowl stance is worth it, and it also has a weird issue (if I understand it correctly) that you have to be damage by an enemy in your melee reach first before you can enter the stance, and thus before you could use flurry of blows with it.
I'd personally stick with a temple sword.
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But the katana isn't agile...it would be terrible for a dex build.
Unless you mean having like dex be your top stat and strength be second. Which like, it's still not optimal but being 1 behind due to stat isn't the end of the world.
I mixed up the Versatile and Finesse (finesse allows for dex to hit or is that agile? I can never remember which one allows for dex and which one reduces MAP) traits. I was being an goober. Neither of them is good for a dex build.
Personally I don't think waterfowl stance is worth it, and it also has a weird issue (if I understand it correctly) that you have to be damage by an enemy in your melee reach first before you can enter the stance, and thus before you could use flurry of blows with it.
That's a typo on AoN's part. The trigger is for the feat below it in the book.
I'm not crazy about waterfowl stance either, as I find it the worst of both worlds of stance monks and weapon monks. But I thought it bore mentioning since it was close to what the OP was looking for.
Personally I don't think waterfowl stance is worth it, and it also has a weird issue (if I understand it correctly) that you have to be damage by an enemy in your melee reach first before you can enter the stance, and thus before you could use flurry of blows with it.That's a typo on AoN's part. The trigger is for the feat below it in the book.
I'm not crazy about waterfowl stance either, as I find it the worst of both worlds of stance monks and weapon monks. But I thought it bore mentioning since it was close to what the OP was looking for.
That's fair. The tulwar is very close mechanically to the katana. If a player was really interested in using a katana as a monk, I would probably allow them to include katana on this list with Waterfowl stance.
I mixed up the Versatile and Finesse (finesse allows for dex to hit or is that agile? I can never remember which one allows for dex and which one reduces MAP) traits. I was being an goober. Neither of them is good for a dex build.But the katana isn't agile...it would be terrible for a dex build.
Unless you mean having like dex be your top stat and strength be second. Which like, it's still not optimal but being 1 behind due to stat isn't the end of the world.
I mean honestly, unless you're a theif rogue, melee dex builds just aren't that much of a thing. Like you might invest more in dex, but you're still going to want strength as a close second or your damage suffers (more at low levels). When people talk about dex melee builds, they're usually thinking they can ignore strength. And if you were starting at a level where you had greater striking runes maybe you wouldn't miss the strength damage too much, but I don't think most games start like that.
And I also wrote the wrong thing, I meant to type finesse instead of agile.
Finesse is dex to hit.
Agile is reduced MAP on follow up attacks.
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Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions!
First of all, I neglected to mention that the character is an elf, which rules out ideas related to other ancestries.
Secondly, if there was a sword that did slashing damage and had the finesse and two-hand traits that would be a possibility. But there isn’t (at least not in core).
So it looks like I’m stuck with a katana expert.
Thanks again!
In fact there is such a weapon in the Core rulebook/Player core!. And since it has the Elf trait, you can take Elven Weapon Familiarity and Monastic Weaponry to not only gain master proficiency in the weapon, but use it with flurry of blows.
Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions!
First of all, I neglected to mention that the character is an elf, which rules out ideas related to other ancestries.
Secondly, if there was a sword that did slashing damage and had the finesse and two-hand traits that would be a possibility. But there isn’t (at least not in core).
So it looks like I’m stuck with a katana expert.
Thanks again!
Mate, is finesse important to your build? Because the katana doesn't have finesse.
In fact there is such a weapon in the Core rulebook/Player core!. And since it has the Elf trait, you can take Elven Weapon Familiarity and Monastic Weaponry to not only gain master proficiency in the weapon, but use it with flurry of blows.
I'm not sure if this does what OP is after.
The elven curve blade is a good weapon, it has finesse. But it doesn't have the two-hand trait, it's just a two-handed weapon. Two-hand trait give a damage die increase for using a one handed weapon with two hands.
Since OP is an elf monk, it's not a bad build idea to take Elf weapon familiarity and monastic weaponry to be able to flurry with the Elven Curve Blade....but I'm not sure that's what OP wants.
OP, what are you ultimately after? Being able to flurry with a d10 weapon?
