Somewhat OT for D&D, but handy to keep in mind for D20 Modern: a few years back, in the US pacific northwest (I want to say Seattle or Portland) there was that guy who managed to hold off a couple of squad cars worth of city police, for 12 hours, armed with just a katana.
Of course, that was mostly because the local newsmedia was watching, and the department didn't want to be accused of use of excessive force. They couldn't just shoot the guy, because as long as no one was within reach of his blade, he did not present sufficent threat by the police department's regulatons to authorize use of deadly force. However, they couldn't disarm him either.
At first, they tried firehoses, but even that wouldn't get him to drop the katana. It took the SWAT team pinning him and the katana against the wall with two seperate straight ladders, while the fire department had the firehose on him, to finally end the standoff.
So, to bring this back to rules... don't forget the +20 to intimidation check rolls while brandishing a katana in a threatening manner.
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