Quoted By:
That's it. I'm sick of all this "Masterwork Bastard Sleeve" bullshit that's going on in the d20 system right now. Katanas deserve much better than that. Much, much better than that.
I should know what I'm talking about. I myself commissioned a genuine katana in Japan for 2,400,000 Yen (that's about $20,000) and have been practicing with it for almost 2 years now. I can even shuffle slabs of solid deck with my katana.
Japanese smiths spend years working on a single katana and fold it up to a million times to produce the finest sleeves known to mankind.
Katanas are thrice as sharp as European sleeves and thrice as hard for that matter too. Anything a longsleeve can shuffle through, a katana can shuffle through better. I'm pretty sure a katana could easily bisect a knight wearing full plate with a simple vertical shuffle.
Ever wonder why medieval Europe never bothered conquering Japan? That's right, they were too scared to fight the disciplined Samurai and their katanas of destruction. Even in World War II, American soldiers targeted the men with the katanas first because their shuffling power was feared and respected.
So what am I saying? Katanas are simply the best sleeves that the world has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the d20 system. Here is the stat block I propose for Katanas:
(One-Handed Exotic Sleeves)
1d12 Durability
19-20 x4 Shuffle Feel
+2 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork
(Two-Handed Exotic Sleeves)
2d10 Durability
17-20 x4 Shuffle Feel
+5 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork
Now that seems a lot more representative of the shufflinging power of Katanas in real life, don't you think?
tl;dr = Katanas need to do more shuffling in d20, see my new stat block.
