That's it. I'm sick of all this "Masterwork Katana is Underpowered" bullshit that's going on in the d20 system right now. Ulfberhts deserve much better than that. Much, much better than that.
I should know what I'm talking about. I myself commissioned a genuine ulfberht in Scandinavia for about 50,000 euros (that's about $65,000) and have been practicing with it for almost 2 years now. I can even cut slabs of solid steel with my Ulfberhts.
Viking smiths spend years working on a single Ulfberht and hammer it up to a million times to produce the finest blades known to mankind.
Ulfberhts are thrice as hard as Eastern swords and thrice as sharp for that matter too. Anything a katana can cut through, an ulfberht can cut through better. I'm pretty sure an ulfberht could easily crush a fully trained samurai in full armor.
Ever wonder why medieval Japan never bothered conquering Europe? That's right, they were too scared to fight the berserking Vikings and their ulfberhts of destruction.
So what am I saying? Ulfberhts are simply the best sword that the world has ever seen, and thus, require better stats in the d20 system. Here is the stat block I propose for Ulfberhts:
(One-Handed Exotic Weapon)
2d12 Damage
16-20 x4 Crit
+5 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork
(Two-Handed Exotic Weapon)
4d12 Damage
14-20 x4 Crit
+8 to hit and damage
Counts as Masterwork
Now that seems a lot more representative of the destructive power of ulfberhts in real life, don't you think? Check out
http://youtu.be/nXbLyVpWsVM if you want. At least watch the first few minutes to see the bit about katanas.
tl;dr = Ulfberhts need to do more damage in d20, see my new stat block. Watch the vid.
