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

[guachi]

A scimitar is just a short sword that deals slashing damage. No reason you can't make a katana a rapier that deals slashing damage.

 

[Cannyjiggit]

The Katana (at least in the form I recognise, I'm far better with European weapon styles) in my mind was never really a finesse weapon. It has far more in common with a longsword than a rapier and I would class it as a longsword personally. It was the wielders that put their emphasis on dexterity rather than the weapon.

That being said, this is a game where suitable compromise can make a character for a player. Having read others thoughts and considered it more, I no longer think the reskinned quarterstaff is the best option. I would talk to your player and offer him one of the following options (all mentioned above) that fits how he/she wants to play the character. I don't believe any of them will particularly unbalance your game.

1. Reskinned rapier - 1 hand only, 1d8 slashing damage
2. Versatile option - 1d6/1d8 or 1d6/2d4 slashing are both good options, different from above in that it allows 2 hand feats etc as well as shield options
3. 2 hand only - 1d10 slashing damage.

I suspect 1 or 3 will be the most favoured and will probably make your life easier but then I don't know your player or the intentions. As far as the future goes, I would probably try to steer away from a magical version ever appearing in the campaign but would allow the player to start with his own weapon for free. Over time, with standard magical options available the character may start to conform to the core system or he may stick with using his family sword in preference, either option works well for you.

A note on parrying: Firstly, parrying a weapon takes a lot more force than you would initially imagine, there is a lot of energy in a fast moving weapon that needs to be resisted and dissipated to simply parry it, this generally causes some damage to the area of the sword used to parry. Asian swords were generally made of inferior steel compared to European swords which made them more susceptible to damage, much more expensive to make and therefore much rarer than their European counterparts. This is why far more emphasis is put on evasion in asian martial arts and damage was made by cuts rather than strikes (Europeans would tend to make the strike and then cut once the contact was made, Asian arts teach methods that mean the sword is already moving in a cutting action before contact is made). After all, when you could arm and armour 100 men for the price of a single sword, you really wouldn't want to be using it as a bar for the opponent to hit. All of this adds up to why swords were such a big deal for medieval orientals compared to European knights who put much more emphasis on the armour craftmanship.

 

[Klaus]

A bit late to the thread, but I'll say that the suggestion above of using a Monk + reskinned Quarterstaff is a stroke of brilliance.

 

[BASHMAN]

We have used the Katana as a Finesse weapon as it was written since the first playtest. When the RAW changed to say that Katanas were now STR based weapons, our GM said they were still allowed to be used as Finnesse weapons (longswords) as this would have derailed two dex based characters in the campaign. So far, it isn't game breaking at all. Making it STR only seemed unnecessary. Anyone worried about sneak attack damage that could have been instantly fixed by saying "with a weapon that does 1d6 or less damage" in the description of sneak attack.

 

[Dausuul]

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.

As far as I know, there are not actually any stats for the katana in 5E yet. So you can give it quarterstaff stats with damage changed to slashing, and declare it a monk weapon.

 

[aramis erak]

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.

The less curved versions of the shamsheer/shamshir/killij/tulwar were pretty much the same shape and weight as a katana, excepting the hilt. They range from a katana-like 5° to a severe 30° curve...

 

[Elderbrain]

If you're willing to wait a few days, the DMG may settle the issue - it supposedly covers Wuxia-style games and Oriental weapons...

 

[trentonjoe]

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....

5th level Human Monk

STR: 10
DEX: 18
CON: 13
INT: 10
WIS:16
CHR: 8

HP: 33

AC: 17 (20 with Parry)

Attacks: +6 1d8+4(x2)

Bonus Actions: Attack +6 1d6+4

Reaction: Add PROF to AC (Parry)

Monky Stuff:

5 ki points

1 point for extra unarmed attack (see Bonus)
1 point for 10' reach (spend one more to do bonus 1d10 damage)
1 point for stunnng strike (CON DC 13)

Deflect Missile (page 78) 1d10+9

WIP

 

[Plane Sailing]

A bit late to the thread, but I'll say that the suggestion above of using a Monk + reskinned Quarterstaff is a stroke of brilliance.

Why thankyou!

 

[Ithrayin]

A Long-sword counts as having finesse when it’s the only weapon wielded by a player. When a player uses two weapon fighting (dual wield) in combination with a long sword, it loses the finesse property.

The logic behind this being as followed:

-When dual wielding long swords (In any dual wielding combination that includes at least one long sword.) strength is a must in order to wave the long sword around (Due to it being longer, and thus heavier when in motion, than other finesse weapons.), resulting in hack and slash type of motions rather than calculated dexterous strikes, thus the finesse is lost.

-When wielding a single long-sword, the player only has one weapon to focus his attention on and is capable of doing so with one or two hands, this allow more fluid, precise and faster combat (Classic Dueling style.), which results in finesse.

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For fair balance, aply the following:

A longsword NEVER counts as having finesse in regards to sneak attack. This is due to the long sword being too... well... long and 'clumsy' to be used subtly and sneakily like say a dagger. Something small and quick like the beforementioned dagger, or a short sword. lends itself much better towards the rogues amongst ye .
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