There's nothing magical or mystical about 1000 times folded tamahagane steel….
Actually, It’s a thousand layers, not folds. It’s only really folded 10 times.
Fold = 2 layers
Folds = 4 layers
Folds = 8 layers
Folds = 16 layers
Folds = 32 layers
Folds = 64 layers
Folds = 128 layers
Folds = 256 layers
Folds = 512 layers
Folds = 1,024 layers
It works like puff pastry, except puff is tri-fold, so with 7 folds you can achieve 2,187 layers.
I was being mostly sarcastic with that :) My memory is hazy, and that's something I commonly heard thrown out as to why Japanese swords are superior to European blades; a school of thought I find to be more fantasy than reality. each has their benefits and drawbacks. My personal choice would likely depend on what kind of protection my foe was wearing, and if I didn't know, I would probably tend towards a European sword for armor penetration purposes.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
To tell the truth, the reason it was folded so often was to help purify the 💩 steel they have access too natively. European smiths didn’t do that because they didn’t have to. European steel was already of a higher quality, and therefore didn’t need the extra process to work out the additional impurities.
I would personally likely choose a European sword because the steel is much more flexible and therefore less likely to sustain permanent damage.
In addition, European sword hilts are shaped to fit the wielders grip better and have a pommel to prevent centrifugal forces (or a victim folded over the blade) causing the wielder to loose their grip. Japanese swords have strait hilts without any ergonomic considerations and absolute no pommel at all. That means Japanese weapons require a much higher grip strength to wield properly. If anything, a European Longsword would more likely have finesse and a Katana would not.
That's part of my complaint with "katana = finesse". There's nothing finesse about them. They are 100% strength. While I usually wouldn't quote anything from a movie, I will step outside that because this is slightly applicable; in an interview after doing "The Last Samurai" Tom Cruise commented that he had to have new clothes made because all of the sword practice he'd done for the movie inflated the size of his forearms enough that his suits no longer fit properly.
Finesse really tends to grind my gears though. Too many weapons are finesse, particularly because of a certain dark elf ranger who uses scimitars. If I were designing the game, the amount of finesse weapons I had would be severely restricted, to include the longbow. Now that elves can put their + to dexterity, the issue of "elves have dex, and are also master archers" isn't a problem anymore. Make crossbows use dex, and longbows use str (as they should). Then remove finesse weapons (except perhaps daggers and perhaps shortswords), and give rogues a class feature that allows them to use their dex for melee weapon attacks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I’m okay with finesse the way it is in theory, I just wish there were more non-finesse weapons that balanced things better. If the top end for Strength-based was up in the 2d8/4d4 range, if something like a Longsword was 1d10(1d12), if an Arming Sword was one-handed 1d10 w/out finesse (to compare to a finesse Rapier with only 1d8 damage), etc. I agree about longbows too for the most part, but in addition to making all longbows finesse I would make a “composite bow” (no “length” denoted) that was pure Dex and 1d8 damage, but with a shorter range (like the Heavy Crossbow) and without the Heavy property, and then I would make a “heavy warbow” (or whatever) that does 1d10 damage but requiresStrength. (That’s the kind of idea that inspired this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/1243170-heavy-longbow)
Basically, I wouldn’t want to take away any of the currently available weapon options from the game, just add a few more to balance things better between Dex and Str builds.
Well, in My case, I was designing a "NInja Katana", popularly known as Ninja-to, or Shinobigatana. Which is a sword designed to be utility and stealth. I was using the term Katana as a general Japanese sword catch word, but specifically, when I speak of finesse in a katana, this is what I really mean. My apologies for the confusion.
I’m okay with finesse the way it is in theory, I just wish there were more non-finesse weapons that balanced things better. If the top end for Strength-based was up in the 2d8/4d4 range, if something like a Longsword was 1d10(1d12), if an Arming Sword was one-handed 1d10 w/out finesse (to compare to a finesse Rapier with only 1d8 damage), etc. I agree about longbows too for the most part, but in addition to making all longbows finesse I would make a “composite bow” (no “length” denoted) that was pure Dex and 1d8 damage, but with a shorter range (like the Heavy Crossbow) and without the Heavy property, and then I would make a “heavy warbow” (or whatever) that does 1d10 damage but requiresStrength. (That’s the kind of idea that inspired this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/1243170-heavy-longbow)
Basically, I wouldn’t want to take away any of the currently available weapon options from the game, just add a few more to balance things better between Dex and Str builds.
in theory, I agree. In practice, I think that the variety of weapons options provide little reason to consider str weapons/builds, unless you are using a 2h weapon. For any one-hander use, d8 is a d8, whether it comes from a flail or a rapier is irrelevant. So, you look at ancillary benefits. Dex provides an AC bonus and init bonus. It's a better saving throw. It's got more skills. It's got better ranged attack options.
