What are the stats for a standard katana?

[Epametheus]

Oh, boy. Let's see here..

Cloud's buster sword is a weapon that'd be nigh-unusable in real life. My group statted it out for D&D as Large Exotic Slashing Weapon, 2d6 damage, 18-20/x2 threat range, 25 pound or so weight, requires a 17+ str to weild, still imposes -1 to attack rolls if you're proficient with it (-5 to attack rolls if you aren't).

Sephy had Masamune, and Cloud could buy a Muramasa sword (which was also a katana) at Yuffie's home town. Both swords appear in just about every FF game, and are named after a pair of famous Japanese smiths.

Sanosuke's Zanbato was a rather bizarre take on a real weapon; the historic zanbato was just a katana with another two feet or so of blade added to it (going by size, Sephy's Masamune sword is a zanbato), and not the gigantic thing that Sano swung around.

Siegfreid/Nightmare from Soul Calibur is fighting with a bulked-up zweihander -- an already-big sword made bigger.

 

[Darklone]

Clouds Buster sword: Get the half-giant race from the XPH and he can use it

 

[rbingham2000]

Mainly, I'd have the Katana be just a masterwork bastard sword myself. They could be wielded one-handed, sure, but they're at their best when wielded two-handed.

Katanas that display the mythical qualities lots of people think of (such as slicing through armor and stone and such) would mainly be magical weapons, and as such, would be one of a kind at the very least, complete with names.

Some magical enchantments that would make sense on a katana would be: Defending, Keen, Mighty Cleaving, Speed, Vorpal, and Wounding.

And as for the big two-fisted longer-bladed version of the katana, that weapon is typically called a no-dachi and would be handled much like a greatsword.

 

[Ferret]

THE TUBE IS CIVILISATION!


Moving on, did I hear someone say that they could cut through bone? Are you sure? I know someone who says they cut though a chair with a 'show' katana, but I disbelieve him.

Also Kukris, are they as deadly as I hear? Chopping arms and such.

 

[Planesdragon]

Moving on, did I hear someone say that they could cut through bone? Are you sure? I know someone who says they cut though a chair with a 'show' katana, but I disbelieve him.

A good "battle-ready" sword should be able to cut someone's entire arm (including bone) off, and could certainly demolish a cheap wooden chair.

Think about how much damage a strong man with a 3-pound club can do. Then imagine that focused on a line that's a fraction of an inch wide.

(And that's not even getting into the various techniques, the actual cutting power of an edge, or what have you.)

 

[Orius]

Ah, someone mentions FF7, then we should not forget Sephiroth's Uber-Katana, I think it was called Muramasa or Masamune, I wonder.

Well, Masamune is usually one of the most powerfuil weapons in all the FF games, and it's usually a katana. That's why Sephiroth has it in FF7.

 

[Gidien]

As for the question of whether or not katana could cut through bone, the answer is definately yes. Historically, the samurai would cut through corpses or condemned criminals (and of course disrespectful farmers) in order to test the quality of a blade. There are cutting diagrams showing the lines of cutting, as well as difficulty. Some of these cuts would go through the entire ribcage of a person.

Also, I have heard that after archeologists dug up the famous battlefield at Sekigahara, they found that the most commonly used cut on the bodies of soliders was one which travels from the shoulder diagonally down to above the hipbone. So these blades could slice through the collarbone as well as the whole ribcage, sternum, and all those muscles and organs, in one shot. And no doubt the samurai were wearing steel armor, on top of all that.

For balance's sake, though, the masterwork lovechild sword is a great way to go. It's all about the coolness factor anyway.

 

[Amal Shukup]

As for the question of whether or not katana could cut through bone, the answer is definately yes.

Absolutely. Pretty much any well made sword can (with the appropriate technique) cut, chop, hack or punch through bone. Plenty of archaeological and documentary evidence to this effect.

Incidentally, I am firmly in the Katana = MW Bastard Sword camp. And frankly, I've seen some pretty crappy katanas (even 'real' ones - lots of assembly line junk produced for the Japanese military up through WWII), so the 'MW' bit is fairly subjective...