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I was commenting in another thread about Fuse Stance and mentioned that monk with the duelist archetype could be interesting. You'd have to pick up proficiency in light armor first, however (even if you don't wear armor normally).
Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions!
First of all, I neglected to mention that the character is an elf, which rules out ideas related to other ancestries.
Secondly, if there was a sword that did slashing damage and had the finesse and two-hand traits that would be a possibility. But there isn’t (at least not in core).
So it looks like I’m stuck with a katana expert.
Thanks again!
Mate, is finesse important to your build? Because the katana doesn't have finesse.
In fact there is such a weapon in the Core rulebook/Player core!. And since it has the Elf trait, you can take Elven Weapon Familiarity and Monastic Weaponry to not only gain master proficiency in the weapon, but use it with flurry of blows.I'm not sure if this does what OP is after.
The elven curve blade is a good weapon, it has finesse. But it doesn't have the two-hand trait, it's just a two-handed weapon. Two-hand trait give a damage die increase for using a one handed weapon with two hands.
Since OP is an elf monk, it's not a bad build idea to take Elf weapon familiarity and monastic weaponry to be able to flurry with the Elven Curve Blade....but I'm not sure that's what OP wants.
OP, what are you ultimately after? Being able to flurry with a d10 weapon?
Good catch. If you're looking for a finesse weapon with the two-hand trait... All you have is the bladed hoop and the reinforced stock, neither of which are core.
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Honestly, if I were trying to build something along this line, I would probably build a fighter with the monk archetype (depending on what exactly from monk I was wanting). Wear light armor, invest highly into strength and a little less into dex and go from there.
I can understand the dissatisfaction. Sai, Nunchaku, and Bo Staff are all on the list of Monk weapons, so why isn't Katana?
Reading through all the various options and possibilities from this thread, this is what I am finding most useful.
If the build needs Finesse trait (dex to hit), then the Wakizashi would work. Stick to the one hand weapon and dual wield if desired.
If being 2-hand full time is fine then the Elven Curve Blade for Dex build would work.
If non-finesse is fine (strength to hit) and 1-hand with two-hand trait is important and houserules are allowed, a Temple Sword with the removal of the Trip trait and addition of the Two-Hand 1d12 trait would work (stats-wise it basically becomes a Bastard Sword with the Monk trait at that point).
If I were your DM, I don't care if you take something like the Elven branch spear to make it looks Katana-like.
A ton of people consider monks as the "eastern fighter" so they tend to combine samurai, ninja, and whatever eastern cliche into them.
Still, I would like if the monk could somehow use a katana for a "warrior poet" kind of build.
A ton of people consider monks as the "eastern fighter" so they tend to combine samurai, ninja, and whatever eastern cliche into them.
Still, I would like if the monk could somehow use a katana for a "warrior poet" kind of build.
In PF1, we literally had a class (archetype) called warrior poet for the cavalier(samurai) class. Cavalier is now an archetype in PF2.
All of which is to say....at this point warrior poet is basically just a fighter. You could take cavalier dedication if you wanted your warrior poet to have a mount, but probably not. Probably the duelist would be closest to the warrior poet idea.
There are very few ways for a monk to flurry with a d12 weapon. For balance purposes, there is no way I would approve that trait swap.I can understand the dissatisfaction. Sai, Nunchaku, and Bo Staff are all on the list of Monk weapons, so why isn't Katana?
Reading through all the various options and possibilities from this thread, this is what I am finding most useful.
If the build needs Finesse trait (dex to hit), then the Wakizashi would work. Stick to the one hand weapon and dual wield if desired.
If being 2-hand full time is fine then the Elven Curve Blade for Dex build would work.
If non-finesse is fine (strength to hit) and 1-hand with two-hand trait is important and houserules are allowed, a Temple Sword with the removal of the Trip trait and addition of the Two-Hand 1d12 trait would work (stats-wise it basically becomes a Bastard Sword with the Monk trait at that point).
Yeah, I don't think within the base rules there is any way to get a d12 weapon a monk could flurry with so that's a hard no.
There's barely any weapons that can get a d10 (only Dragon Tail as far as I know). Although, through a series of feats there might be a couple you can add (Talwar is the one that springs to mind).
