Are whips broken or shafted? Personal experiences?

[RangerWickett]

I'm hoping to hew away from a rules debate here, and to instead focus on the more general aspects of whipping, such as how it's been used in your games, whether you think whips are too weak or too strong, and how you feel about the flavor of a weapon that can't hurt people. I'm fully versed in the rules of whips, but I'm not fully versed in people's opinions of them.

If you were making a character, would you feel that the whip is strong enough to warrant an Exotic Weapon Proficiency? It's not really an offensive weapon, but an assistant weapon; you knock people down with it, or disarm them, but you shouldn't expect to kill them with it, at least as the rules are written now.

Whips are cool, though. Indiana Jones used a whip. John Belushi used a whip in The Blues Brothers while singing Theme to the TV Show Rawhide. Simon Belmont from Castlevania fame used a whip.

You should be able to do nifty tricks with a whip even without having to take the Lasher prestige class (which doesn't exist in 3.5 anyway). Anyone with a whip proficiency ought to be able to pluck idols off altars with their whips, swing across chasms by using your whip as a rope, and scare animals by cracking the whip at them. The rules don't directly support this, but if you were a DM or a player, would you expect whip-wielders to be able to pull off these stunts?

What sorts of whip-wielders have you seen in your time, and how strong or weak were they? Did you use the whip-dagger or the nagaika? Would you be interested in more alternate rules for the whip?

 

[Kai Lord]

Shouldn't this be in Rules?

 

[Kai Lord]

Anyone with a whip proficiency ought to be able to pluck idols off altars with their whips, swing across chasms by using your whip as a rope, and scare animals by cracking the whip at them. The rules don't directly support this, but if you were a DM or a player, would you expect whip-wielders to be able to pull off these stunts?

Definitely.

 

[Endur]

This is really a game play/design question.

Some weapons are classified "Simple, Martial, Exotic" based on their abilities. The dagger is simple, the long sword is martial, the spiked chain is exotic.

Other weapons are in a category just because its easier to use or harder to use. The club is easy to use, so its simple. The Xbow is easy to use so its simple. THe longbow is harder than the xbow, so its martial. The whip is hard to use so its exotic. etc.

In terms of game play, you aren't going to terrify the enemy with a whip wielder the way you might terrify them with a spiked chain or another "broken" weapon.

If you were making a character, would you feel that the whip is strong enough to warrant an Exotic Weapon Proficiency? It's not really an offensive weapon, but an assistant weapon; you knock people down with it, or disarm them, but you shouldn't expect to kill them with it, at least as the rules are written now.

 

[Anabstercorian]

Ah, but imagine - Whirlwind Attack plus Improved Trip/Disarm. BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMLASHASHLASHLASHLASHLASH!

Everyone within 15 feet, FALL DOWN! You're a walking, talking fireball!

 

[Telperion]

Ah, but imagine - Whirlwind Attack plus Improved Trip/Disarm. BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMLASHASHLASHLASHLASHLASH!

Everyone within 15 feet, FALL DOWN! You're a walking, talking fireball!

Just make sure that none of those targets are threatening you, or you will provoke AoO. Hm...this could actually be a rather sinister way to capture players. A high level rogue with a whip sneak attacks multiple targets from a distance of up to 15 feet. Not bad .

Of course you can do the same with a proper ranged weapon and you don't have to come no closer than 30 feet. But you wouldn't be doing massive amounts of non-lethal damage, which for some reason seems to freak my players out. * shrugs *

 

[RangerWickett]

Should whips be able to deal damage to people in armor? I mean, if shuriken can hurt people in armor, whips certainly have a chance, no?

 

[Swack-Iron]

I played a Ranger/Lasher who dual-wielded whip daggers and magic whips. It was an incredibly fun character to play. He wasn't as effective as a line fighter since he wasn't wearing heavy armor. But as a utility/backup fighter he was amazingly cool. Tripping opponents for the rogue to sneak attack, multi-whipping mooks 'till they dropped, snatching wands out of the hand of the enemy wizard standing 15 feet in front, then delivering the wand to the PC wizard standing 15 feet behind. Dang, I miss that campaign.

I remember when we were all low level and barging through a swamp, when we were attacked by something from underwater.

DM: "The barge is on the verge of capsizing or breaking apart. What's everybody doing?"

Sorcerer: "I cast Levitate and float straight up!"

Paladin: "Nuts. I guess I'll jump into the water and hope it isn't very deep, and try to wade to the nearby spit of land. I'm in full plate, this sucks!"

Me: "It's a swamp, right? Are there lots of trees with long, mossy branches?"

DM: "Ummmm, sure."

Me: "I quickdraw a whip, snap it around an overhanging tree branch, and swing to shore!"

Whips are cool.

 

[diaglo]

read the Story Hour in my sig from about page 10 or so to about page 14 or 15.

Angelsboi played a fighter/cleric heading towards Hunter of the Dead...with a thing for whips.

my character once used his whip very effectively to grab a needed weapon a troll was standing near.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Only experience I have with whips is a small game I ran all by myself (I was bored, OK?). The character was a grey elf fighter with ambidexterity but not TWF (3.0). He used a longsword in his right hand and a whip-dagger in the left, which he'd use for ranged attacks and tripping. It was fun for a while.