Katanas? Oriental weapons?

[frank_blankenship]

I've noticed a distinct lack of any oriental or exotic weapons in the PHB 4e. Am I safe importing the stats from 3e and adding some sort of prof. bonus or should I just use the weapon stats provided and file off the serial numbers?

I would like to have oriental weapons in my D&D game from the start.

 

[legiondevil]

I would like to have oriental weapons in my D&D game from the start.

There are shuriken in there, in fact Rogue's get a damage bonus with them.

If by "Exotic" you mean the category, it's been renamed Superiour (Look for the Spiked Chain and Rapier). If by Exotic you mean "in origin," just use the Bastard Sword. It's what D&D's been doing since 3rd Edition.

 

[Saitou]

So what's the shuriken and qatar? Chopped liver?

Also, a few preview materials and otehr blog posts I recall saying that Dragonborn were the makers of katanas, that once again function like bastard swords. This seems to have been cut from the core books, but a simple glance at the Dragonborn race description puts them very stronlgy in the Ronin camp.

 

[Cadfan]

From what I've heard, oriental weapons aren't in as default, except for shuriken. There are, however, weapons which are similar in stats to what oriental weapons would probably have. So if someone in my group wants a nagamaki, I'll recommend a glaive. Similarly, there are multiple types of swords, and spears, and bows.

My general attitude is to let people use weapon equivalences. If someone wants to play a rogue with a katana, we'll just use stats for the rapier, for example. If a different character wants to play a fighter with a katana, I'll recommend the bastard sword or greatsword. That way their character is functionally identical to a character already permitted under the rules, but we can describe things as they please.

 

[NaturalZero]

All the weapons in the PHB are oriental if you change the names.

 

[Blackeagle]

In my campaign I'm thinking about making Katana prof +3, 1d8, Versatilex2 weapons. This gives them a slight advantage over the longsword, but only when wielded with two hands (which should encourage players to wield them that way).

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I've noticed a distinct lack of any oriental or exotic weapons in the PHB 4e. Am I safe importing the stats from 3e and adding some sort of prof. bonus or should I just use the weapon stats provided and file off the serial numbers?

I would like to have oriental weapons in my D&D game from the start.

What are you talking about?

The Shuriken is in the PHB and is a Japanese weapon.
The Katar is in the PHB and is an Indian weapon.

Also there's crossbows in the PHB which was a weapon invented in China before China was even China and before it was ever invented anywhere in Europe.
There's also longswords, daggers, bows, scimitars, spears, axes, hammers, shortswords, glaives, falchions, and more which were weapons used in China, as well as Japan and Korea and India.

 

[greatamericanfolkher]

In my campaign I'm thinking about making Katana prof +3, 1d8, Versatilex2 weapons. This gives them a slight advantage over the longsword, but only when wielded with two hands (which should encourage players to wield them that way).

Why not make them high crit while you’re at it?

 

[kennew142]

And to sunder other weapons on a successful hit.

 

[Cadfan]

Make them work like whatever they need to work like for the character who wants to use them.

Rogue wants to use one? Use rapier stats. Fighter wants to use one? Use bastard sword or greatsword stats. But why do they work differently depending on who's wielding them? Different fighting styles, obviously.