there is something extremly wrong with weapons.
P143 Otsuchi is a better Tetsubo with no downsize.
Same for Crossbow and yumi,
yari and naginata, is cumbersome worth the -1 damage -3 deadliness (Naginata Seems overpowered)
please give some bonuses and or downsize to have some balance

The designers seem to be splitting gear into roughly 2 groups: "Civil gear" and Wargear. All gear is missing weapon type as well (Sword, Spear, Polearm, etc.)

Otsuchi has a Rarity 6 versus the Tetsubo's 5. This is actually a 1TN difference in buying/requisitioning these. In the Core book these will possibly be differentiated with Heavy Weapon vs Staff.

Crossbows are Wargear while Yumi are not. Currently the Crossbow and Repeating Crossbow are missing reloading rules. Daikyu and Hankyu will likely be added as Wargear scale weapons.

The Naginata is likely on there as the Samurai polearm/spear with the basic Yari being the Ashigaru weapon. Additional "Samurai" yari such as Sankaku Yari, Katakama Yari and Jumonji Yari will likely be added along with Nagamaki with comparable stats.

22 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

Currently the Crossbow and Repeating Crossbow are missing reloading rules.

This. A crossbow is a more powerful weapon than a bow, but it's rate of fire that should kill it as a battlefield weapon. At the moment, no specific reloading is required.

The weapons section needs a whole lot of work. It's so incomplete in details that it makes it hard to use other than as a reference for basic combat.

In Star Wars many items had unique abilities or restrictions in the description, without those descriptions the balance does seem broken. Rarity will be one of the factors they lean on, and it also seems the Mundane/Ceremonial/Wargear is also going to be important. Bushi are going to have to own a really broad selection to ensure they have the right tools for the job in all occasions.

Weapon Damage is also going to be a significant hurdle against tough foes. Any time you're Damage is reduced to 0 by their residence that weapon gets damaged. Do that twice and the weapon is destroyed. Then you have the option to sacrifice your weapon to reduce a Critical Strike.

Im not saying it's Breath of the Wild level of weapon destruction but I can see them being regularly replaced.

i'm not fond of this weapon break mechanics. Weapon are super expensive compared to your Koku stipend. Even though your Lord is supposed to pay for your weapons, you'll get scolded if it happens too often. And many provincial daimyo are not rich.

I need to reread some bits on social lore to see if they talked about samurai poverty.

4 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

In Star Wars many items had unique abilities or restrictions in the description, without those descriptions the balance does seem broken.

... in Star Wars, a ton of the equipment is gamebreaking anyway...

6 hours ago, Nitenman said:

i'm not fond of this weapon break mechanics. Weapon are super expensive compared to your Koku stipend. Even though your Lord is supposed to pay for your weapons, you'll get scolded if it happens too often. And many provincial daimyo are not rich.

I need to reread some bits on social lore to see if they talked about samurai poverty.

Honestly, money is not a problem... As presented what is breaking and what can break more often its obviously the Katana and to lesser extent the Wakizashi. This was something that could happen in 4th ed too, now we just have a more clear mechanic to it. And remember how attuned to the Daisho a Bushi is, Breaking or losing it is a huge dishonor, its shameful. Thats the deal on the setting, thats why breaking your weapon is a actual bad thing.

If you think you wont be able to damage your opponent with only 2 success. You can just choose to miss attack and then only keeping dices when you roll for 4 success and 2 opportunities to do some damage and a critical strike.

Honestly money is and should be a problem. Samurai drama deals often with the fact that money isn't somethin you talk about yet need. Because money is rice and rice is life.

everything is about money in the end. Lion doesn't attack crane for the sake of it. It's to get more land, so more rice, so more money to maintain their armies.

It's a weird very concrete mechanic used in parallel to very abstract mechanics

On 10/7/2017 at 1:10 AM, Richardbuxton said:

In Star Wars many items had unique abilities or restrictions in the description, without those descriptions the balance does seem broken. Rarity will be one of the factors they lean on, and it also seems the Mundane/Ceremonial/Wargear is also going to be important. Bushi are going to have to own a really broad selection to ensure they have the right tools for the job in all occasions.

Weapon Damage is also going to be a significant hurdle against tough foes. Any time you're Damage is reduced to 0 by their residence that weapon gets damaged. Do that twice and the weapon is destroyed. Then you have the option to sacrifice your weapon to reduce a Critical Strike.

Im not saying it's Breath of the Wild level of weapon destruction but I can see them being regularly replaced.

Where are you seeing that if a weapons damage is reduced to 0 they gain the Damaged Quality?

Razor Edged states if your damage is reduced to 0, the item that reduced the damage gains Damaged. Not the other way around.

When you succeed at an Attack action check that deals damage to a
target using a Razor-Edged item, if the damage dealt is reduced to 0 by
the target’s resistance, this item gains the Damaged quality.

Oh. I guess I was reading it wrong. I thought it damaged the armor, not the weapon that is Razor-Edged.

Well, then going against anyone in Lacquered Armor or better is rough.

56 minutes ago, Vutall said:

Oh. I guess I was reading it wrong. I thought it damaged the armor, not the weapon that is Razor-Edged.

Well, then going against anyone in Lacquered Armor or better is rough.

Yup. And actual plate (or monster hide) is very good at breaking swords.

There's a reason the Hida like blunt force trauma weapons rather than blades.

I agree that it's an odd mechanic, but as stated above, if you don't get the successes you need, take the miss. It's like probing for a weak spot or a faint to open one for others.

It works out fairly well in practice, especially if you keep a yari or other weapon as wargear for battle times. In not battle times, no one is wearing armor anyways unless they are on active duty that requires it.