D&D 5E Agility-based katana wielder: is it possible?

[Giltonio_Santos]

I have a player who wants to play exactly that archetype for his next character: he wants to wield a katana two-handed and fight lightly-armored focusing on dexterity instead of strength. I know I can easily houserule something myself, but first I'd like to know if it can be done within the rules. Nothing I've seen supports this possibility, but maybe I'm missing something. Any thoughts?

Cheers!

 

[doctorhook]

I'm sorta naturally suspicious of anyone who wants their non-Oriental Adventures character to wield a katana, but that's neither here nor there.

Unfortunately, without houseruling your player might be SOL. The biggest problem seems to be the lack of a two-handed finesse weapon; if you decide to make one, I recommend that it should deal 2d4 slashing damage at most.

 

[trentonjoe]

I don't see how a 1d10, 2 handed, finesseable weapon breaks the game. I would really make the player watch his encumberance so he doesn't cheese his low strength score. You might also make him only have light armor, no medium or heavy.

 

[Ahrimon]

Give him a Rapier, fluff it to a katana then fluff the 2h wielding. If your looking for mechanical benefits, making it a versatile weapon wouldn't break the game.

 

[Plane Sailing]

In terms of making a character within the rules that fits that vision, one possibility is

Character class: Monk
Chosen weapon: Quarterstaff (1d6, 1d8 with 2H) reflavoured as a katana doing slashing instead of bludgeoning damage

Then he can have fun being all light armoured and wise, quick and athletic and do his versatile 'quarterstaff' fighting with two hands, getting his bonus unarmed attacks and other stuff. Uses Dex instead of Str for attack and damage.

 

[JPDG]

I played almost this exact same character a few years ago in a Pathfinder Campaign. My DM and I worked out using an Elven Courtblade. 2H, Finesse-able, 1D10 damage. I suppose with a katana you could use it 1H or 2H. We went 2H only to avoid use of shield or offhand.

It really doesn't break the game because...
1) You cannot use it with Rage.
2) Only a couple feats apply to it.
3) Doesn't work with Polearm feat.

http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/weaponsb.pl?weapon=Sword,_Elven_Courtblade

 

[trentonjoe]

In terms of making a character within the rules that fits that vision, one possibility is

Character class: Monk
Chosen weapon: Quarterstaff (1d6, 1d8 with 2H) reflavoured as a katana doing slashing instead of bludgeoning damage

Then he can have fun being all light armoured and wise, quick and athletic and do his versatile 'quarterstaff' fighting with two hands, getting his bonus unarmed attacks and other stuff. Uses Dex instead of Str for attack and damage.

That's a great idea.

Take the defensive duelist feat and go the emental monk path and you can be pretty bad ass.

at 5th level with the fangs of the fire snake (refluffed to more cool katana strikes) you can have something like:

AC 17 (20 with a parry reaction)

Two attacks at +7 1d8+4
Bonus attack at +7 1d6 +4 (no monks get there abil mod on bonus attacks)

and the ability to use a Ki point for a 2nd bonus attack AND/OR use another two to up the damage to 1d6+1d10 with a range of 10'.

I would blow thorugh Ki points like a 9 yearold with a bag of skittles....

 

[jadrax]

One of the main things to be aware of is that the two-handed combat style is particularly good if you can use it with sneak attack, which is currently imposable in the RaW. I am not sure how game breaking this would be mathematically, but you might want to keep a close eye on it if it crops up.

 

[Roger]

I have a player who wants to play exactly that archetype for his next character: he wants to wield a katana two-handed and fight lightly-armored focusing on dexterity instead of strength. I know I can easily houserule something myself, but first I'd like to know if it can be done within the rules.

Sure; go ahead. No houseruling required. Just do it. There's no rule stopping him.

 

[raleel]

In terms of making a character within the rules that fits that vision, one possibility is

Character class: Monk
Chosen weapon: Quarterstaff (1d6, 1d8 with 2H) reflavoured as a katana doing slashing instead of bludgeoning damage

Then he can have fun being all light armoured and wise, quick and athletic and do his versatile 'quarterstaff' fighting with two hands, getting his bonus unarmed attacks and other stuff. Uses Dex instead of Str for attack and damage.

This is and excellent suggestion. It allows for the fast attacking business one sometimes sees with samurai archetypes, it allows for high levels of movement, it even allows for a samurai vs ninja vibe (way of the shadow).