Pathfinder 2E The starknife hurts my brain

[Gradine]

 

[Kaodi]

For a god a weapon whose physics are impractical is just a flex.

 

[Incenjucar]

What's funny to me is the lack of just a knife in the Player Core. The only simple slashing weapon is a sickle!

Also the sai is a dagger instead of a bludgeon.

 

[pawsplay]

What's funny to me is the lack of just a knife in the Player Core. The only simple slashing weapon is a sickle!

Also the sai is a dagger instead of a bludgeon.

The classical sai is a dagger. The blunt sai is mainly a modern martial arts invention, patterned after the similar but single-pronged jutte.

 

[Incenjucar]

The classical sai is a dagger. The blunt sai is mainly a modern martial arts invention, patterned after the similar but single-pronged jutte.

Eh? Source? Images of antique sai I'm seeing still have flat tips and no blades. Sure you could still stab with them because they're narrow enough, but you can stab someone with rebar too.

Like you could certainly use them like a stiletto.

 

[Staffan]

What's funny to me is the lack of just a knife in the Player Core. The only simple slashing weapon is a sickle!

The dagger is piercing but has Versatile S, allowing it do deal slashing damage as well.

Also, versatile S on a piercing weapon and versatile P on a slashing weapon are among the most useless traits out there, because the number of creatures that have resistance/weakness to one and not the other are vanishingly small. Though there are some player options that do.

 

[Ulfgeir]

The original description of Thor's hammer was that it had an unusually short handle. I've tended to assume that's a Norse dick joke.

Well if I recall correctly, Loki had made some especially unwise bet (involving his head) to the dwarves that made it, and when realizing that he might be in deep trouble, transformed himself into a fly that irrritatetd the smiths when working, thus the handle being too short. And when the Dwarves wanted to collect on the bet, Loki had to remind Odin that they were blood brothers, and that he was to not be harmed. So instead of the dwarves getting his head, the sewed his mouth shut...

But yes, if Loki could find a way to insult Thor without getting punished he would.

 

[Incenjucar]

The dagger is piercing but has Versatile S, allowing it do deal slashing damage as well.

Also, versatile S on a piercing weapon and versatile P on a slashing weapon are among the most useless traits out there, because the number of creatures that have resistance/weakness to one and not the other are vanishingly small. Though there are some player options that do.

Versatile P is at least handy for aquatic combat and Versatile S is potentially useful for tasks like sawing through ropes. Damage type impacts the kinds of runes you can get, too.

 

[pawsplay]

Eh? Source? Images of antique sai I'm seeing still have flat tips and no blades. Sure you could still stab with them because they're narrow enough, but you can stab someone with rebar too.

Like you could certainly use them like a stiletto.

Okay, here's one. The origin of the sai is a bit obscure, but it is probably descended from an Indian Buddhist trident or trident-sword.
A lot of sources will go on and on about how it was a baton used by police in Japan, but that is probably a bit of confusion. While it was adopted by police in a later era, primarily as a weapon for dealing with drunk samurai, the "baton" used by police would be a tonfa or jitte/jutte. As I noted, there is some interchange in designs between the sai and jutte, but primarily, the sai was a dagger, and the jutte, a baton. The sai could even be used for throwing. However, it was not always especially sharp, and in modern martial arts, is often left blunt. Nonetheless, as a civilian defense weapon, even a "blunt" sai would be quite dangerous to be stabbed with.
This is similar to the confusion surrounded the rapier, which (due to sharing a name with the fencing blade) people tend to think of as having no edge at all, but in fact a rapier has a proper blade. A non-edged stabbing sword is called an estoc.
A lot of weapons, both Eastern and Western, had their conceptions altered in the 19th century, when people were still very romantic about fencing and melee combat, but several centuries well past the feudal and Renaissance era when these fighting arts flourished. So "fencing" and "martial arts" weapons don't necessarily reflect their classic form.
Raphael of the ninja turtles uses a sharp sai, which I used to find peculier when I was a teenager, but I now recognize as correct for the classical martial arts weapon. He uses it to stab robots, and also throws it on some occasions.

 

[Incenjucar]

Okay, here's one. The origin of the sai is a bit obscure, but it is probably descended from an Indian Buddhist trident or trident-sword.
A lot of sources will go on and on about how it was a baton used by police in Japan, but that is probably a bit of confusion. While it was adopted by police in a later era, primarily as a weapon for dealing with drunk samurai, the "baton" used by police would be a tonfa or jitte/jutte. As I noted, there is some interchange in designs between the sai and jutte, but primarily, the sai was a dagger, and the jutte, a baton. The sai could even be used for throwing. However, it was not always especially sharp, and in modern martial arts, is often left blunt. Nonetheless, as a civilian defense weapon, even a "blunt" sai would be quite dangerous to be stabbed with.
This is similar to the confusion surrounded the rapier, which (due to sharing a name with the fencing blade) people tend to think of as having no edge at all, but in fact a rapier has a proper blade. A non-edged stabbing sword is called an estoc.
A lot of weapons, both Eastern and Western, had their conceptions altered in the 19th century, when people were still very romantic about fencing and melee combat, but several centuries well past the feudal and Renaissance era when these fighting arts flourished. So "fencing" and "martial arts" weapons don't necessarily reflect their classic form.
Raphael of the ninja turtles uses a sharp sai, which I used to find peculier when I was a teenager, but I now recognize as correct for the classical martial arts weapon. He uses it to stab robots, and also throws it on some occasions.

I struggle to see why any of those would be called a "dagger", unless we're going with the most basic "a thing you can stab with" definition which would include a tonfa as long as it's not too thick. In any case, weapon name discussions are philosophical ones so you're not wrong but I feel it's a weird choice.