Which is to say, d12 weapons would be right out for me. And d10 weapons are going to take a few feats to get access to.
Squark, the elven curve blade is a possibility, but has drawback of being two-handed only.
Claxon, I’m starting to think what I want from the monk is the fluff.
On a related note, systems are frustrating, because they have so many restrictions. I can picture the character I want but can’t seem to make him in any version of pf/dnd.
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What are you looking for in a character? Without saying a class, what are you looking for your character to do, what is the theme you are going for?
And it is okay to name a specific character you want to emulate, who here hasn't tried to build their favorite book/anime/movie/cartoon character?
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There are plenty of katana-like swords, both historical and fantastical, that are not katana. Katana are a very specific subset of secondary weapons for a noble class who more typically would use spears and bows. If the character is not specifically trying to use the weapon nobles use when not on the battlefield, there may be other on-theme options.
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Squark, the elven curve blade is a possibility, but has drawback of being two-handed only.
Claxon, I’m starting to think what I want from the monk is the fluff.
On a related note, systems are frustrating, because they have so many restrictions. I can picture the character I want but can’t seem to make him in any version of pf/dnd.
Unfortunately systems have some flavor baked in to an extent, and it can be frustrating when the system doesn't support the idea, but to me that usually just means X isn't the right system for the character you have in mind.
However, in your case it seems like you could accomplish a lot of what you want by ignoring the word katana specifically and any sort of notion about damage dice. Instead look at the temple sword. It only requires one hand, but you could put two hands on it (though it doesn't come with a benefit).
If you're willing to invest in some feats, the Tulwar using Waterfowl Stance and Monastic Weaponry is valid. You just can't do it at level 1, which kind of stinks. But like, you could do it at level 2 with the right investment of feats and flavor it as learning to use your sword the right way. And flavor the talwar as a katana if you really needed to. It's already a curved sword not too far from a katana.
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There are plenty of katana-like swords, both historical and fantastical, that are not katana. Katana are a very specific subset of secondary weapons for a noble class who more typically would use spears and bows. If the character is not specifically trying to use the weapon nobles use when not on the battlefield, there may be other on-theme options.
It is very funny to me the way Western culture has fixated on the katana. Perhaps because it is considered the "heart and soul" of a samurai.
But on the battlefield, a samurai who was using his katana was already in a bad situation. Ideally they were shooting from afar with a bow. Or using a spear in melee (cause that gave you reach, making you less likely to die). There are good reasons why the biggest number of combatants on the field prior to guns tended to be spear/pike wielders. They were cheap, effective, and easy to train for peasants.
TBF, in Golarion Katanas are pretty much the Pop culture weapon :P
On the topic
You have two possibilities, you opt for a Katana or you opt for a 'Katana'
The first one will not go with monk, but there are still plenty good options to play
Monk is a class with high unarmed defense and mobility, you likely won't get that quite as easy and theres only one class which rivals it in unarmed defense. Unfortunately unarmored defense is a bad idea with a Katana - you can easily opt for medium, maybe for light if you watch yout skill points.
So, lets head for the options:
-Fighter has the highest attack and feats to support whatever you want to do with the Katana
-Exemplar is a bit complicated to play for a beginner, but imo a very fun class and you can get a 'flurry of blows' with one of the ikons (gleaming blade)
-Ranger with Precision edge maximizes your damage, while flurry edge helps with multiple attack penalty, depending on what you prefer
-interestingly, if you take the Ruffian Racket Rogue you can one-handed use a katana and make sneak attacks, while you can two-hand it against everything where sneak attacks dont work - or you can take the avenger archetype to lock on and and always sneak attack with katana no matter how many hands
-Champion, especially of Shizuru, works well with a Katana, even if the support is not *that* great, but you will be beloved by your party
-Magus with the Inexorable Iron study will also have a good time wearing a katana and will absolutely destroy with crits
for multiclasses you could take up:
Monk - for the mobility
Duelist - for one-handed combat
Mauler - for two-handed combat
Now, if you want to go for a 'Katana' instead of a Katana you get a lot of extra options
-Monk is back on the Menu, the nine ring broadsword was mentioned, the elven curve blade would also work, but you wont likely find any finesse weapon with the two-hand trait
-The swashbuckler makes for an interesting option two, especially if you are looking for a sword saint style character -> imagine having panache as having the iajutsu stance ready and its a great fit
-other rogue and magus archetypes will work too and most of them will be great fun
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There are plenty of katana-like swords, both historical and fantastical, that are not katana. Katana are a very specific subset of secondary weapons for a noble class who more typically would use spears and bows. If the character is not specifically trying to use the weapon nobles use when not on the battlefield, there may be other on-theme options.It is very funny to me the way Western culture has fixated on the katana. Perhaps because it is considered the "heart and soul" of a samurai.
