On 12/21/2018 at 10:37 AM, Magnus Grendel said:
- Katana of fire is your action.
- Succeeding conjures a katana
- If you have * on the check, you may conjure a pair of katana
- If you have a second * on the check, you may immediately perform a free strike action with one of the new weapons
- The strike action is a martial arts melee check.
- If you have * on the check, you may immediately perform another free strike action with the other new weapon.
So far, so good.
- The Katana is to all intents and purposes a 'real' weapon, so yes, you can use it to Trap or Ward with Way of the Dragon.
- You cannot then select it in your turn to strike with.
- When you set your stance, you may drop any number of weapons.
- Katana of fire ceases to exist as soon as it leaves your grip.
- If you want to conjure another one to strike with, you need to perform the Theology check again. You can create one blade with a check, and a second with an opportunity only on that check .
- That said, if you can pass the check with **, you can 'dismiss' the existing blades, create two more, strike with one, heart of the dragon and strike with the other, and repeat ad infinitum, getting two strike attacks per turn whilst trapping or warding if you keep rolling * on your first strike action.
Is it an impressive trick? Yes. It's visually impressive and very powerful.
Is there a downside?
- You'll need the Stolen Knowledge heritage - as you noted - which means your Mirumoto starts at -5 Honour - and you'll probably want to take the proffered rank of Theology at character creation or on the curriculum at Rank 3. Not a big impact on a Rank 6 character but potentially more of an issue earlier in the character's life.
- Compared to someone playing human kitchen-aid blender with 'mundane' swords (who can strike just as quickly or ward & trap, but not both), you need to pass an extra TN1 Fire theology check with two opportunities every turn - not that hard for a rank 6 Twin Heavens Master but since you dismiss the old blades before making the check for the new ones, if you screw up the roll you're going to be unarmed for the turn, and/or stood in Dangerous Terrain.
- You can only do this in Fire Stance, and added to that the conjured Katana both have the Wargear quality. That means you're making three fire stance checks per turn, adding an extra strife on each strike if you keep any. You're going to hit your composure very quickly!
Wargear only causes extra Strife to "another" character. You yourself are not suffering it from your own actions.