So, for me personally, if I am not using a 2h melee weapon, there's very little reason to look at str as being desirable. That feels like poor design imo. I think that strength /should/ be the go-to stat for martial characters, and i see no reason why that should not be the case. changing finesse weapons so that martials have a /good/ reason to choose str makes sense to me. Longbows /should/ be str weapons; the whole dex thing for them is a throwback to elves supposed to be master archers, but not having a str bonus. That's simply not a thing anymore. So get rid of it. I'm not entirely certain what I would do about the rapier as the go-to choice for all your 1h needs as a dex weapon. D8 is right for it, as is finesse...but I hate that dex+rapier is the right answer for most 1h questions.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Which is why I wish the Arming Sword came in at 1d10 without finesse. I wouldn’t change finesse weapons, I would just add more non-finesse weapons that were actually viable options.
As for the racial ASIs, IMO taking those away from D&D is the worst thing that has ever happened to D&D and in my games they still exist and I will never use the new system.
I really do not think we need 1 handers competing with 2 handers. A d10 arming sword with the duelling fighting style is strictly superior to every 2h weapon, other than a GWM enabled 2h, USING GWM. Arming sword should be d8 /max/.
Rapier being probably too good, is a problem...but not one I am confident in solving fairly.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Which is why I wish the Arming Sword came in at 1d10 without finesse. I wouldn’t change finesse weapons, I would just add more non-finesse weapons that were actually viable options.
Add all the swords. Add all the pole arms. I don't care if they are repetitive. All I ask is that the supplement include tons of gorgeous weapon art.
We don't really need them to do that. The weapons list provided is representative enough to cover nearly every imaginable weapon. People need to start using their imaginations again.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I really do not think we need 1 handers competing with 2 handers. A d10 arming sword with the duelling fighting style is strictly superior to every 2h weapon, other than a GWM enabled 2h, USING GWM. Arming sword should be d8 /max/.
Rapier being probably too good, is a problem...but not one I am confident in solving fairly.
Keep in mind that I also think all the two-handed weapons should get a buff too. A Greatsword would end up at 4d4, a Greataxe would end up at 2d8, all of those Polearms would end up at 1d12 or 2d6, Longsword would be 2d4(2d6), and a battleaxe would be 1d10(1d12), etc.
I really mean I think the game should get an across-the-board boost for all Str based weapons, and have some new ones added in (like the Arming sword) to make Strength more attractive than Dex for Martial Builds..
I'm not sure that level of power creep is warranted. I'm generally very hesitant to that sort of thing. Mathematically, I don't think there is presently anything wrong with martials.
Seems an awful lot of fuss when deleting rapiers would have the same basic effect, without the power creep.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
But it wouldn’t have the same effect. Deleting Rapiers would just piss off all the Dex build optimizers and raise a stink that would blanket the internet with a miasma…. Alright, bad analogy. But still, the negative backlash would be epic and frankly, I feel like casters are already getting the same creep with their spells, but the martials aren’t because the weapon list is set and finite.
The spell caster power creep is another area. I really shouldn't get into more power creep discussions. Lets just say I loathe power creep greatly.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I don't disagree with that, but I think that lately, the efforts that they made originally, and stuck to their guns for even when they shouldn't have been entirely lacking. You look at some things like the twilight domain, and have to wonder how that managed to pass any kind of testing at all.
But that's another topic entirely. I don't want to derail "finesse katanas are bad, and you should not do that" into power creep and recent game decisions are bad, wotc needs to reflect a bit.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
In my game, I treat katanas as longswords, and all longswords have the finesse property. Everyone is happy. It does not break the game AT ALL. I also added arming swords, sideswords, falchions and other types of swords to the game to have some one-handed alternatives to rapiers. A longsword is not an axe or a "club with edges". They are disigned to be fast and nimble. EDIT: You should not make a katana a light weapon. The dual wielder feat exists for a reason.
Can be considered a Katana/Longsword finesse or Rapier finesse?
Rapiers are finesse and should remain so. A rapier is a thin and light blade that is designed to require less strength to use, focusing more on accuracy. The thin sharp blade is ideal for piercing allowing you to very easily pierce flesh without much strength - in fact, you actually shouldn't use too much strength, as if you go in too strong you decrease accuracy and attacking strongly but at a wrong angle can easily damage the blade.
