Odd concept.

[colaocelot]

I was making a new character in D&D 3.5ish favored soul 20/ brd 1/ dervish 6
Focusing mostly on dancing, battle dancing to be precise. Weapon consisting of a ribbon concept similar to in olympic gymnastics ribbon dancing. It's a fantasy world so why not. So far all i can figure out is this. It would need to be a slashing weapon most likely vorpal. The actual type of weapon eludes me or even the damage. The idea is sort of a 10 feet radius melee weapon ( would need room of course to spin yourself plus the ribbon)
Just curious if you guys have any ideas on how to do this.

 

[Vegepygmy]

If I understand you correctly, I think the kusari-gama (DMG, page 144-145) is perfect for your needs.

 

[Dagredhel]

Spiked chain?

 

[colaocelot]

That's exactly what i was thinking, thank you very much.
DM of my group said i should treat it as a 2d4 damage like the spiked chain but i cant help but think thats over powered for the concept of the weapon. Thanks again.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Just use a spiked chain, but make it 1d6/19-20 x2. There's one like that in Races of Eberron, if you need a published source.


EDIT: Although if you're using Snowflake Wardance, from Frostburn, then a kusari-gama'd be better.

 

[Legildur]

Not that I know the details or origin of this particular weapon, but CanadienneBacon's Girri in this game I'm in uses a bladed scarf - 1d6/19-20x2 10ft reach - which sounds very close to what you are looking for.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something like this was brought up in another thread long ago- rather than look it up, I can tell you this: RW weaponsmiths beat you to it already!

The Surul Pattai or Urumi (Spring-Sword in English) is a long, flexible metal blade that is indeed somewhat like the ribbon dancing equipment from gymnastics, though each one typically had 1 to 5 blades, similar to a cat-'o'-nine-tails.

According to a museum curator in India, the sword could also be worn around the waist like a belt. The blades are made of extremely thin, razor sharp metal, with lengths varying from 5ft to 10ft. They were commonly crafted by measuring the armspan of the future user. A blade's width usually ranges from 1 to 2 inches.

It's commonly used along with a shield for self-protection. Like many flexible weapons, you have to maintain its momentum, but because its razor sharp as opposed to blunt (like most flexible weapons), a wielder failing to keep the correct speed, wrist-work and pose could find the Urumi coiling around him- often resulting in decapitation.

For D&D, I'd make it a 1 handed exotic weapon doing 1d4 or 1d6 per blade, 18-20x2 slashing, with a short and long (reach) version. Each blade would require a separate attack roll and do its damage separately- meaningful considering the DR mechanic. Weapon cost would be per blade, max 5 blades. Its structure means it wouldn't have a lot of durability and wouldn't be usable for any of the various special combat maneuvers. Fumbles should do damage to the wielder. Because of their difficult and "customized" crafting, you might want to make them masterwork.

Given that its almost exclusively associated with certain martial arts, you could also make it a Monk weapon.

{The East has a bunch of interesting exotic weapons, like the razor-edged yo-yo (seen in a James Bond movie) and the chacram (made famous by Xena).}

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Ooh, that kind of variable damage strikes me as a really iffy idea. Something like 2d4 or 3d4 might work better. Maybe 2d4, 18-20/x2, with a feat to let you do a flurry of blows equivalent (like the eagle claw in Sandstorm).

 

[Shin Okada]

Something like this was brought up in another thread long ago- rather than look it up, I can tell you this: RW weaponsmiths beat you to it already!

The Surul Pattai or Urumi (Spring-Sword in English) is a long, flexible metal blade that is indeed somewhat like the ribbon dancing equipment from gymnastics, though each one typically had 1 to 5 blades, similar to a cat-'o'-nine-tails.

According to a museum curator in India, the sword could also be worn around the waist like a belt. The blades are made of extremely thin, razor sharp metal, with lengths varying from 5ft to 10ft. They were commonly crafted by measuring the armspan of the future user. A blade's width usually ranges from 1 to 2 inches.

There is a type of chinese blade called yao-dai-jian or yao-tai-jian (waist bearing sword), which is used like that.

This blade is used one-handed. And for slashing.

If I were to make a one-handed-reach-slashing-weapon, I will just use the stats of Kusari-Gama in DMG and call it in other name. It will be much easier to convince your DM than to make up a new set of stats for a new weapon.

Just a side note: True Japanese Kusari-gama is not a reach-slashing weapon, though.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Given that its Haloween/All Souls weekend, why not a little Thread Necromancy?

I found 2 other things on the "Whip Sword."

Some more info on the RW weapon- including yet another name for it (Surul Pattai) can be found at this nice little article.
Urumi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, unbeknownst to me, WotC already had stats for the weapon: check out Secrets of Sharlonna p136 for the Spinning Sword. It covers all the bases for a single bladed version of the weapon, but it is simply Exotic, not a Monk weapon.