Sword-chucks/Vigoorian Flail

[Epametheus]

While 8-bit Theater has had the Sword-chucks as a running joke for quite some time, Ninja Gaiden went ahead and included a weapon that basically is sword-chucks. It's a pair of sickles attached with a chain, and Ryu can somehow use the things like nunchucks without shredding himself.

Any ideas as to just how this would work?

I've got: small exotic weapon, 1d8 slashing damage, can be used as a monk weapon. Use by someone who is non-proficient results in 1d8 damage per round inflicted on the wielder, in addition to the normal non-proficiency penalties.

Should the weapon count as one piece for purposes of enchantment, or would each blade need to be enchanted seperately? Should it be usable as a double weapon?

 

[CRGreathouse]

I'd make it a two-handed double weapon: 1d8/1d8 slashing, 20/x2 crit, can be used to trip at +2.

 

[Prothall]

I remember a lot of debate about how to stat our sword-chucks went on when Clevinger was hosted on the Mortality Radio show... Do they keep archives of the chats? And if not, I think a Red Mage column might just have given some stats.. Pretty similar to above anyway, though.

 

[tmart]

I'd approach things a little differently.

Are the swordy bits pretty much identical to sickles? If they are, I'd agree with the 1d8 damage rating, because the whipping effect produced by the chain is considerable. Anyone with real-life experience with nunchaku can attest to how ridiculously powerfully you can hit with just a bit of wood.

I wouldn't make them a double weapon because the nunchaku aren't, and the principle is the same.

If they're any larger than the normal sickle, though, there are some weird problems with logic. Okay, the sword-chuck thing is a funny joke, but if you want to include the weapon in your game, you might as well have it make sense, unless you play a very ... erm ... madcap game.

I can deal with the sickle concept because it's fairly easy to imagine a round handle section attached to the chain. The Exotic Weapon Proficiency you should certainly need to use the weapon properly is enough to justify grabbing onto this little piece of metal accurately when switching grips, hands, etc.

It's difficult to imagine how someone could manipulate anything larger than what I described above with the alacrity necessary for rotation and building up the speed necessary to make use of the chain.

I'm also not convinced that this weapon could really be used to trip anyone particularly well. A sickle doesn't, first of all. I would recommend +2 to disarm on the logic that you can wrap the chain around a weapon shaft very tightly and yank, but this is doable with nunchaku, and they give no bonus. However, there's really nothing to justify the EWP, so I'd thrown in the disarm bonus.

You could argue that the spinning effect combined with the pointy end of the sickle justifies a x3 crit.

My summarised opinion is:

Sickle-chucks
Medium size
1d8, x3 crit
+2 to disarm
20 gp
6 lb.

With the provision that you might up the crit to x4 if you don't think it's worth the feat.

As usual, I'm tempted to add the text "If you are disarmed during your own disarm attempt, you can drop the sickle-chucks to avoid being disarmed."