D&D 5E 5E: Whips?

[Thurmas]

There is no reason to think that chopping wood is much different than chopping down a wall of ice (AC 12, 30 hit points per 10' section) or a wall of stone (AC 15, 30 hit points per inch) or a Treant (AC 16, 138 hit points). Or any other object or monster with AC and hit points. If you need to have a bunch of exceptions to damage caused by whips, because it doesn't translate to damage elsewhere, then I think there is a problem.

By the way, our 20 dexterity 10 strength guy is exactly as skilled at using a whip as he is with a hand ax (proficiency +2), but somehow his hand-eye coordination, nimbleness and quickness causes a whip to hit much more often and deal way more damage.

I'm all for whips having cool special abilities like grappling and intimidation benefits, but I don't think whip damage is where it should be compared to other weapons or that the rules align with real world usefulness.

I'll agree that it could stand to be a little lower in damage and still be fine; I don't remember much of the original conversation since this thread was from almost 4 months ago.

That being said, it would matter in a game and especially non-combat situations. If a player says he is going to chop down a tree, I'll ask him with what. If nothing but a whip shows up in inventory on his character sheet, then that tree is going to sit there laughing at him. You can't simply equate items to identical usefulness simply because of the same damage type. Arrows and tridents both do piercing, but I'm not going to let a player shoot tridents from a short bow. Can you imagine hanging pictures in your house with a flail, simply because it does the same bludgeoning damage as your carpenters hammer? Good luck.

Combat gets trickier, since a weapon is a weapon, but I would seriously weigh some basic logic in determining if I'd allow a whip to break down a section of stone wall.

 

[77IM]

The rules already allow DM discretion in determining how different types of attacks apply to different objects. This way, the rules don't have to enumerate every possible tool-object interaction or come up with complex subsystems for scenarios that rarely come up during game play.

So, while it may be tremendous fun to imagine cutting down a tree with a whip, I don't think it's terribly relevant to the discussion at hand.

 

[Guest 6801328]

My Ancients Paladin carries a Whip as a just-in-case thing, and when I want to show off rather than fight efficiently.

Playing Murder in Baldurs Gate, there is a possibility that you will see a (grossly unfair) duel/challenge. My Paladin stepped in to intervene and used his whip as a weapon. Because he's supposed to be about 40 years old, the obnoxious jerk was about 18-21, and now I could taunt the foe, "Who's your daddy? I'm gonna give you a whippin'!" (The jerk got a crit on me but collapsed after receiving my first blow.) Gossip on the street the next day was how the jerk was humiliated by some stranger.

I also got a chance to totally block a street, using Reach and Opportunity Attacks. (Later I found out I had mis-read the rules; this doesn't really work.)

I don't use the whip in serious combat, I use it to do Indiana Jones stuff. When I want the enemies dead, I pull a rapier.

You had me until the end.

This is everything that is wrong with 5e.

 

[Ganymede81]

You could just abstract the hell out of the whip and make it a non-reach weapon with a d8 damage die. That let's PCs with a thing for whips use a whip, and deletes any issue of balance.

Otherwise, you could just bump the damage die of the current whip to d6.

I'm really not sure adding a bunch of Indiana Jonesian abilities is the correct path to take.

 

[Immoralkickass]

I'm really not sure adding a bunch of Indiana Jonesian abilities is the correct path to take.

Oh I'm very sure it is.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I'm really not sure adding a bunch of Indiana Jonesian abilities is the correct path to take.

Oh I'm very sure it is.

OK. So what has Indiana Jones actually done with his whip?

 

[Immoralkickass]

OK. So what has Indiana Jones actually done with his whip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceU4oPRCwX8

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceU4oPRCwX8

So occasionally to disarm, some things that could be grapples, but never actually as a weapon.

 

[Eltab]

OK. So what has Indiana Jones actually done with his whip?

Use it as a reach-extender, not as a weapon. It's more fun (and cinematic) that way.

 

[Guest 6801328]

OK. So what has Indiana Jones actually done with his whip?

They had to cut those scenes to keep the rating family-friendly.