Katanas are a type of longsword so would be the same stats as one. Longsword should not be finesse - they're too big and heavy. Simply swinging a longsword with precision won't do much (finesse are about precision, not speed and why they do piercing not slashing *). To get the speed, momentum and force needed to use the sword properly requires some strength in your muscles.
* Yes, scimitars are slashing and finesse, but this is because the designers goofed. Scimitars should not be finesse at all as they're similar to longswords - too heavy and big for finesse. Also finesse should always be piercing as it's accuracy, the speed of a weapon strike is more about your strength - dex is more about accuracy (hence it's use in ranged weapons like crossbows) and accuracy-based attacks are about piercing. Being accurate with a slashing weapon will do jack if you lack the strength behind it. Scimitars are curved blades, they are designed to slash, which makes them strength weapons. That plus their longer blade and greater weight means a scimitar should not be finesse - they are so purely due to designer ignorance.
I think you might be viewing the idea of a D&D “Scimitar” a bit too narrowly as that weapon is also meant to encompass a falchion/messer which rely heavily on edge alignment and therefore would require a degree of hand-eye coordination which is why Dex is important (ergo finesse). A Longsword or Katana (or an actual historical Scimitar) has more weight behind the swing so power (Str) is more important.
I agree with you that a heavy slashing weapon would most certainly use Str. But for lighter slashing weapons that require those quick realignments mid swing (like a falchion/messer/saber) are okay with Dex. However, if they made non-finesse versions of the same weapons nobody would use them as they would be redundant. (It’s the same reason we don’t have an Arming Sword as it would be a Rapier without finesse, or a Longsword without versatile so they would just take up space in the book and never get used.)
Let's be real, scimitars are only finesse because of a certain drow ranger in popular stories...
And no, katanas cannot be finesse. They count as longswords. If you want to have a finesse katana for your anime fantasy, reskin yourself a scimitar and have at it. But no, your "ninja" does not get to sneak attack with a two handed d10 weapon.
On top of that, a ninja, historically, would be more likely to use something like a shortsword, a Katana was a samurai weapon, where as a ninja's sword is a tool, not respected as much on a formality standpoint, and is supposed to be used for stabbing, with less practical use for blocking because of the types of missions they would do.
"The ninjato sword was the favored weapon carried by Shinobi (ninja) in feudal Japan. In contrast to the curved katana, this style of blade is characterized as being a short sword with a completely straight blade. In the legends, ninjatos were used by ninja as an additional stealth weapon."- https://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/ninjato
In these articles the Odachi is compared to a longsword or a claymore but really for DnD purposes it's more like a great sword.
The traditional Samurai sword used for policing the streets was really more like a longsword.
The Ninjato is described to be more like a short sword but really it's more like a Scimitar
The Wakazashi is really the short sword of the group
And the Tanto is a dagger essentially or a knife.
Katana can also be used as a generic term for all three main swords. a lot like pitbull for various bully breads. Yea there is APBT. Yea there is a KATANA. but this is DnD not a history lesson and the point is these things exist and there are reasonable categories for them and it would be fun to exist in DnD if you are going to have samurai builds and Shadow builds.
The problem with the reasoning here is that
1. a Wakizashi was still a curved blade, and would be terrible for piercing
2. A Ninjato was a straight blade, and therefore just about the opposite of a scimitar
3. A Ninjato is not a katana, due to the way that katanas were treated vs Ninjato.
I think it's easy to get caught up on the names being used. Really, 5e is about re-skinning, and trying to push names with definitions is a way to test your sanity.
You have to think about what the weapon's properties are, and just apply them.
1h ONLY slashing weapon? In game scimitar. real world equivalents: arming sword, saber, falcata, dao, broadsword, spatha, gladius (they were known as brutal choppers when used that way) etc
1h ONLY thruster: in game, short sword. Also, arming sword, gladius, broadsword, spatha, saber, smallsword etc. Special note to the rapier, as a d8 1h only thruster. I reskin gladii to rapiers too. If I were going to get stabbed by something, I'd rather get stabbed by a rapier than a gladius. That Gladius is going to make a much bigger hole than the rapier. The rapier simply has more reach which doesn't mean more damage.
1h/2h slasher: In game, longsword. Real world equivalents: Katana, Longsword, bastard sword. Note: Contrary to popular belief, the 1h cruciform knightly sword most of us think of when you say longsword, does not meet the in game definition. It cannot be used with two hands, therefore it is not a longsword. That's also the real world definition as well. It's a d6 weapon.
