Katana (3.5e Equipment)

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Katanas are Underpowered in d20

That's it. I'm sick of all this "Masterwork Bastard Sword" garbage 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 cut slabs of solid steel with my katana.

Japanese smiths spend years working on a single katana and fold it up to a million times to produce the finest blades known to mankind.

Katanas are thrice as sharp as European swords and thrice as hard for that matter too. Anything a longsword can cut through, a katana can cut through better. I'm pretty sure a katana could easily bisect a knight wearing full plate with a simple vertical slash.

Folded up to a million times.

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 killing power was feared and respected.

So what am I saying? Katanas are simply the best sword that the world has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the d20 system. Here is the stat block I propose for Katanas:

Katana

Exotic One-Handed Melee Critical: 19–20/×4 Range Increment: — Type: Slashing Hardness: 1,000,000
Size	Cost^1	Damage	Weight	hp
Fine	*	1d12+2 (+2 to hit)	—	1,000
Diminutive	*	1d12+2 (+2 to hit)	—	1,000
Tiny	*	1d12+2 (+2 to hit)	—	1,000
Small	¥2,400,000	1d12+2 (+2 to hit)	—	2,000
Medium	¥2,400,000	1d12+2 (+2 to hit)	—	5,000
Large	¥2,400,000	3d6+2 (+2 to hit)	—	10,000
Huge	*	4d6+2 (+2 to hit)	—	20,000
Gargantuan	*	6d6+2 (+2 to hit)	—	40,000
Colossal	*	8d6+2 (+2 to hit)	—	80,000
For values marked with an asterisk, the SRD gives neither this value directly nor a means to determine it.

(Counts as Masterwork)

Katana

Exotic Two-Handed Melee Critical: 17–20/×4 Range Increment: — Type: Slashing Hardness: 1,000,000
Size	Cost^1	Damage	Weight	hp
Fine	*	2d10+5 (+5 to hit)	—	1,000
Diminutive	*	2d10+5 (+5 to hit)	—	1,000
Tiny	*	2d10+5 (+5 to hit)	—	1,000
Small	¥2,400,000	2d10+5 (+5 to hit)	—	2,000
Medium	¥2,400,000	2d10+5 (+5 to hit)	—	5,000
Large	¥2,400,000	4d8+5 (+5 to hit)	—	10,000
Huge	*	6d8+5 (+5 to hit)	—	20,000
Gargantuan	*	8d8+5 (+5 to hit)	—	40,000
Colossal	*	12d8+5 (+5 to hit)	—	80,000
For values marked with an asterisk, the SRD gives neither this value directly nor a means to determine it.

(Counts as Masterwork)

Now that seems a lot more representative of the cutting power of Katanas in real life, don't you think?

tl;dr = Katanas need to do more damage in d20, see my new stat block.

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