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*Dungeons & Dragons
Katana in 5th edition - finesse?
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<blockquote data-quote="Cap'n Kobold" data-source="post: 7278156" data-attributes="member: 6802951"><p>This is why the word longsword is thought of as meaningless in this sort of discussion: you need to preface it with something in order to know what is being discussed.</p><p>As illustrated by the point you make: a historical longsword is different from an arming sword (which is what some people think of as a 'longsword') is different from a katana, is different from a spatha etc. However they all fall under the D&D 5e longsword category of the weapons table. Unless you specify whether you're talking about 5e longswords, or historical longswords, or arming swords or whatever, people aren't going to know quite what you mean and misunderstandings abound.</p><p> Well, this is hardly the first thread on this sort of subject: they tend to crop up now and again, and the same things are generally said by the same people on the same subject. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p> I've not noticed that. </p><p>Although the "Oooh, I'll use a katana. But it should have bigger damage dice/be finesse/have crit range of 15-20!" does get met with a certain amount of derision.</p><p></p><p>There is nothing wrong with rewriting the weapons table to include a separate entry for katana if you really believe that its stats should be different from the longsword entry. Generally you'll be met with a response of "Seems unnecessary, but if its what your table wants, more power to you." Its when people try to justify that with what others believe is erroneous information that others may step in to try to correct them.</p><p></p><p> I don't see any issue with that in a game-balance sense. (As long as you use the RAI rather than RAW for the Great Weapon fighting style to prevent interactions with Sneak Attack.)</p><p>From a realism sense, it makes me twitchy, since a finesse weapon is supposed to not require leverage by definition. Extra leverage for more force and control is generally why you would sacrifice reach by putting two hands on a weapon.</p><p></p><p>But I, and several others in my group get twitchy even around official 5e stuff like Studded Leather armour. We're not going to come around to your table and tell you you're doing it wrong. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cap'n Kobold, post: 7278156, member: 6802951"] This is why the word longsword is thought of as meaningless in this sort of discussion: you need to preface it with something in order to know what is being discussed. As illustrated by the point you make: a historical longsword is different from an arming sword (which is what some people think of as a 'longsword') is different from a katana, is different from a spatha etc. However they all fall under the D&D 5e longsword category of the weapons table. Unless you specify whether you're talking about 5e longswords, or historical longswords, or arming swords or whatever, people aren't going to know quite what you mean and misunderstandings abound. Well, this is hardly the first thread on this sort of subject: they tend to crop up now and again, and the same things are generally said by the same people on the same subject. :) I've not noticed that. Although the "Oooh, I'll use a katana. But it should have bigger damage dice/be finesse/have crit range of 15-20!" does get met with a certain amount of derision. There is nothing wrong with rewriting the weapons table to include a separate entry for katana if you really believe that its stats should be different from the longsword entry. Generally you'll be met with a response of "Seems unnecessary, but if its what your table wants, more power to you." Its when people try to justify that with what others believe is erroneous information that others may step in to try to correct them. I don't see any issue with that in a game-balance sense. (As long as you use the RAI rather than RAW for the Great Weapon fighting style to prevent interactions with Sneak Attack.) From a realism sense, it makes me twitchy, since a finesse weapon is supposed to not require leverage by definition. Extra leverage for more force and control is generally why you would sacrifice reach by putting two hands on a weapon. But I, and several others in my group get twitchy even around official 5e stuff like Studded Leather armour. We're not going to come around to your table and tell you you're doing it wrong. ;) [/QUOTE]
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Katana in 5th edition - finesse?
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