What were Artifact Sais called again?

[Shadowstripe]

Pretty much as the title says... I remember that Artifact Sais got a name similar to what other Artifact versions of mundane weapons have. I normally would be able to go through my 1st and 2nd Edition books to find what they are called, but they are not available to me at this time... so I am asking here, hoping that someone would be able to help me with this.

[Jen]

Scroll of the Monk gives them the name Baneclaw.

[Megapope]

'Saiklaives' is sitting right there staring you in the face

[Eldagusto]

Baneclaws mate! For your Elektra Raphael action!

[Shadowstripe]

I had a feeling that "claws" were in the name... just couldn't remember what the first part was. Thanks.

As for the (I hope "tongue-in-cheek") sai-klaive... seriously? We have Direlance, Longfangs, Grim Cleavers, Razor Claws, and Goremauls... do you really think that reusing the name of artifact swords and just changing the prefix with the mundane weapon's name would be befitting of Exalted Artifact weapon classifications? Any Exalt that called their over-sized salad forks with such a name would probably be laughed at by mortals and gods alike. Now... for a more comedic parody... it might be rather entertaining to call all such weapons sword-klaives, axe-klaives, hammer-klaives, etc. but I think I will stick with Baneclaws for now.

Now this brings up an interesting question... do you have to pay for paired artifact weapons separately or could one purchase of the Artifact Merit grant both? I am of the mind that if both are needed to unlock the Evocations of the weapons, then a single purchase of the merit would suffice with the assumption that if one is lost then the Evocations will not be usable (or will have a reduced effect). I do like this idea as it makes keeping both together important. Now, if the player was going to draw out Evocations from each weapon separately, then each would be an independent weapon and would require separate purchases of the Artifact Merit since only having one doesn't affect the use of the Evocations.

Finally, were there any other names for the Artifact equivalents of mortal weapons that have not been mentioned in 3rd Edition yet? If I could access my own 1st and 2nd Edition books (they are about 2000 miles away from me at the moment), I would consider making a list myself to share with everyone. I am even willing to entertain unofficial names, as long as they are a tad bit more thematic than "sai-klaive."

[Lioness]

Our group's had them as 3 dots for a pair, they're pretty much short daiklaves with the disarming tag instead of balanced.

[Shadowstripe]

Yeah... prety much leaning that way with paired weapons too... though I may increase the attunement costs a bit... to reflect that there are a pair of artifacts rather than a single one (6 motes, 3 for each).

[Ea the Lost]

Daisais, natch

[webkilla]

I'd be tempted to call 'em dragonclaws

[armyofwhispers]

Now this brings up an interesting question... do you have to pay for paired artifact weapons separately or could one purchase of the Artifact Merit grant both? I am of the mind that if both are needed to unlock the Evocations of the weapons, then a single purchase of the merit would suffice with the assumption that if one is lost then the Evocations will not be usable (or will have a reduced effect). I do like this idea as it makes keeping both together important. Now, if the player was going to draw out Evocations from each weapon separately, then each would be an independent weapon and would require separate purchases of the Artifact Merit since only having one doesn't affect the use of the Evocations.

If they're meant to be used as a pair, you buy them as a pair. Similar weapons include Razor Claws, Short Daiklaves, smashfists, etc. Only Short daiklaives spell out that buying them gets you a pair but all the other paired weapons seem to assume that as well. Dot ratings are based on how potent they are. If you lose one, you'd definitely lose the evocations that you had from the pair, but you might potentially be able to create a new evocation tree based around using one-of-a-pair weapons (for an example of how that works see Sirrush in Arms of the Chosen). That would only make sense if the themes are right though.

Edit: Actually, reading up on Sirrush, I see the 'Half a Pair' side box which deals with evocations in those cases. Sometimes you don't lose any functionality at all!

[Shadowstripe]

Phaessa and Deinon from the Lunars manuscript are also like that where if you only have one or the other, you will loose some of the function of the Evocations they provide.

[39Steps]

You know, the aforementioned Okinawan haybale forks-cum-weapons called sai

are shaped almost exactly like the Greek letter and prefix indicative of mental powers, Psi.

As such, someone needs to just go all in and design an Artifact that embraces this fact, adding in some First Age-style motonic difference engine elements, a heavy dollop of melancholy related fluff-theming, and maybe a slick, self-referential K-Pop aesthetic to cap it all off.

In other words... who’s gonna stat out Psy’s Psi-CyberSai of Sighs?

[Shadowstripe]

Was just looking over Eska of the Seven Blades... and it seems that she was able to get 6 Moonsilver Short Daiklaves for a single 3 dot purchase. Okay, true, NPC characters like her don't follow the same rules as Player Characters (or any actual rules at all in their creation), but it does seem that many light Artifact weapons that are intended to be used as pairs (or in this case as part of a half-dozen) can be purchased as a single Artifact so long as they all share the same qualities more or less. There may be some exceptions, but in general, it they are treated as a single overall artifact rather than separate artifacts that each need to be purchased separately.

True, there could be some Players who might try to take advantage of this in some form, but given that loosing even one of such combined artifacts could prevent the use of any of the Evocations drawn from them, I think it does balance out over all (besides, few Exalts can use more than a pair of weapons at once, so there does seem to be a limit as to how many would normally be acquired).