Katars in the RAW?

[Error]

Is there a weaponry write up for the katar somewhere that I do not know about?

The weapon can be used to thrust or slash or parry and is typically either dual-wielded or wielded on a user's "off hand" to supplement another one-handed weapon (much like a jitte or a shoto). What would the damage of such a weapon be? STR + 1D+2 (max 6D+1) seems reasonable.

I wish to come up with an assassin whose main weaponry would be vibro-katars. So the damage on one of those would be like STR + 3D (max 6D+2) if they were to follow the same pattern as the rest of the regular-weapon-to-vibro-weapon conversions.
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[shootingwomprats]

If I remember this weapon correctly, it was mainly used for punching attacks, slashing and could, but rarely used, blocking. As it often caused the weapon to be dropped or a broken forearm.

In game terms I would consider this akin to a short sword. Not sure I would give it a bonus to attack, damage or blocking, but I would give it its own damage rating and a special move.

Katar
Type: Melee weapon
Scale: Character
Skill: Melee combat: katar
Cost: 200
Availability: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Damage: STR+1D slicing (max 4D)
Game Notes: The welder may make a single katar punching attack. Focusing on the tip of the weapon bypasses armor (-2D armor piercing). Performing this action is a Moderate skill roll, doing STR+2D (max 4D).

There are vibro versions of this weapon available.

Vibro-Katar
Type: Melee weapon
Scale: Character
Skill: Melee combat: vibro-katar
Cost: 350
Availability: 2
Difficulty: Moderate
Damage: STR+2D to STR+3D (max 6D)
Game Notes: The welder may make a single katar punching attack. Focusing on the tip of the weapon bypasses armor (-2D armor piercing). Performing this action is a Moderate skill roll, doing STR+2D to STR+3D (max 6D).
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[Error]

What are the sources of those stats? They look fine to me and pretty close to what I had in mind when it comes to damage rating. The special attack is cool too.

I would do this:

Type: Melee weapon
Scale: Character
Skill: Melee combat: katar*
Cost: 350
Availability: 2
Difficulty: Moderate
Damage: STR+3D (max 6D+1)**
Game Notes: The wielder may make a single katar punching Melee combat: attack. Focusing on the tip of the weapon bypasses armor (-2D armor piercing). Performing this action is a Moderate skill roll, doing STR+3D (max 6D+1).

* Would one really need to specialize in the vibro- form of any weapon? Is there precedence for that? If there is in the RAW I defer to it of course, it just seems illogical to me.

** I say max is 6D+1 because a vibro-knife is max 6D and this is a larger weapon.
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[garhkal]

[shootingwomprats]

[garhkal]

Katar based on a Sword?? You kidding? Its about the size of a combat knife. So at most should be equated to vibro-daggers...
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[Error]

The hand and katar picture from my original post has the scale pretty much down. The blade is about 10-12 inches long in my mind, though the Wikipedia entry says they are generally 12-35 inches long. A katar of any length is actually fine for the kind of blocking that is essentially striking at an opponent's weapon when it is coming in, not blocking like you would a sword, because the other weapon would just slide right off it. So blocking with a katar would probably take a specialization. However, I do not consider that a "piss-poor" blocking weapon; the first katar is intended to strike away the incoming weapon with force, and the second is to gut the guy swinging it. Not to mention advanced users catching the incoming weapon between two katars and throwing it upward as they kicked the attacker in the chest.

Garhkal, I don't know where you're getting your stats, particularly for the vibro-knife. Even the basic vibro-knife (smaller than the smallest Katar by 4-6 inches) gets STR + 3D max 6D (rulebook p. 228), as do the Vibrorapier (Gundark’s Fantastic Technology p. 14), the Double Vibroblade (which is essentially two vibro-short-swords on the ends of a staff, i.e. katars on a stick) also gets STR + 3D despite the fact that you can only hit someone with one side of it at a time, Vibroaxe (STR + 3D+1, rulebook p. 228). Also, the Power Sword from Dark Empire Sourcebook (p. 42) is not technically a vibro-weapon, but it is also STR + 3D, which is for all intents and purposes the result when weapons get powered.

shootingwaprats, I have to respectfully disagree that this weapon is only good as a punching weapon. The short ones (10-18") undoubtedly do the most damage using that motion, in fact some katars have thickened points just for this. However, there are multiple forms of the katar. "Form" in this case meaning both of the katar itself, and the combat forms of it (see also: Jedi lightsaber forms). This is the case for most every weapon from Asia, it seems. Sharpened katars of 24 inches or more are, like folks have said, basically short swords, and swords are not "punching" weapons. IMO, the smaller katars are best at armor piercing strikes, while the longer ones (18"+) are capable of both that, slashing, and standard parries. Plus, there is literally nothing between a character an putting crossguards on katars at the bases of their blades. This would only require finding the SWU equivalent of a blacksmith. However, I feel that if these weapons were that bad at parrying, this innovation would have already been implemented on Earth.

I also have to disagree that the weapon blocking would "often" cause a user to drop the weapon or break a bone in his/her forearm. Most katars are tightly bound with tape or fabric from the user's wrist on down to the bottom of the katar, just to prevent such things from happening. They aren't just "held", they are basically glued onto you. So you would actually be dropping a katar a lot less than a vibro-knife or even a lightsaber. If you need proof of the efficacy of this weapon consider this:

"Upper-class Indians of certain groups would even hunt tigers with a pair of katar. For a hunter to kill a tiger with such a short-range weapon was considered the surest sign of bravery and martial skill."
- Dr Tobias Capwell (2009) "The World Encyclopedia Of Knives, Daggers And Bayonets"

This is basic rules question, but I'm too lazy to look it up. If I have a character who uses swords and specializes in them (Melee attack: sword), and that character finds a vibrosword lying around somewhere, does that character now need to re-specialize in Melee attack: vibrosword or does he get to use his Melee attack: sword DC? My gut tells me the original DC is what he would use, because the motions are nearly the same, but I wouldn't be surprised if the RAW says otherwise.
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The only words of explanation you need for any concept in the entire Star Wars universe are the words Science Fiction and Space Opera.

[Zarn]

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[shootingwomprats]

Error this sounds more and more like a fighting style that includes the use of the katar. I am not versed in any of that. Sorry I was unable to help =)
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Don Diestler
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[Zarn]

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[MrNexx]

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[MrNexx]

[garhkal]

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