[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

You seem somewhat preoccupied with the softness and lightness of polycarbonate police batons. Have you actually handled one? They aren't toys. This example weighs a pound and a half.

Thank you for that information. I just thought they were softer.

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

Are you ignoring hit location modifiers? 1d+1 cr is (1d-1)x4 damage when applied to the skull. A roll of 1 or 2 will 'only' deal 4 damage, applying the maximum possible shock penalty. A roll of 3 will deal 8 damage, forcing a knockdown roll at -10. A roll of 4 or 5 will deal 12-16 damage, forcing a knockdown roll at -10 and a HT roll to remain concious. And a roll of 6 will deal 20 damage, forcing all of the above plus an HT roll against outright death.

I'm not ignoring hit location modifiers (note than a roll of 1 gives no damage at all). I'm just wondering why a light club do as much damage as a tonkwa. When you make it circle around your twist, the lever effect of the tonkwa is much more effective than the one of the light club.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8V--2H9lj0

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

You think it deserves more damage? How much more?

Not very much. Something like swing+2 would fit, in my humble opinion. And it would allow to make a difference between heavy and lighters tonkwas.

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

There are some very basic principles of leverage which make that highly unlikely.

Precisely. P = 1/2 ms² (P: power; m: mass; s: speed). The speed you can give to the end of a tonkwa by making it circle around your twist is far much greater than the speed you can give to a bo. As I said, a shomen tonkwa attack (vertically on the skull) requires a very specific parry. A shomen bo attack doesn't.

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

You're making an awful lot of authoritative pronouncements about kobudo weapons for a beginner.

Because I learned a lot. I'm a beginner in term of practice, not in term of theory. And, in GURPS rules, since I learned karate for 16 years, quite intensively, I'm very good with tonkwas!
:-)

To stop kidding, here is another video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILzmQoAkirU

Wait for the kata done at full speed, to understand what I want to mean. And don't be surprised by the posture on one foot. It is not unbalanced because there is a kaisai (hidden technique) inside: a kick that is not shown during the kata.