But on the battlefield, a samurai who was using his katana was already in a bad situation. Ideally they were shooting from afar with a bow. Or using a spear in melee (cause that gave you reach, making you less likely to die). There are good reasons why the biggest number of combatants on the field prior to guns tended to be spear/pike wielders. They were cheap, effective, and easy to train for peasants.
People want the fantasy version of the katana, not the historical version. Historical warfare is nothing like fantasy movies.
Westerners became fixated on the katana because Japanese directors and writers made it seem like the coolest sword ever wielded and made it for dueling. Lone Wolf and Cub's Ogami Itto massacres hundreds if not thousands with a katana of a specific type and a certain sword school.
The best samurai in The Seven Samurai was the one who could draw and cut faster than his opponent.
The katana became a dueling blade known for sharpness and speed. He who draws and cuts the fastest wins.
Even Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman uses a short blade katana with amazing speed and skill.
That's what people in fantasy games want to play. That fantastical version of the dueling katana where you draw your awesome looking katana with incredible speed and cut down your enemies.
The pop culture of it is hardly debatable, but at the same time we're able to actively discuss it here rather than assume it is set in stone. If what is *actually* desired is a folded metal blade matching a given aesthetic there are more options even if the text doesn't say "katana".
If the desire is actually to be a monk who is a former samurai or who otherwise uses equipment from a samurai, there are entirely different suggestions to bring.
That said my understanding is that Zatoichi uses a cane sword.
The pop culture of it is hardly debatable, but at the same time we're able to actively discuss it here rather than assume it is set in stone. If what is *actually* desired is a folded metal blade matching a given aesthetic there are more options even if the text doesn't say "katana".
If the desire is actually to be a monk who is a former samurai or who otherwise uses equipment from a samurai, there are entirely different suggestions to bring.
That said my understanding is that Zatoichi uses a cane sword.
It is a cane sword. The blade looks like a katana blade.
There are different types and builds of katanas. Even in film, you had heavier and lighter build katanas. Ogami Itto as an example used a heavy blade katana that was strongly build while still being sharp. He used very powerful cuts and practiced the wave cutting stroke.
In the whole myth of it and perhaps the reality, there were different schools for swordsmanship.
The dueling katana was also popularized by Miyamato Musashi who was a famous Japanese swordsman wielding a katana as far as I know. He definitely used swords in battle.
Katanas may not have been used in the battlefield, there was definitely a dueling culture in Japan that used swords, as far as I understood the katana was the main dueling blade.
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There are plenty of katana-like swords, both historical and fantastical, that are not katana. Katana are a very specific subset of secondary weapons for a noble class who more typically would use spears and bows. If the character is not specifically trying to use the weapon nobles use when not on the battlefield, there may be other on-theme options.It is very funny to me the way Western culture has fixated on the katana. Perhaps because it is considered the "heart and soul" of a samurai.
But on the battlefield, a samurai who was using his katana was already in a bad situation. Ideally they were shooting from afar with a bow. Or using a spear in melee (cause that gave you reach, making you less likely to die). There are good reasons why the biggest number of combatants on the field prior to guns tended to be spear/pike wielders. They were cheap, effective, and easy to train for peasants.
People want the fantasy version of the katana, not the historical version. Historical warfare is nothing like fantasy movies.
Westerners became fixated on the katana because Japanese directors and writers made it seem like the coolest sword ever wielded and made it for dueling. Lone Wolf and Cub's Ogami Itto massacres hundreds if not thousands with a katana of a specific type and a certain sword school.