I hope 6e clears up some of the confusion for people. For the love of all that's holy, I hope they specifically provide a listing for katanas, just so that we can read about how they did it wrong rather than have to listen to all the super special secret sauce katana fanboys talking about how it is and should be superior to the european longsword.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
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I was being mostly sarcastic with that :) My memory is hazy, and that's something I commonly heard thrown out as to why Japanese swords are superior to European blades; a school of thought I find to be more fantasy than reality. each has their benefits and drawbacks. My personal choice would likely depend on what kind of protection my foe was wearing, and if I didn't know, I would probably tend towards a European sword for armor penetration purposes.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
To tell the truth, the reason it was folded so often was to help purify the 💩 steel they have access too natively. European smiths didn’t do that because they didn’t have to. European steel was already of a higher quality, and therefore didn’t need the extra process to work out the additional impurities.
I would personally likely choose a European sword because the steel is much more flexible and therefore less likely to sustain permanent damage.
In addition, European sword hilts are shaped to fit the wielders grip better and have a pommel to prevent centrifugal forces (or a victim folded over the blade) causing the wielder to loose their grip. Japanese swords have strait hilts without any ergonomic considerations and absolute no pommel at all. That means Japanese weapons require a much higher grip strength to wield properly. If anything, a European Longsword would more likely have finesse and a Katana would not.
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That's part of my complaint with "katana = finesse". There's nothing finesse about them. They are 100% strength. While I usually wouldn't quote anything from a movie, I will step outside that because this is slightly applicable; in an interview after doing "The Last Samurai" Tom Cruise commented that he had to have new clothes made because all of the sword practice he'd done for the movie inflated the size of his forearms enough that his suits no longer fit properly.
Finesse really tends to grind my gears though. Too many weapons are finesse, particularly because of a certain dark elf ranger who uses scimitars. If I were designing the game, the amount of finesse weapons I had would be severely restricted, to include the longbow. Now that elves can put their + to dexterity, the issue of "elves have dex, and are also master archers" isn't a problem anymore. Make crossbows use dex, and longbows use str (as they should). Then remove finesse weapons (except perhaps daggers and perhaps shortswords), and give rogues a class feature that allows them to use their dex for melee weapon attacks.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
I’m okay with finesse the way it is in theory, I just wish there were more non-finesse weapons that balanced things better. If the top end for Strength-based was up in the 2d8/4d4 range, if something like a Longsword was 1d10(1d12), if an Arming Sword was one-handed 1d10 w/out finesse (to compare to a finesse Rapier with only 1d8 damage), etc. I agree about longbows too for the most part, but in addition to making all longbows finesse I would make a “composite bow” (no “length” denoted) that was pure Dex and 1d8 damage, but with a shorter range (like the Heavy Crossbow) and without the Heavy property, and then I would make a “heavy warbow” (or whatever) that does 1d10 damage but requires Strength. (That’s the kind of idea that inspired this: https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/1243170-heavy-longbow)
Basically, I wouldn’t want to take away any of the currently available weapon options from the game, just add a few more to balance things better between Dex and Str builds.
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Well, in My case, I was designing a "NInja Katana", popularly known as Ninja-to, or Shinobigatana. Which is a sword designed to be utility and stealth. I was using the term Katana as a general Japanese sword catch word, but specifically, when I speak of finesse in a katana, this is what I really mean. My apologies for the confusion.
in theory, I agree. In practice, I think that the variety of weapons options provide little reason to consider str weapons/builds, unless you are using a 2h weapon. For any one-hander use, d8 is a d8, whether it comes from a flail or a rapier is irrelevant. So, you look at ancillary benefits. Dex provides an AC bonus and init bonus. It's a better saving throw. It's got more skills. It's got better ranged attack options.
So, for me personally, if I am not using a 2h melee weapon, there's very little reason to look at str as being desirable. That feels like poor design imo. I think that strength /should/ be the go-to stat for martial characters, and i see no reason why that should not be the case. changing finesse weapons so that martials have a /good/ reason to choose str makes sense to me. Longbows /should/ be str weapons; the whole dex thing for them is a throwback to elves supposed to be master archers, but not having a str bonus. That's simply not a thing anymore. So get rid of it. I'm not entirely certain what I would do about the rapier as the go-to choice for all your 1h needs as a dex weapon. D8 is right for it, as is finesse...but I hate that dex+rapier is the right answer for most 1h questions.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Which is why I wish the Arming Sword came in at 1d10 without finesse. I wouldn’t change finesse weapons, I would just add more non-finesse weapons that were actually viable options.
