Magical whip ideas?

[nickl_2000]

I'm putting a magical whip in an adventure and I'm looking for something a little more unique. This item was used by a slave master against slaves fighting in an arena previously

The magical weapons that have appeared so far are:
Eager dagger - when a command word is spoke it will immedaitely go into your hand. So, it's a free action draw for TWF and can be thrown and gotten back easily

Leeching great axe - once per day you can speak a command word and it will do extra necrotic damage and give you the same amount of temp HP. Amount is based on level (d4@4, d6@6, d8@8, d10@10, etc).

I was thinking that it could cause some magic disease, but didn't want it to be overpowered and didn't know of a good disease.

[Easy_Lee]

You could give it the ability to inflict Bane X/day. Bane would be a pretty demoralizing effect for a slave master to put on a slave. But it also wouldn't kill the slave, just make the slave's life suck for the next minute.

[Naanomi]

Hrm... the magic whip in my game does 3d10 sonic damage (and a big boom) on a critical hit...

But that isn't very 'slaver'... maybe... a whip that has damage that is 'reversible' with a command word (to not perminantly damage slaves!)

[FreddyNoNose]

How about a whip that plays it's own theme music?

https://youtu.be/j_QLzthSkfM

[nickl_2000]

I didn't say it was a cursed whip Freddy!

[coolAlias]

As a bonus action, you can spur a creature to battle, granting it the equivalent of a Bardic Inspiration die (d6) that can be added either to an attack or damage roll within the next 10 minutes.

Doing so inflicts 1d4 points of damage to the 'inspired' creature (damage optional) and a creature cannot be inspired in this way more than once per short rest (this part is not optional).

[nickl_2000]

As a bonus action, you can spur a creature to battle, granting it the equivalent of a Bardic Inspiration die (d6) that can be added either to an attack or damage roll within the next 10 minutes.

Doing so inflicts 1d4 points of damage to the 'inspired' creature (damage optional) and a creature cannot be inspired in this way more than once per short rest (this part is not optional).

Ohh, that's an interesting one, although I would make the "bonus damage" optional. I like the negative with the positive aspects of it quite a bit. Do extra damage but help out an enemy or help an ally but hurt them

[Jama7301]

As a bonus action, you can spur a creature to battle, granting it the equivalent of a Bardic Inspiration die (d6) that can be added either to an attack or damage roll within the next 10 minutes.

Doing so inflicts 1d4 points of damage to the 'inspired' creature (damage optional) and a creature cannot be inspired in this way more than once per short rest (this part is not optional).
My mind jumped to the other end of the Bardic Scale, and would be similar to applying Vicious Mockery on-hit.

[coolAlias]

Ohh, that's an interesting one, although I would make the "bonus damage" optional.
The intent is that the creature thus inspired would be able to choose what to use the die for (either an attack roll or a damage roll), just like the Bardic Inspiration ability.

[nickl_2000]

My mind jumped to the other end of the Bardic Scale, and would be similar to applying Vicious Mockery on-hit.

Also a darn good idea and something that would certainly be fittzing for a slaver. Apply a condition that would allow the PC to use cutting words on that enemy in the next 1 minute

[nickl_2000]

The intent is that the creature thus inspired would be able to choose what to use the die for (either an attack roll or a damage roll), just like the Bardic Inspiration ability.

Lol, I was more thinking that you whip them as "encouragement" for the do better

[MrWesson22]

Any creature struck by the whip has a d4 penalty to charisma saves until the end of your next turn.

[Nifft]

Whip of Encouragement

When you deal damage with this whip, you may also cast one of the following cantrips as a bonus action, targeting the creature you damaged:
- Guidance
- Thaumaturgy (booming voice option)
- Vicious Mockery

You may alternately spend a bonus action and a spell slot or 2 ki points to cast one of the following spells:
- Command
- Charm Person
- Witch Bolt

[The Ship's dog]

I suggest looking at the Dark Souls whips for inspiration. Also the Threaded Cane from Bloodborn.

[nickl_2000]

Thank you all for the ideas here's what I want to go with as if right now

Unnamed Whip
Whenever you hit with the whip you may shout "try harder you lazy scum" and the whip will cast the guidance spell as a cantrip on the hit target. This lasts the normal duration of the guidance spell, bit does not require concentration. Once per short rest, you may shout an insult as you hit with the whip. The next time the hit target makes a roll with a d20, it will have the total reduce by 1d6.

