Single wielding Kensai?

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I'm trying to make a character somewhat like the Leading guy in Crouching Tiger that wielded the Green Destiny, at least so far as his fighting style. I thought a single katana wielding kensai would work the best? I am finding(although I just started with this guy) that even with 2*s in Single weapon, I'm having problems with armor class. Also, would the green destiny actually be considered a long sword? I'm not so sure anymore.

 

Well, I'd say that the green destiny has a curved blade plus it's an oriental weapon, making it a katana. There are several things you can do to improve your AC (you have 18 dexterity, I hope). First of all, lots of cloaks and rings of protection work (a nice idea is the Ring of Protection+2, Ring of Earth Control and the Cloak of the Sewers. (That's a +4 AC bonus altogether.) You can also dual him to a mage and have him wear mage-robes (actually, that does make SOME sense, since the way he floats though the trees is quite uncanny). That's my opinion.

 

I do not endorse this usually but if you are keen to create an authentic character with that much power the best way to do it is to download and use shadowkeeper. As long as it is used for roleplaying purposes only and not a desperate attampt to complete the game that's ok.

You could equip the celestial fury and give him a few suitible spells like sommon blade and stuff like that. play around and see what you like.

 

Green Destiny was straight.

But then so are most katanas.

Look at the cross guard, the part protecting your hand from getting sliced off if someone slides his blade down the length of yours. (It's been a while since I've seen the movie.) If it's straight, then it's a longsword. If it's one that encircles the blade, then call it a katana.

(Yes, I know that not all longswords have straight crossguards; I'm speaking specifically of Green Destiny, which clearly didn't have a basket hilt, swept knuckle guard, etc.)

 

Actually, Katanas are usually curved, due to the cooling of two metals that are put together to make the blade. Making the katana one of the greatest swords in history. They were always sharp, and nearly impossible to break, which work a lot better than the European long swords, made of one piece of metal.

 

Crouching tiger was a great film. I never knew auriental people just flew everywhere instead of walking.

 

Then, bonzo, you're obviously not an officianado of kung fu films. Those sunsabitches fly *everywhere.*

 

Green Destiny would almost assuredly be a Bastard Sword in SoA. It can be wielded comfortably as both a single and two-handed weapon. I must say, though, that I have not really used any bastard swords in this game, but IIRC, you cannot choose to equip a bastard sword in a two handed manner, quiaf?

 

Katana's nearly unbreakable???
ive shattered 3 in training this year, Hatsumi shattered a blade worth £6000 in Tai Kai last year

 

I was reading some interview or another and a bloke highly involved with the making of Crouching Tiger reckoned Green Destiny was a long sword.

 

Uh .... "... curved, due to the cooling of the two metals that ale put together to make the blade ..." - assassin: Allow me to ask if you know what ou are talking about?

Katana's, just like arab damasque swords, are made of multiple layers of hard and soft metal, resulting in a very flexible and elastic blade. Both swords are curved. But the reason is that the smith wanted it to be curved and it is not a result of cooling.

Even a katana blade is one piece of metal, maybe forged together soft & hard stell but nontheless one piece.
Imagine the katana blade to be a multiple layer sandwich where soft and hard steel form the layers - so the structure is thorougly vertical.
Following your cooling theory the katana blade should be curved sidewards (the bi-metallic thermomether principle) and not backwards
So where does the horizonal moment in these multiple layers which, in your opinion, makes the blade curve during cooling - against it's strength momentum - come from ? I am very curious about your explanation.

I mean: Have you ever played with a blue-steel blade spring? I always found them pretty difficult to curve backward (not to the sides ... this is of course easy ) ....

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited August 28, 2001).]

 

My only contention that it isn't a long sword is that it is very flexible, but I know next to nothing about swords. I've always envisioned longswords being like excalibur and very inflexible.

 

the assassin is full of sh#t.

The hardness as well as all of other mechanical properties of any blade are a result of the forging techniques and of the metals used.
The shape is completely up to craftsman.

"Generally" increasing the mechanical property known as hardness results in losing some of the mechanical property known as toughness....meaning that as you make the sword harder it becomes more suseptible to shattering. Heat treatment is usually how toughness is restored. Harder is better!

 

Katanas do generally tend to have a slight curve to them though, don't they? The ones I've seen do, but I'm hardly an expert at this, and it could just be that some smiths make them one shape and some another...

 

I'll admit that I'm no expert, but I'm reasonably sure that Katanas are curved and more importantly (I think) they are single bladed as opposed to long/broadswords which are double bladed. I could be wrong though...

 

actually, no the assassin is right, Katana's are forged using 2 metals and carbon, the first metal is forged with steel around it, the carbon is betwen the 2 metals to prevent it hot cracking. The first metal then cools quicker then the steel contracting while the steel is still expanding, this causes the blade to curve
however assassin was wrong about the strength of a katana, around the bladed edge the metal is very 'crisp' it shatters easily with impact which is why we always block with the side of the sword, if the edge comes into contact with much force it will shatter. u see alot of films where a katana cuts stone and steel, i wouldn't try that if u ever get 1

[This message has been edited by Shoshino (edited August 28, 2001).]

 

Agree with Tubbomonk, I'v watched lots of Chinese Kung Fu films in which the weapons weilded surely are straight and double-bladed, they're just little slimmer and more handy in comparison with European long swords, so IMHO the Green Destiny in Crouching Tiger should be considered as long sword if you do think it in AD&D rules. BTW katanas are traditional weaponry in Asian Japan.

 

If we were to ask a true expert, we might find and answer.

Miyamoto Musashi – probably the greatest sword fighter to ever walk the planet – refers often to the Two Swords. In ancient times, he referred to the tachi (the great sword) and the katana (simply the sword). It was not until much later that references were made to the katana (the sword) and the wakizashi (the side arm – or short sword). This would seem to imply that the katana is not a long sword, but somewhere in between a long (great) and short (wakizashi) sword.

Green Destiny, however, is almost assuredly longer than a katana, which was meant to be worn at the waist. Green Desitny cannot be worn there (unless you are 9 or 10 feet tall!) Therefore, the Green Destiny would most likely be a tachi – or great sword. Since SoA does not offer a tachi, it would be more of a long or bastard sword (and as noted earlier, I would think it a bastard sword).

All of this is moot, however, since as Laksal points out, the katana (and Musashi) is Japanese in origin. Shao-lin masters (from which Chow Yun Fat’s character was based) are Chinese and rarely if ever master the katana, so that would mean that to be truthful, it almost assuredly couldn’t be a katana.

 

So Chinese swords tended to be straight, while Japanese swords tended to be slightly curved?

That would certainly answer the "different weaponsmithing" question I had earlier--it would be a general cultural stylistic thing at that point.

Thanks, interesting information!