Quick Questions about Jo Staffs...

[Trachmyr]

I'm trying to come up with a Martial Arts form for a fantasy Tribal people, and I'm looking on focusing it on a stick fighting, particularly a 4' combonation blowgun/short staff that can be used in both staff and fencing forms (for Ethnic Badazery), but I've run into a few questions:


Do Jo Staffs assume End Caps (per LTC2)? It seems to me that they don't, since most Jos lack them and if the weight included 1 pound of end caps, the 4 to 5 foot staff would way the same as a baton.

If using Weapon Adaptation to convert the Jo to a Fencing form (per MA), does Rapier sound appropriate? I will force those using it this way to use the Parry Calculations from Martial Arts though.

For those with some structural knowledge, how would Treated Bamboo (using Wood Tar) wrapped by Rattan act as a weapon, in terms of most likely GURPS weapon quality to maximum GURPS weapon quality. On high quality weapons, the ends would be banded by polished Basalt or Jade, placed on the Bamboo when it was still growing...

Finally, from Pyramid 3-33, "The Killing Breath", places the Blowgun as the equivalant to a Jo Staff, but requires "Sturdy" and "Strong Materials" for it to be used without taking damage from each Parry... but this bumps the weight up to 6 pounds... heavier than a Long Staff. I'm having trouble reconciling that weight, can anyone explain why it would be triple normal weight?

Thanks in advance!

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

I'm trying to come up with a Martial Arts form for a fantasy Tribal people, and I'm looking on focusing it on a stick fighting, particularly a 4' combonation blowgun/short staff that can be used in both staff and fencing forms (for Ethnic Badazery), but I've run into a few questions:

In a realistic world, they're probably not going to be any good as blowguns after their first use as a staff. But we'll assume ethnic badassery applies to make that possible.

Do Jo Staffs assume End Caps (per LTC2)? It seems to me that they don't, since most Jos lack them and if the weight included 1 pound of end caps, the 4 to 5 foot staff would way the same as a baton.

I would assume not. All the jo I've seen distinctly do not have end caps, and many tapered towards the ends. Although those were competition/demonstration jo rather than serious weapons. Still, the way that a jo is typically used suggests even combat jo probably wouldn't have them.

If using Weapon Adaptation to convert the Jo to a Fencing form (per MA), does Rapier sound appropriate? I will force those using it this way to use the Parry Calculations from Martial Arts though.

That's tough. Honestly, I'm having trouble picturing a jo used as any kind of fencing weapon. If we grant that it's possible, Rapier makes about as much sense as anything else to me and the length's about right. Were this my campaign, I'd insist on Grip Mastery: in our world, jo are more often held near the middle. To use one in a way resembling a rapier, hand position (and indeed a lot of body posture) would have to shift.

For those with some structural knowledge, how would Treated Bamboo (using Wood Tar) wrapped by Rattan act as a weapon, in terms of most likely GURPS weapon quality to maximum GURPS weapon quality. On high quality weapons, the ends would be banded by polished Basalt or Jade, placed on the Bamboo when it was still growing...

The escrima sticks I'm more familiar with are often rattan wrapped in bamboo or simply solid rattan. The structural use of rattan in weapons seems to require the individual reeds to be glued into a solid cylinder rather than a hollow one. So you're probably at least as well off just using straight bamboo. IME, bamboo peels and scorches (yes, scorches. Smells kind of like cooking bananas to me) under heavy use as a weapon, and eventually loses cohesion and shatters. I'd hesitate to call them anything better than Good quality. A rattan core might edge it up to Fine, but the presence of the hollow tube doesn't help any.

Finally, from Pyramid 3-33, "The Killing Breath", places the Blowgun as the equivalant to a Jo Staff, but requires "Sturdy" and "Strong Materials" for it to be used without taking damage from each Parry... but this bumps the weight up to 6 pounds... heavier than a Long Staff. I'm having trouble reconciling that weight, can anyone explain why it would be triple normal weight?

I would assume by that point that we're looking at metal or impact resistant plastic, possibly even making the "blowgun" essentially a hollow tube running along a much more substantial shaft. As I noted earlier, the jo I've seen taper to the ends, which this device probably doesn't do.