The best samurai in The Seven Samurai was the one who could draw and cut faster than his opponent.
The katana became a dueling blade known for sharpness and speed. He who draws and cuts the fastest wins.
Even Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman uses a short blade katana with amazing speed and skill.
That's what people in fantasy games want to play. That fantastical version of the dueling katana where you draw your awesome looking katana with incredible speed and cut down your enemies.
I understand how we got to this point, but it's still a bit silly to fixate on it so much, in my opinion. You could have the same fantasy about pretty much any sword. And with tweaks...pretty much any weapon.
The dueling katana was also popularized by Miyamato Musashi who was a famous Japanese swordsman wielding a katana as far as I know. He definitely used swords in battle.
Except for that time he used an oar.
Musashi also did "psychological warfare" against his opponents and adapted his fighting style to what his opponent's were known for.
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I understand how we got to this point, but it's still a bit silly to fixate on it so much, in my opinion. You could have the...There are plenty of katana-like swords, both historical and fantastical, that are not katana. Katana are a very specific subset of secondary weapons for a noble class who more typically would use spears and bows. If the character is not specifically trying to use the weapon nobles use when not on the battlefield, there may be other on-theme options.It is very funny to me the way Western culture has fixated on the katana. Perhaps because it is considered the "heart and soul" of a samurai.
But on the battlefield, a samurai who was using his katana was already in a bad situation. Ideally they were shooting from afar with a bow. Or using a spear in melee (cause that gave you reach, making you less likely to die). There are good reasons why the biggest number of combatants on the field prior to guns tended to be spear/pike wielders. They were cheap, effective, and easy to train for peasants.
People want the fantasy version of the katana, not the historical version. Historical warfare is nothing like fantasy movies.
Westerners became fixated on the katana because Japanese directors and writers made it seem like the coolest sword ever wielded and made it for dueling. Lone Wolf and Cub's Ogami Itto massacres hundreds if not thousands with a katana of a specific type and a certain sword school.
The best samurai in The Seven Samurai was the one who could draw and cut faster than his opponent.
The katana became a dueling blade known for sharpness and speed. He who draws and cuts the fastest wins.
Even Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman uses a short blade katana with amazing speed and skill.
That's what people in fantasy games want to play. That fantastical version of the dueling katana where you draw your awesome looking katana with incredible speed and cut down your enemies.
I can see why they fixate on it. For whatever reason writers write stories a certain way and game designers in D&D and PF for some reason don't want to make the writer's writing a reality.
Let's take Drizz't Do'Urden's use of scimitars. He fights with dex obviously. He's a slightly built drow. Yet anyone using a scimitar in the game has to use strength, which mechanically makes them weaker using a scimitar with dex.
The katana is similar in that it is a weapon shown to be used with speed and precision, not strength. But it is also a strength weapon best used by some character with a maxed out strength.
Never quite gives the feel you want on a character. I'm not sure why the designers keep making these weapons in a way that doesn't fit the fantasy use of them.
Musashi is the one who popularized the use of the dual sword fighting style with katana and wakizashi and the dueling culture that developed around the katana. Japanese writers and filmmakers took that seed and ran with it in fiction.
Same as American writers and filmmakers built a lot of mythology around the Western gunfighter and the six shooter pistol.
That's the best comparison as near as I can tell. The katana sword in Japan is like the American gunfighters six shooter.
I do understand what you're saying and it's why I let players make their weapons look like they want them to look. Makes no difference to me. I want the player to be invested in the character, be effective, and develop a really good image of what their character looks like in their mind's eye as they enjoy playing a character they like more than me as a DM saying no or using pseudo-realism in an unrealistic fantasy game.
That's why I have no problem with a player reskinning a weapon at this point. PF2 is balanced enough to handle it. Heck, I wouldn't mind if they just put in some rules where a character can build a weapon with the traits they want with a point budget or something. That would be perfect.
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While obviously we attach pretty firmly to names, the Japanese folded blade with the flat tip could be used for any number of Slashing-primary swords, knives, etc., evidenced in the wakizashi, tanto, nagimaki, odachi, etc. etc.