But sharp? Oh yeah... Couple of anecdotes:

1. Many moons ago, I had the opportunity to practice Tameshigiri (as part of studying Iaido) - wherin cuts are made using a 'live' sword against a tightly rolled bamboo and reeds mounted on a vertical stake. This supposedly approximates the 'difficulty' of removing a head (I have been so told, no direct knowledge obviously).

It was surprisingly easy. Sure, my technique was flawed (cut was wavy, indicating poor blade control) but that 'head' was absolutely severed... Our instructor made it look REAL easy (he was annoying that way).

2. I've personally met an Iaido practitioner (at a workshop back in 1989 or so) who had managed to (fairly slowly) push a foot and a half of his instructor's 'live' blade through his left forearm during a demonstration (Tsuka-ate form, I believe). Oops. Didn't feel the resistance or pain until it was well and truly in there. Finally notices it, and as might be expected, passes out.

I've seen the scar. Er, Scars. They're pretty impressive...

The funny bit of the story as I heard it was the reaction of the elderly instructor: who, greatly agitated and making little 'oh! oh!' sounds, rushes out to the slumped student, very carefully removes the sword from the arm, wipes it off with a cloth, rubs it down with clove oil, and starts tapping it with the little bag of powdered rock (whatever it's called) used to absorb excess oil and contaminants...

(In fairness, I'm given to understand that the weapon in question was both quite old and grotesquely valuable. But hello? Bleeding to death over here?)

At any rate, about this point he notices his rapidly exsanguinating student. Again with the 'oh! oh!' sounds, and rapidly improvizes a tourniquet with his obi... No harm, no foul ​

At any rate, vaunted sharpness and all, the Katana is just another weapon: Fairly strong on the offense - particularly the cut (although that linear 'whacking' motion seen in a lot of sport kendo won't cut bread), somewhat fickle on the thrust, reasonably fast. But overall, not much more effective in its context than a basket-hilted broadsword, a gladius, or even a nice aluminum baseball bat are in theirs.

As for the 'miraculous' properties of Japanese steel? Mostly really good PR: Damascene steel and Indian 'wootz' was just as good and typically started with better raw steel. The differentiated tempering of a katana is cool, but makes for a finicky weapon - you can fubar a katana real easy if you 'ding' the monouchi (the cutting surface near the tip), which is very sharp but terribly brittle. YMMV

A'Mal

 

[Darklone]

The funny bit of the story as I heard it was the reaction of the elderly instructor: who, greatly agitated and making little 'oh! oh!' sounds, rushes out to the slumped student, very carefully removes the sword from the arm, wipes it off with a cloth, rubs it down with clove oil, and starts tapping it with the little bag of powdered rock (whatever it's called) used to absorb excess oil and contaminants...

(In fairness, I'm given to understand that the weapon in question was both quite old and grotesquely valuable. But hello? Bleeding to death over here?)

At any rate, about this point he notices his rapidly exsanguinating student. Again with the 'oh! oh!' sounds, and rapidly improvizes a tourniquet with his obi... No harm, no foul

I do so second this story

In our swordfighting group, we don't have particularly valuable swords (a few thousand $ at max, nothing old though for practice). Yet, as two younger ones practiced freefight with steel weapons, one hit the other one in the face... at once both, the bleeding one (with shaking limbs) and the other one, were cleaning their blades! (insert "oh! oh!" here!)

 

[Amal Shukup]

Yet, as two younger ones practiced freefight with steel weapons

I have waved a fair amount of wood and steel in my day: Western fencing (foil, rapier), Kendo, Iaido, Chinese broadsword, some flirtation with SCA (meh), and dabbling with ARMA (which I'd probably still be at if my bod would let me). So, I confess that I've been dinged, cut, contused, and full-on injured a few dozen times... Accidents do happen.

BUT, I gotta say, youngsters free fighting with a) 'live' steel and b) an absence of substantial protective gear strikes me as a tad, well, risky...

at once both, the bleeding one (with shaking limbs) and the other one, were cleaning their blades! (insert "oh! oh!" here!)

Blood do make a mess of good steel, don't it? It is still a pretty counter-intuitive (and funny!) reaction...

A'Ma