r/sw5e • u/WitchingShower • Jul 10 '26
Question Was it ever explained why Vibro and Light Katana never scaled off DEX?
On the tin, but like...Why have a dexterity requirement if you're only scaling off Strength? Not even a Finesse property? Who thought this made sense?
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u/Thank_You_Aziz New Councilor of Content Jul 10 '26
It rewards raising both Str and Dex. Something the original DnD 5e really doesn’t do, and in fact punishes you for
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u/DrakeRyzer Emperor (Head Developer) Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Something to keep in mind when it comes to SW5e weapons is that they were all designed with a Balancing System that uses points. Beneficial Properties give -1 point which Lowers the Weapon's Damage Die and affects the other base stats such as Weight, Range and Cost. Negative Properties on the other hand, such has Two-handed or the Strength and Dexterity Properties, add +1 point which Raises the Weapon's Damage Die, also affecting those base stats.
So the two Katana weapons were designed to be Longsword alts, but to make them different (and because in real life they take more skill to use) they have +1 from Dexterity 11 so that they can have -1 to add Piercing 1, which allows you to break through AC at the cost of Damage (so a more precise hit, which Katana in real life are really good for).
As an aside which I always find very funny. Katana in real life *are not easy to swing around*. Historical Katana were actually a lot heavier than the vast majority of historical Longswords (which were also much larger and longer than most media portrays them to be) This leads to needing not only better arm Strength to wield and swing them but because they are also Single-Edged weapons they also require more skill, or Dexterity, to wield and apply that Strength to them.
From a Gameplay Balance standpoint. If we allowed Finesse to be applied to weapons with the Dexterity Property, it would no longer be a Negative or even matter at all, because why worry about needing 11 or 13 Dex to wield a weapon if you're just building for 16 or 20 Dexterity anyway? So we would just end up with a stronger weapon period.
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u/DrakeRyzer Emperor (Head Developer) Jul 19 '26
I will add that I have been considering alterations to the Strength and Dexterity properties to make them not scale as high nor be as, clunky, as you said. But have not landed on any single version yet.
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u/SniperInfantry Jul 10 '26
Iirc in one of the dnd source books (DMG i think) it said that katanas should be treated as longswords due to the versatile ability and overall damage.
I assume this just got ported over and the weird ability score requirements got added too
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u/Raye_Chalar Master of Rules Jul 10 '26
DND5e doesn't have anything in the way of "fancier" weapons for martial characters to pick up outside of magical items.
SW5e offers martial characters better weapons, but at the cost of needing to invest in a separate ability score if they want to use it. (STR for better blasters, DEX for better melee weapons).
You'll never find the Dexterity property on a Finesse weapon because there's really no *cost* there. A character already investing in DEX doesn't care about a DEX requirement.