As for the racial ASIs, IMO taking those away from D&D is the worst thing that has ever happened to D&D and in my games they still exist and I will never use the new system.
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I really do not think we need 1 handers competing with 2 handers. A d10 arming sword with the duelling fighting style is strictly superior to every 2h weapon, other than a GWM enabled 2h, USING GWM. Arming sword should be d8 /max/.
Rapier being probably too good, is a problem...but not one I am confident in solving fairly.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Add all the swords. Add all the pole arms. I don't care if they are repetitive. All I ask is that the supplement include tons of gorgeous weapon art.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
We don't really need them to do that. The weapons list provided is representative enough to cover nearly every imaginable weapon. People need to start using their imaginations again.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Keep in mind that I also think all the two-handed weapons should get a buff too. A Greatsword would end up at 4d4, a Greataxe would end up at 2d8, all of those Polearms would end up at 1d12 or 2d6, Longsword would be 2d4(2d6), and a battleaxe would be 1d10(1d12), etc.
I really mean I think the game should get an across-the-board boost for all Str based weapons, and have some new ones added in (like the Arming sword) to make Strength more attractive than Dex for Martial Builds..
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I'm not sure that level of power creep is warranted. I'm generally very hesitant to that sort of thing. Mathematically, I don't think there is presently anything wrong with martials.
Seems an awful lot of fuss when deleting rapiers would have the same basic effect, without the power creep.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
But it wouldn’t have the same effect. Deleting Rapiers would just piss off all the Dex build optimizers and raise a stink that would blanket the internet with a miasma…. Alright, bad analogy. But still, the negative backlash would be epic and frankly, I feel like casters are already getting the same creep with their spells, but the martials aren’t because the weapon list is set and finite.
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The spell caster power creep is another area. I really shouldn't get into more power creep discussions. Lets just say I loathe power creep greatly.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
It’s somewhat inevitable.
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I don't disagree with that, but I think that lately, the efforts that they made originally, and stuck to their guns for even when they shouldn't have been entirely lacking. You look at some things like the twilight domain, and have to wonder how that managed to pass any kind of testing at all.
But that's another topic entirely. I don't want to derail "finesse katanas are bad, and you should not do that" into power creep and recent game decisions are bad, wotc needs to reflect a bit.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
In my game, I treat katanas as longswords, and all longswords have the finesse property. Everyone is happy. It does not break the game AT ALL. I also added arming swords, sideswords, falchions and other types of swords to the game to have some one-handed alternatives to rapiers.
A longsword is not an axe or a "club with edges". They are disigned to be fast and nimble.
EDIT: You should not make a katana a light weapon. The dual wielder feat exists for a reason.
On top of that, a ninja, historically, would be more likely to use something like a shortsword, a Katana was a samurai weapon, where as a ninja's sword is a tool, not respected as much on a formality standpoint, and is supposed to be used for stabbing, with less practical use for blocking because of the types of missions they would do.
The problem with the reasoning here is that
1. a Wakizashi was still a curved blade, and would be terrible for piercing
2. A Ninjato was a straight blade, and therefore just about the opposite of a scimitar
3. A Ninjato is not a katana, due to the way that katanas were treated vs Ninjato.
I think it's easy to get caught up on the names being used. Really, 5e is about re-skinning, and trying to push names with definitions is a way to test your sanity.
You have to think about what the weapon's properties are, and just apply them.
1h ONLY slashing weapon? In game scimitar. real world equivalents: arming sword, saber, falcata, dao, broadsword, spatha, gladius (they were known as brutal choppers when used that way) etc
1h ONLY thruster: in game, short sword. Also, arming sword, gladius, broadsword, spatha, saber, smallsword etc. Special note to the rapier, as a d8 1h only thruster. I reskin gladii to rapiers too. If I were going to get stabbed by something, I'd rather get stabbed by a rapier than a gladius. That Gladius is going to make a much bigger hole than the rapier. The rapier simply has more reach which doesn't mean more damage.
1h/2h slasher: In game, longsword. Real world equivalents: Katana, Longsword, bastard sword. Note: Contrary to popular belief, the 1h cruciform knightly sword most of us think of when you say longsword, does not meet the in game definition. It cannot be used with two hands, therefore it is not a longsword. That's also the real world definition as well. It's a d6 weapon.
I hope 6e clears up some of the confusion for people. For the love of all that's holy, I hope they specifically provide a listing for katanas, just so that we can read about how they did it wrong rather than have to listen to all the super special secret sauce katana fanboys talking about how it is and should be superior to the european longsword.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha