Tsurugi (Formally Nodachi)

[Hadrian_Emrys]

The Tsurugi is the traditional weapon of choice for the elite warriors of several exotic martial kingdoms.


Tsurugi
{table=head]Exotic Melee Weapon|Cost|Dmg (S)|Dmg (M)|Critical|Range Increment|Weight|Type|Hardness|HP|
Other
Light Weapon
Short Tsurugi|
35 gp|
1d4|
1d6|
19-20/x2|
-|
3 lb.|Slashing|
10|10|Adaptive, Finesse
One-Handed Weapon
Tsurugi|
70 gp|
1d6|
1d8|
19-20/x2|
-|
6 lb.|Slashing|
10|10|Adaptive, Finesse
Two-Handed Weapon
Great Tsurugi|
140 gp|
1d8|
1d10|
19-20/x2|
-|
12 lb.|Slashing|
10|10|Reach, Ready[/table]

Lesser Tsurugi:
A lesser tsurugi is too awkward to use lightly without special training; thus, it is an exotic weapon. A character can use a lesser tsurugi one-handed as a martial weapon, but cannot utilize the weapon's special traits without exotic proficiency.

Tsurugi:
A tsurugi is too awkward to use in one hand without special training; thus, it is an exotic weapon. A character can use a tsurugi two-handed as a martial weapon, but cannot utilize the weapon's special traits without exotic proficiency.

Great Tsurugi:
A great tsurugi has reach. You can strike opponents 10 feet away with it, but you can’t use it against an adjacent foe. If you use a ready action to set a great tsurugi against a charge, you add one to the weapon's damage multiplier (minimum x2) on a successful hit against a charging character.

The base damage of an attack made with a tsurugi (of any handedness) is multiplied by an amount determined by the wielder's BAB, but only when the attack is made as part of a standard action. This trait does not multiply the damage dealt by martial maneuvers or similar special actions.


{table=head]BAB|Dmg
6+|x2
11+|x3
16+|x4[/table]

-since I feel that non-casters need nice things. Honestly though, I think that last trait should be shared by all melee weapons.

[Siosilvar]

But why would you ever NOT use a standard action attack?

[The Rose Dragon]

But why would you ever NOT use a standard action attack?

Bonus damage dice?

[Jane_Smith]

Wounding Speed enchantments? >> Extra chance at critical?

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

While I agree with the BAB thing, a standard action is different from a full attack action, so I'm still probably doing more damage with my multiple attacks. Not to mention with the miss chance and what not. I'd like a second swing at a smaller bonus then no second swing at all.

Also a No-dachi is really nothing more than a katana shaped great sword. SO the extra reach doesn't really make sense.

[Siosilvar]

While I agree with the BAB thing, a standard action is different from a full attack action, so I'm still probably doing more damage with my multiple attacks. Not to mention with the miss chance and what not. I'd like a second swing at a smaller bonus then no second swing at all.

You'd prefer an attack at +6 and an attack at +1 (damage per round vs. AC 17: 75%) to one attack at +6 with double damage (damage per round: 100%) and a move?

[Admiral Squish]

It definitely needs to lose reach. That said, I could see scouts simply LOVING this weapon. Perhaps you should produce the whole like of katana weapons in a similar fashion.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Fiendish_Dire_Moose: For your first point, I agree. But the trait isn't there to out-DPS a full attack so much as it is there to help close the effectiveness gap between full and standard actions. Save for whatever specialty builds allow for such antics, the trait should just make normal movement a viable alternative to clunky ubercharging.

Also, I am aware that a nodachi is essentially a fancy greatsword that is smaller than the insanely huge Odachi. Thus, I was shooting to take the base stats of a Bastard Sword and convert them a step up on the handedness scale. Thus, I substituted spike chain reach for the hand and a half trait. This seemed reasonable given that Miyamoto Musashi felt a need to improvise a reach weapon from an oar for his duel with Sasaki Kojirō since the size of the latter's nodachi was a serious concern. I figure if there is a real world basis for it, why the heck not? The weapon still takes a feat to use, and it's not nearly as potent a lock-down tool as the spike chain.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

A Warblade picks up a nodachi. He uses Strike of Preternatural Clarity.

Damage? 1d10+Str+Enhancement+100...x4. The multiplication gets CRAZY when combined with maneuvers, charge feats, and similar...

Just things to consider.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I wasn't aware of maneuvers having the ability to play with multipliers. It just doesn't make sense (to me) that such a strike would normally do x4 dmg with a scythe on a crit. I figured either multiplier would only affect wep+str+bonuses such as a +x from enhancement.

[Orzel]

Hads, nice weapon. Lose the reach though for it make it too weird.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

I wasn't aware of maneuvers having the ability to play with multipliers. It just doesn't make sense (to me) that such a strike would normally do x4 dmg with a scythe on a crit. I figured either multiplier would only affect wep+str+bonuses such as a +x from enhancement.

You'd have to specify, in this particular case. You just say "damage," whereas maneuvers specifically state that they don't multiply with critical damage.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

So... the fact that it specifies that the nodachi deals additional damage, as opposed to the attack in general, doesn't make a difference?

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

So... the fact that it specifies that the nodachi deals additional damage, as opposed to the attack in general, doesn't make a difference?

It makes it unclear. Technically the nodachi deals the extra damage from a martial strike...I'd recommend clarifying it.

[elliott20]

I like the concept, but I feel that some of the rules you've presented for this specific weapon would cause problems from an implication point of view.

If a No-Dachi, what basically amounts to a blade the same size as a greatsword, has a greater reach, then why shouldn't the greatsword? Does this mean that weapons that would utilize monkey's grip would also have better range too? i.e. a large size longsword.

It's not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but that if you want to do this, you need to do this uniformly over the board or else this weapon will just be too good and there will be very little reason to NOT use this. (Kind of how the greatsword is right now as a the standard go to for warrior types)

and yes, Djinn's point about clarifying the damage is pretty key too.

If you make it just weapon damage is multiplied, (as in, you roll the weapon damage 4 times, and none of the bonuses, making crits still far more potent) then it brings it in to I think a more acceptable range while still allowing for better damage.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

:smallconfused:

Given that it is worded in a manner based on the charge bonus of a lance, how would you suggest altering it?

Edit: I removed the reach a short while ago, and I am still baffled about how to go about altering the wording in such a way that the intent is made clear without providing an ocean of text.

[Ashtagon]

In before katana vs bastard sword debate.

That said, nodachi is quite simply the standard term in Japanese to describe what in the west is usually called a two-handed sword or great sword. There are some nodachi created exceptionally large, but these are display pieces or executioner's tools, rather than weapons intended to be used in combat. These display/executioner's nodachi, under 3.0 rules, would be fullblades (this assumes you ignore realism aspects in favour of rule of cool). Under 3.5 rules, they would be great swords designed for use by Large creatures.


The base damage of an attack made with a tsurugi (of any size) is multiplied by an amount determined by the wielder's BAB, but only when the attack is made as part of a standard action. This trait does not multiply the damage dealt by martial maneuvers. (snip table)

This rule, with the multipliers in the table, actually makes the full attack action completely irrelevant, except if you have multiple weapons (eg. claw/claw/bite routine natural attacks, or two weapon fighting). It is strictly superior to a full attack action for single-weapon fighters, both in terms of expected damage output per round and in terms of action economy.

Fighters should have nice things, but this rule makes two-weapon fighters fall even farther behind their two-handed weapon cousins, since two-handed weapon characters can't use their second weapon at all unless they make a full attack.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Yes, the mishandling of TWF in 3.5 is disgusting. However, in order to fix that, I'm also tinkering with a feat to replace the current TWF feat chain that roughly adds the option of making an attack with one's off hand whenever an attack is made with one's primary one. However, the biggest hangup on that lies with the Tiger Claw style since it makes the wording something of a trick.

[Ashtagon]

Calling it a tsurugi has the same "oriental weapons are uber" meme problem that nodachi and katana has. For someone who isn't familiar with Japanese, you may have well just grabbed a word out of a dictionary. For someone who is, you've literally written "short sword", "sword", and "great sword". This is likely to be confusing.

Re crunch: Where is the adaptive weapon trait described?

[Hadrian_Emrys]

*shrug*

It's not like I have very many options. I'm no weeaboo fanboy, but I figure any alternate name for sword will work. Tsurugi just happened to be the name that popped up and sounded neat. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. :smalltongue:

Adaptive is just my catch-all for both hand-and-half and the light-to-one-handed traits described in the weapon text. I use the same word simply for the sake of not making the whole table look terrible.

[Mulletmanalive]

Have you thought of taking the Pathfinder approach and just causing the weapon to roll additional dice? It's not as effective but it does leave some benefit to actually USING a full attack .

Secondly, you could just make the attack into a manoeuvre like tripping. "As a Standard action, you may make a strike that deals +1 additional dice of damage per 5 full points of your BAB" or something. This caps out the possibility of combining it with martial manoeuvres because it's not a "standard attack" that is used in manoeuvre descriptions.

Personally, i'd make the ability into a feat and meke it easier to get if you have Exotic Weapon Proficiency [Tsurugi] but that's simply because i don't believe one curved masterwork sword should be by definition better than another. For instance, there's surprisingly little to tell a Katana from a Damascus steel tulwar style blade [the things that are called Falchion in D&D books] in actual cutting power.

Incidentally, Tsurugi is just a word meaning "outmoded sword" while "Dachi" is "war-sword" i.e. one you didn't mind getting broken. I know both have a bit of a mystique in the west but the name's a bit misleading.

Edit: Ashtagon is right save one detail: No-dachi is simply big battle sword. This could be any weapon above a certain length and ironically includes many weapons we would call Katana. The weapon that is usually described by the term is a "no-taichi" literally "big unfashionably curved weapon," the taichi being an older weapon that was used back when there were proper wars going on in Japan...

[Ouranos]

If you wanna clarify more about the damage bonus for single attacks, instead of simply using the multiplier, you could just write out it's damage. 1d10, then 2d10, then 3d10, then 4d10 for the big one, so forth.