Hattori Hanzo Steel

[Nightfly]

Hattori Hanzo Steel... any suggestions?

 

Obviously buying extra BODY & DEF for an item works, and of course there's always Darth Vader's lightsaber over on Surbrook's site.

 

But anybody done anything on this subject?

Also, anyone got a favorite technique for weapon (body) vs. weapon (body) combat??

 

I've got a lot of PCs with swords, but until seeing Kill Bill (Vol.1) I hadn't really considered the potential of having someone else's sword simply chop mine in half.

How might someone build a sword to defend against one?

[megaplayboy]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

well, in Champs, that's easy, buy the focus as "unbreakable". But in a more realistic setting, I dunno, maybe a +1/4 advantage, "extra tough" or something, giving the weapon x2 defense or body? Or just +1 DEF per +1 point, or +1 Body per +1 point for a personal focus like a weapon or armor?

 

HH blade: +2 OCV, +1 DC KA, possibly that weapon ability in FH that guarantees at least 2 pips per die minimum damage.

The Bride's weapon: +3 OCV, +2 DC KA--supposed to be the finest sword he ever made.

[Snarf]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

You could also do it like Surbrook's write-up of the Green Destiny Sword from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A 12d6 dispel versus melee weapons with 0 END.

[Nightfly]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Thanks guys, great ideas. I hadn't visited Surbrook's "Enchanted Weapons" page in awhile. And Megaplayboy, you and I were definitely thinking along the same lines

 

Is targeting an opponents weapon as simple as declaring it as ones primary target?

 

Thanks T.

[devlin1]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Thanks guys, great ideas. I hadn't visited Surbrook's "Enchanted Weapons" page in awhile. And Megaplayboy, you and I were definitely thinking along the same lines

 

Is targeting an opponents weapon as simple as declaring it as ones primary target?

 

Thanks T.

Targeting an OAF carries a -2 penalty to OCV, IIRC. Check the sections on Focus and Combat Maneuvers in FREd.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Here's the stats i'd give to The Bride's katana:

 

OCV: +2

Damage: 2D6K

StunX: +0

STRMin: 10 (12 when wielded 1-handed)

 

Adding +1 to OCV, +1 to DC and -2 STRMin

[steriaca]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Here's the stats i'd give to The Bride's katana:

 

OCV: +2

Damage: 2D6K

StunX: +0

STRMin: 10 (12 when wielded 1-handed)

 

Adding +1 to OCV, +1 to DC and -2 STRMin

 

Don't forget that ordinary swords, bought with cash, and not points, are breakable. You calculate the BODY and DEF thay have the same way you calculate it for a breakabul FOCUS (basicly, the points in the highest attack devided by five for the BODY...DEF asigned by the GM depending on what it is made of). This, The Bride (or, as I prefer to call her, Black Mamba, or even *BLEEP*), needs not buy the 'focus dispell' power in a 'normal' martial arts game (just have her buy her Hanzo steel katana with points, while the rest buys them with yen...)

 

Which reminds me, what is the name of Gogo's weapion? And what is it's stats?

[Dauntless]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Sort of off topic, but Hattori Hanzo was a real ninja who lived just before the Tokugawa era (late 1500's). He was a ninja Jonin (leader) of IIRC the Koga Ryu ninja who brokered a peace between the Koga and Iga clans in order to help support the Shogun.

 

Hattori was both revered and spat upon. Revered because of his charisma in getting the Iga and Koga to put aside their enemity, and scorn because most ninja were pro-Imperial, and didn't like the Buke caste.

 

As for how to represent this...I'd definitely give it a bonus OCV and DCV to represent it's fine balance. I'd also definitely give it the armor piercing advantage...maybe even twice.

 

Just as a side note though, good kensei never blocked a sword straight on. In RL, swords were just too valuable to ruin by edge to edge contact. There were some Feudal Era swordsmith's who were known to have made only a handful of blades in their lifetime....such blades were priceless. In the movie, creating a blade in a month is actually a rush job...most master swordsmith's would take at least a year if they wanted to produce an exceptional blade. So the samurai would instead block a sword with the side of the blade, and rather than use force to stop the blow, would rather parry it by pushing the blade out of harm's way. This is why the most noted samurai of their time could actually defeat other samurai in duels with a wood sword (bokken). If the master swordsman tried to block an attack with a wood sword directly, the bokken simply would have been cut in half.

 

There's even a legend about two master sword smiths, Muramasa and Masume who were said to be equal in skill. To test the swords, each placed their sword in a river. With Muramasa's blade, every leaf that drifted by was cut cleanly in two. With Masume's, when a leaf approached the blade, it swerved around the blade, thus Masume's was declared the finer blade because it actually "won" without even having to cut.

 

So against a master swordsman, even a Hattori Hanzo blade really isn't going to be much of a benefit. It's a cool movie gimmick, and would be of use against mediocre adversaries...but not highly trained ones. But it'd sure scare the hell out of the mediocre and untrained one's to see their blades cut clean in two.

[Just Joe]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

I would be reluctant to add more OCV or DC than +1 each, at least not without placing some kind of limitation on them along the lines of "additional OCV and DCV combined may not exceed wielder's applicable skill levels." My reason is that I doubt the best sword in the world is that much better than a pretty good one unless it is in extremely expert hands (as it was in the movie).

 

I would, however, strongly consider making the weapon armor piercing. This would be effective for destroying other weapons (and for cutting through armor, which fine Japanese swords are said to have done in the feudal era).

[GreyGuardian]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Getting back to the Go-Go question - It looked like some variant of a rope hammer or in this case chain hammer.

[sbarron]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

So against a master swordsman' date=' even a Hattori Hanzo blade really isn't going to be much of a benefit. It's a cool movie gimmick, and would be of use against mediocre adversaries...but not highly trained ones. But it'd sure scare the hell out of the mediocre and untrained one's to see their blades cut clean in two.[/quote'] For the sake of the genre, you missed on this one. Most of the opponents that the Bride fought would be considered masters. And almost all of them were nervous when finding out her sword was a Hattori Hanzo. There is a reason they were nervous. For whatever reason, Hattori Hanzo's are the best. It's stats should reflect this.

[NuSoardGraphite]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

For the sake of the genre' date=' you missed on this one. Most of the opponents that the Bride fought would be considered masters. And almost all of them were nervous when finding out her sword was a Hattori Hanzo. There is a reason they were nervous. For whatever reason, Hattori Hanzo's are the best. It's stats should reflect this.[/quote']

 

I beg to differ on this. I think that most of the opponents she faced were novice to expert level. The only "Masters" there were Johnny Mo, O-Ren and The Bride herself.

 

of course, O-Ren did sort of hiss when Uma mentioned she had Hatori Hanzo steel. Obviously, his reputation preceeded him and his blades should reflect some kind of enhancement to warrant the reputation. That I completely agree with.

[Old Man]

Re: Hattori Hanzo Steel

 

Doesn't look entirely accurate but...

http://www.gungfu.com/cart-htm/weapons_chinese_weapons_traditional.htm

http://www.chinavoc.com/kungfu/weapons/rare_tan.asp