Hey guys,

I've been away for a while. I haven't been able to play Shadowrun in forever and I figure why torture myself by reading about the game I want to play. But, got a game I may be able to attend regularly so I started reading the forums again.

Making a character and had a question:

I was wondering if anyone has seen, heard, read, or created any rules for a shikomizue- also known as a cane sword.

I am making an Adept (3rd ed. rules) based on the Zatoichi character.

I was thinking it would probably do less damage than a katana (Str + 2?), but have a higher concealability- and probably more expensive to balance it out a little more.

Whatchu guys think?

My opinion is that, at the very generalized (like no hit locations) of SR combat, a 30" long piece of sharpened metal is just like every other 30" long piece of sharpened metal. It hurts quite a lot when someone shoves it into your body.

What kzt said, it's a long piece of sharpened metal, it'll hurt someone. Since Shadowrun rules are generalized, you really can't get into specifics, such as slashing damage versus piercing, etc. Also, you can't get into specifics of it being a long thin metal, how it may not be ideal for parrying say a combat axe.
The last convention I've been to, they were doing security checks on people's canes because someone was suspected of having a cane sword. It really isn't as concealable these days since people don't use canes as often and the cane itself can be viewed as a potential weapon.

There are rules, IIRC, for paying extra money to increase concealability.

~J

...SOTA 2064 had rules for extra concealment and disguising weapons/gear as ordinary objects in the Games of State chapter.

Interesting though, in Cannon Companion (p. 31) they have a Gun Cane so I wouldn't think a walking stick or cane would be all that uncommon.

Thanks, K-Kid.

I was actually thinking of the rules on SR3 p291, though those appear to have been intended primarily for surveillance devices. You may want to follow the example of some other gear (like, say, the gun cane) and have two different Conceal ratings, one for detecting the entire object and one for detecting its concealed purpose.

~J