No other bonus? Nothing about tripping, disarming, or whatever? Finesse-able?I'd be leery of granting it a bigger attack die and crit multiplier than a nunchaku or a quarterstaff.
I think they gave it 1d8 x3 because it is much more massive than nunchaku- a 8lbs as opposed to 2lbs- and when you get that much mass swinging in a 40' diameter circle, that tip is moving very fast. That extra mass and speed would convert into harder hits.
In fact, this is also shown in the Fight Science show- it did actually deliver more forceful blows than nunchaku or bo-sticks.
So, I think the 1d8 is justified...though I'm not sure about the x3 Crit mod. That is a rare stat among bludgeoning weapons.
The show also showed the downside to flexible weapons- all of them- that was shown in the motion-capture but is not in the game: control. Even in the hands of extremely well trained martial artists, the flexible weapons lost both head speed (the source of their damage) and control (most of the practitioners were, in fact, struck by their own weapons after landing a successful blow). The reflective strikes were inconseqentially weak, but it still took time (though not much) for the martial artists to get the weapons back up to speed in a striking position.
Perhaps a cumulative negative to-hit modifier for subseqent blows would be in order? (Again, for all flexible weapons.)
And no, there are no other special things about it listed in OA- no finesse, no trips or disarms, no reach, no 2wf- which seems a bit off given that video so nicely supplied by the Jester.
From what I saw, it should have reach (& attack adjacent critters) and be usable with 2wf (though not in the same round), and should be allowed to trip & disarm like flails. With its mass, I don't think I'd make it finessable, and I'd probably drop its crit to x2.
Compared to the Greatspear (2d6 19-20x2, reach, throwable), I think that's not too bad.
Compared to the Spiked Chain, it loses finessability and does slightly less damage- avg 4.5 as opposed to 5.
(and of course, that cumulative negative modifier mentioned above would apply both to it and the spiked chain...)
This is a special Monk weapon, but Monks do not automatically gain proficiency with it -- they must take the exotic weapon feat just like everyone else.
Nifft- that was one thing I missed in my original post- OA is unclear as to proficiency. As it stands, it is a special Monk weapon, but the Monk must still burn the feat for Exotic Weapon Proficiency: 3 Sectional Staff to be proficient with it.
I just realized that much of the above may have changed in the OA 3.5 update in Dragon...I'll have to check that out.
I just checked- no changes to the 3 Section Staff in either the Dragon 3.5 update or in the Errata, and its not included in the Rokugan books either.
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