Improving the Tonfa

[Toptomcat]

The thing to compare it against isn't a sword though. It's other one handed blunt weapons.

So its competition, among one-handed blunt wooden weapons in the Basic Set, is:
Light Club (sw+1 or thr+1 cr, reach 1, parry 0, cost $5, weight 3, ST 10)
Nunchaku (sw+1 cr, reach 1, parry 0U, cost $20, weight 2, ST 7)
Baton (sw or thr cr, reach 1, parry 0, cost $20, weight 1, ST 6)
Short Staff (sw or thr cr, reach 1, parry 0F, cost $20, weight 1, ST 6)

A tonfa, by comparison, is:
Tonfa (sw cr, reach 1, parry 0, cost $40, weight 1.5, ST 7)
or Tonfa (th cr, reach C,1, parry 0, same)

A tonfa is the only one of these that can work both at close combat and at reach 1. It's the only one that can be used to attack and parry with Tonfa, Brawling, Karate, or DX at no penalty. It's the only one that can be used to attack with an Easy skill, or be used to attack at no default penalty without having any combat skills whatsoever. It's the only one that can switch to Reverse Grip at no penalty for the technique. And Martial Arts p. 61 notes it as an appropriate weapon for using the Arm Lock technique with: if I'm reading the technique description right, you can do this at full skill without needing to buy the technique up or buy a Special Setup perk.

With all this, you want more of a niche?