Everyone knows that Katanas Are Underpowered in D20

Everyone knows that Katanas Are Underpowered in D20...

But what if, for the sake of a certain setting, they really were?

How would you imagine a setting in which a certain kingdom, using a presumably magical yet very easily reproducible process, discovers how to produce a sword which actually HAS the qualities of the meme katana. It may not be able to afford to arm every single soldier with that ridiculous munchkin sword, but it can easily provide thousands of them with it.

How would that change the politics of the setting? How would that affect the way wars are conducted? Would it truly cause that much of a change?

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Sorry, I don't want to derail the thread but if a player wants to use an eastern themed weapon like a katana or a tanto or a tetsubo (my personal favorite) I just let them reflavor a longsword or a dagger or a greatclub. Is this bad?

You've probably just fatally derailed the thread. Oh well.

>DmC Vorgil

No.

A saber would be better fit for a katana than longsword desu.

>posting vorgil

I dunno man, what tends to happen in history if one entity gains a distinct technological advantage over everybody else?

They either rule until they are taken down from a combination of becoming too dependant on the weapon and becoming too lax in innovation and someone else overtakes them or finds a way to exploit the perceived advantage
OR
Everybody else quickly copies the technology and you end up in an arms race.

So, lightsabers?

The interesting thing about meme katanas is that they're the most bullshit overpowered melee weapon that can be imagined using the system - HOWEVER, that's still all they ultimately are. They aren't even magical, they're not ranged, they certainly don't come anywhere near the destructive potential of arcane magic. I wonder just how much of a difference memetanas would truly make in a D&D setting where battles are decided by which side has the most wizards and dragons anyway.

Basically you'd get a few legendary warriors fighting to possess all of these god-weapons for themselves, capable of stupidly flashy, superhuman feats like cutting entire buildings in half in single strikes.

Happy dog! Happy happy dog dog :3

For the unaware, this is the statline of the "meme katana":

(One-Handed Exotic Weapon)
1d12 Damage
19-20 x4 Crit
+2 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork

(Two-Handed Exotic Weapon)
2d10 Damage
17-20 x4 Crit
+5 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork

As you can see, it's certainly bullshit-tier insofar as nonamagical melee weapons go, but is this really a game changer in a fantasy world like D&D's generally set in?

This was actualy a think when the AD&D Fiend Folio came out. There was a race of humanoids who could forge magic weapons and armor out of ordinary metals. Everyone was constant trying to capture their weapons and make sure they worked for themselves, but naturally, the fact that they were severely outclassed from the get-go meant the humanoids were often the victors in these clashes, leading to the enslavement and torture of many people. After all, they had started the invasions.

I am speaking, of course, of the AD&D Drow race, from the fiend folio, who had weapons with magical properties as a racial feature. As long as the weapons and armor remained underground they were more powerful than standard weapons and armor by far, especially considering a +2 weapons was a fucking amazing find in that system, and Drow often had +2, +3, or even +4 weapons and armor, and even the lowest warrior had +1 sword and armor in a system where magic items were rare.

Nope.

>is this really a game changer in a fantasy world like D&D's generally set in?
At low levels, certainly.
For martials, absolutely.

I'm spoiled by the system my group plays. It is a 3.5 clone that has extra rules for upgrading and customizing equipment.

A maxed out non magic bastard sword is this
5d10 damage
17-20/x4 crit
+3 to damage
masterwork.

Technically it is not maxed out but any further upgrades would cause penalties.

A sword is a sword, but like said, saber is more appropriate, since the only real difference, semantics and SUPERIOR NIPPON STEEL aside, is that the people who made sabers thought a bit more about not letting the wielder get his fingers chopped off.

We can wax poetic about the art and form of the katana till we're blue in the face, but if you take a mass production cavalry saber, and a mass production katana, you're not looking at much of a gap in quality.

>the only real difference,
You forget the bit about katana being two handed weapons.
It's also much heavier than a saber of the same length, so using it one handed like a saber wouldn't do you much good.

>sword which actually HAS the qualities of the meme katana
Valyrian steel?
Their forging involved magic but was quite commonplace in times of ancient Vayria, they become rare only after the fall, and that swords were clearly superior to nearly anything else/

So Falchion is probably more appropriate?

>song of ice and fire shit

>expecting neo-Veeky Forums to have any knowledge about fantasy beyond got and possibly tolkien movies

I feel like saber is okay but its only as correct as longsword. At least a longsword uses two hands. Weilding a saber is completely different than weilding a katana.

What you don't understand is Katanas are made from steel folded 100 times by Swordmasters.

Longswords are just made by blacksmiths, the same people who make pots and pans. They aren't specialists.

Plus a HUGE bonus to Katana damage is the superior rigorous training that goes into Japanese swordsmanship. The training and skill to wield such an elegant weapon is lost on mundane medieval weaponry.

Imo the Katana should be a versatile d10/2d6. That's what I ruled in my game anyway.

I want this meme to die. I have wanted it to die since 2008.

It is already so dead that it lives again.

>katanas
>any good

youtube.com/watch?v=XLWzH_1eZsc

This guy explains it pretty well.

>tl;dw
>it's overrated shite

>lloidposting
Fuck off.

Katana is a decent weapon if all you want to do is to have an expensive penis extension to cut unarmed and unarmored peons with.

*unsheathes katana*

You sure kid?

the 3.5 A&EG has conversions for eastern weapons. Katanas are listed as equivalent to Masterwork Bastard swords. that's the only part of the pasta that is any kind of sensible.

>But what if, for the sake of a certain setting, they really were?
Monomolecular-edged HF vibroswords. That or lightsabers.
Any other questions?

Were they any more expensive than other swords in feudal Japan?

>Same shape
How can this guy get some stuff so right and other stuff so wrong? Yeah, Japanese swords (not just Katana) are curved...but they have different degrees of curve, thickness, lenght, tips, cross section, materials, etc. This guy is basically saying pic related has stood the same for 2000 years because they all are straight and anything else doesn't matter.

Why did you post a pic of a the same image repeated 12 times?

I actually like PF katana
1d8, 2hd, 18-20x2, deadly
Lethal: +4 to damage on coup de grace

Is similar to falchion

Well, there're the ones that actually make up the discussion, which you haven't read as far.

What's the name of the clone? Or is it a homebrew?