Whips and Far Shot or Distance enhancement

[jontherev]

Is there a way to increase the range of a whip? Let's say you took Far Shot. Now, your range with a whip is 22.5'. However, I assume whips only go out to 15', so does this mean you'd need to craft a special, longer whip to get this range? Any suggestions of how to do this price-wise/mechanics-wise?

What if you had a +1 Whip of Distance which should have a range of 30'? Does it automatically extend to that distance when needed because it is magical? Or is the whip itself 30' long? Or would you say whips can never have their ranges increased?

What if you had this magical whip AND the Far Shot feat?

One solution I think is to make the whip longer and change it to medium-size instead of small. I don't see any reason why a whip can't be made longer, and if you are skilled at striking at longer ranges (through the feat or Distance property) you should be able to utilize this longer form of the whip.

 

[Henrix]

I think that 15' is far enough with an ordinary whip. I would not change it, except maybe for large or, uh, larger creatures. I don't think a medium sized being really could control a longer whip.

Unless it is magical, of course!
A magical whip with longer reach (30' sounds good), and perhaps extra bonuses to disarming and tripping could be a fun item!

 

[jontherev]

I think that 15' is far enough with an ordinary whip. I would not change it, except maybe for large or, uh, larger creatures. I don't think a medium sized being really could control a longer whip.

Unless it is magical, of course!
A magical whip with longer reach (30' sounds good), and perhaps extra bonuses to disarming and tripping could be a fun item!

I think I agree that it needs to be magical, or else bump it up to medium (or large) size. I have a picture of a brilliant energy whip of distance. Hmmm, reminds me of a certain Balrog's whip...sort of.

 

[jontherev]

My name is Jon and I am a bumpaholic.

 

[Artoomis]

A whip is special, it's range is fixed, not a range increment. It's length is determined not only by how far you'd like to reach, but on being able to snap it back for the next shot, etc.

What would you do for longer range? Throw it?

Besides, it's only treated "as a projectile weapon with a maximum range of 15 feet and no range penalties." Some things about ranged weapons will not apply, that's pretty clear from the description.

 

[kreynolds]

Artoomis! I figured it out, dude! They wanna make a 30-foot latex whip and weight the tip down with a magical ball so that it makes it really stretchy!

 

[CRGreathouse]

A normal whip has a maximum range of 15 feet and a range increment of, let's say, 20 feet (There's no penalty at 15 feet, so it must be more). Far Shot doubles the range increment to 40 feet, but its maximum is still 15 feet.

 

[jontherev]

A whip is special, it's range is fixed, not a range increment. It's length is determined not only by how far you'd like to reach, but on being able to snap it back for the next shot, etc.

What would you do for longer range? Throw it?

Besides, it's only treated "as a projectile weapon with a maximum range of 15 feet and no range penalties." Some things about ranged weapons will not apply, that's pretty clear from the description.

I disagree. The whip is listed in the weapons chart as having a 15’ range increment. At least I hope so, since all I can check at the moment is the SRD. Under the weapon’s description it further details that its maximum range is 15’. So it has only 1 range increment of 15’, and therefore doesn’t take any range penalties. However, if you have something that raises the range increment (like Far Shot or the distance enhancement), the maximum range also increases by that same amount. The whip is no exception to this rule.

What I am wondering about is the ‘how’? A Whip of Distance I can easily see being able to magically “grow” up to 30’ when needed (kind of like a special effect from Champions).

However, if you just have Far Shot and not a magical whip of distance, it could only work if you had a whip that was physically long enough to reach 20’. In other words, you would need a whip that was 5’ longer than normal whips. A devilish DM might require an additional proficiency feat.

OR perhaps normal whips can reach 20’ if used by someone who has mastered ranged weapons (i.e. taken the Point Blank Shot and Far Shot feats…and possibly other ranged feats). That’s a plausible enough explanation to me.

If I missed something here feel free to completely shatter my illusions.

 

[kreynolds]

I disagree. The whip is listed in the weapons chart as having a 15’ range increment. At least I hope so, since all I can check at the moment is the SRD. Under the weapon’s description it further details that its maximum range is 15’. So it has only 1 range increment of 15’, and therefore doesn’t take any range penalties. However, if you have something that raises the range increment (like Far Shot or the distance enhancement), the maximum range also increases by that same amount. The whip is no exception to this rule.

What I am wondering about is the ‘how’? A Whip of Distance I can easily see being able to magically “grow” up to 30’ when needed (kind of like a special effect from Champions).

However, if you just have Far Shot and not a magical whip of distance, it could only work if you had a whip that was physically long enough to reach 20’. In other words, you would need a whip that was 5’ longer than normal whips. A devilish DM might require an additional proficiency feat.

OR perhaps normal whips can reach 20’ if used by someone who has mastered ranged weapons (i.e. taken the Point Blank Shot and Far Shot feats…and possibly other ranged feats). That’s a plausible enough explanation to me.

If I missed something here feel free to completely shatter my illusions.

How this for shattering...You don't throw a frickin' whip! I can't explain this any simpler.

 

[wolfpunk]

How this for shattering...You don't throw a frickin' whip! I can't explain this any simpler.

You don't throw a bow or an arrow either, or if you do, you might want to look into how to use it properly.

I would say since this is a fantasy game, and therefore a suspension of reality, a 20 foot whip is not unfeasible. A magic whip that extends to 30 feet is completely feasible.

They don't require characters that use a long bow to be taller then 6 feet. They allow the feat monkey grip to let you use a larger then normally allowed melee weapon, so I don't see why you can't have a medium size character use a longer then normal whip. I would look into having the proficient use of it require an extra feat though.