(FOREWORD) I'm reposting this idea from 2013 with only a few minor changes, so bear with me if anything is dated.

For those that are still here, here's what it is and why it is. u/Dinnerbone has been looking for a cool idea for a 6th type of major tool niche FOREVER. When I read his tweet about this several months back, I too began to ponder the meaning of life and the importance of the cosmos. One day a star fell from the heavens and punched me in the face with an idea – the sickle.

(INTRODUCTION) No – it is not the hoe. You will want to waste your diamonds on a sickle, unlike the hoe. I mention the hoe since both are somewhat farm-oriented. The hoe is used to till soil, but the sickle actually does the harvesting (and much, much more). I was originally going to make this post about giving the hoe a few of these qualities, but I realized that it would make no sense for a hoe to perform said tasks, and thus the sickle was born. The big thing about this suggestion is that it's suggesting a new tool that ISN'T just a new weapon or a tool that takes the properties of already-existing tools; this is, as I already mentioned, an entirely new niche.

(TOOL DAMAGE) The sickle would do less damage than the sword at every tier, but also swing slightly faster due to its small size. It would do 5.5 attack damage (same as the shovel) at the diamond tier and, again, swing slightly faster than the sword to make it viable as a weapon, while still keeping the sword as the combat king.

(USE #1: FARMING) The sickle, while relatively useful as an improvised weapon simply by nature and design (it's a harvesting tool with a GIANT, CURVED BLADE http://ift.tt/1gXfyv1), actually has a very peaceful niche – you harvest things. No – this does not mean that you can no longer use your hands. You can most certainly use your hands, but it makes it a bit more difficult and time-consuming as you have to collect the seeds and replant the crop (as it always has been in Minecraft). Before I continue, let me say that it should take time to break crops with your fist and you should very rarely get seeds from it (see http://ift.tt/1qatYRk) With the sickle, whenever you left-click (attack) a crop, you get the crop, but, instead of disappearing and dropping seeds, the crop instead just gets cut down to its base (you still have a chance of getting seeds depending on tier – wood has a 5% chance, stone has 15% chance, iron has a 40% chance, diamond has a 75% chance, and gold has a 95% chance) and begins growing again, saving you the time of planting the seeds yourself. This seems lame, but is actually very useful and handy. This is also not the only use of the sickle. Like the sword (deals damage and removes cobwebs), bow (deals damage and activates redstone), and axe (harvests wood and deals damage), the sickle is a multipurpose tool.

(USE #2: SEED COLLECTION) When you harvest a crop, you (might) get the seeds and the crop (always) regrows without having to be replanted. The same goes for wild plants. If you break tall grass with the sickle, the tall grass is not completely removed but is instead cut down to two pixels high and will regrow, but WAIT; THERE'S MORE! I forgot to mention that you have a chance to get wheat seeds from doing this. Yup! If you break any wild, seed-bearing plant (there's only two in Minecraft as of this post, sorry; 5/3/14 – never forget) with a sickle, you will have whatever chance the tier of sickle you are using has of getting their corresponding crop/seed and the plant will always just grow back. If you break a fern or any flower, however, you'll get nothing (it will still regrow), as collecting plants is a niche already taken by the shears. There is an exception to the collection thing, though – if you break a tall fern, you'll always get a small fern. That is because small ferns can take bone meal to become a large fern, so they technically count as "crops".

(USE #3: TREE DROP COLLECTION) If you break leaves with a sickle, they will disappear and will not regrow, but they are more likely drop a sapling, and, in the cases of oak, dark oak, and jungle trees, are more likely to drop their rare drop. If you break oak/dark oak leaves with a sickle, your chances of getting an apple are increased. Breaking jungle leaves gives a higher chance for a sapling and cocoa beans. The perk of the golden sickle is that it makes Skyblock and other specialized survivals easier as trees don't always drop saplings. The chances for saplings and rare drops are:

-Wood: 5% Sapling – 0.5% Rare Drop

-Stone: 7.5% Sapling – 1% Rare Drop

-Iron: 10% Sapling – 1.5% Rare Drop

-Diamond: 12.5% Sapling – 3% Rare Drop

-Gold: 15% Sapling – 5% Rare Drop

(USE #4: LANDSCAPING) Ever get tired of your yard? This requires a ton of upkeep, but, since the sickle simply cuts plants that it breaks down to 1/8th of a block tall, you could use it to make it look like you cut your lawn. Of course, if you wanted it to remain this way, it would become an actual chore to keep the plants cut, so this is not recommended. It's possible, but really, really not recommended.

(POSSIBLE ENCHANTMENTS) This is just a list of enchantments that could go onto the sickle if you guys like the idea (which you probably will if you're actually still reading):

-Fortune: Increases amount of seeds and crops harvested per use.

-Unbreaking

-Sharpness: It's a sickle. This should be obvious.

-Smite

-Bane of Arthropods

-Weed Whacking: As sickles are designed to effectively cut plants, and creepers are plants… It's basically Smite/BoA for creepers. I think the sickle deserves a special enchantment of its own, and creeper-killing fits the harvesting theme perfectly.

-Looting

-Fire Aspect

-Knockback

-Efficiency: Plants grow back more quickly after being cut.

(GAME BALANCE) The sickle may seem extremely overpowered, but I assure you that it is only my imagination that is overpowered. The sickle actually isn't as overpowered as it sounds, and can actually be very useful in a wide range of situations.

(POSSIBLE RECIPES) http://ift.tt/1iThtVF