Now for a name of the whip. The whip of encouragement is great, other than the cutting words like effect

[FreddyNoNose]

Whip of Encouragement

When you deal damage with this whip, you may also cast one of the following cantrips as a bonus action, targeting the creature you damaged:
- Guidance
- Thaumaturgy (booming voice option)
- Vicious Mockery

You may alternately spend a bonus action and a spell slot or 2 ki points to cast one of the following spells:
- Command
- Charm Person
- Witch Bolt

Toss in some kind of jealousy for those who aren't being whipped!

[Garresh]

I'm putting a magical whip in an adventure and I'm looking for something a little more unique. This item was used by a slave master against slaves fighting in an arena previously

The magical weapons that have appeared so far are:
Eager dagger - when a command word is spoke it will immedaitely go into your hand. So, it's a free action draw for TWF and can be thrown and gotten back easily

Leeching great axe - once per day you can speak a command word and it will do extra necrotic damage and give you the same amount of temp HP. Amount is based on level (d4@4, d6@6, d8@8, d10@10, etc).

I was thinking that it could cause some magic disease, but didn't want it to be overpowered and didn't know of a good disease.

This might be a little weird, but hear me out. I ran a build a while back that was a sort of dominatrix tiefling. It was a fighter rogue multiclass with a whip and spell sniper. Every attack was a booming blade at a range of 10 feet. Literally a whip crack and then the target is bound in sonic energy.

While this was a specific build, the idea of a whip that cracks and releases energy to bind a target is a pretty amazing concept.

So, the whip itself is a +1 weapon which lowers a targets movement speed by 10 whenever it hits(not stackable). 3 times per day, you can speak a command word to cause the whip to shift and lengthen into a cord of pure sound. As an action, you make a single attack with the whip against a target within 30 feet. On a hit, the target takes the whip's normal damage plus an additional 2d8 thunder damage, and the target must make a DC 15 strength saving throw. On a failure, the target is knocked prone and becomes restrained until the beginning of your next turn.

Notes: This is very powerful, so you will NEED to scale this based on the level of your party. If they're below level 5 drop the extra thunder damage and lower the DC to 13. If they're like 18 bump the DC a bit and maybe make it a +2.

Another thing to note: This uses an action to make its special attack. No flurry of blows, or extra attack, or anything. And on top of that it ALSO requires a strength save fail AFTER hitting. If you want, you can take away the save, but then you need to make it not do extra damage at all, and possibly tweak it further. Additionally, this becomes comparatively weaker the higher level the user is, as it doesn't allow extra attack. I'd strongly consider ditching the save altogether, but if you do that you need to make it a spell attack(scaling off the "caster's" dex or str as normal, but not applying additional weapon effects.

[coolAlias]

I realize that lots of people love the concept of fighting with a whip and it's a fantasy game, but I really hate the fact that by RAW, a rogue can make sneak attacks with a whip. It's just... so... wrong... >.<

That said, the slaver's whip of encouragement sounds pretty hilarious. I'd put that in my game.

[nickl_2000]

I realize that lots of people love the concept of fighting with a whip and it's a fantasy game, but I really hate the fact that by RAW, a rogue can make sneak attacks with a whip. It's just... so... wrong... >.<

That said, the slaver's whip of encouragement sounds pretty hilarious. I'd put that in my game.

It really helps that I know the party and that there are no rogues that can abuse it. Also there are no PCs that can get guidance, so it will likely see use as designed

[Garresh]

I realize that lots of people love the concept of fighting with a whip and it's a fantasy game, but I really hate the fact that by RAW, a rogue can make sneak attacks with a whip. It's just... so... wrong... >.<

That said, the slaver's whip of encouragement sounds pretty hilarious. I'd put that in my game.

Why? We're playing a game where hippies can turn into dinosaurs and a trained warriors pectoral muscles are harder than steel. Of all the things to get annoyed by, that seems pretty trivial. Not to mention that people in the kink scene who use actual whips(seriously it's a thing. rare, but it happens) train to be able to precisely hit anything to an absurdly precise amount of force and precision(seriously, they're really precise). Anything less and they'd put someone in the hospital instead of having good fun.

Of all the things to say are unrealistic, that's probably the most bizarre one I've ever heard. Also, samurai(and one modern one who does it on camera) can slice a pea in half out of the air with a katana. If someone can do that with a giant hunk of steel, I'm pretty sure a whip is a lot easier to do something like that with. Or at the very least it's feasible.

[coolAlias]

Why? We're playing a game where hippies can turn into dinosaurs and a trained warriors pectoral muscles are harder than steel. Of all the things to get annoyed by, that seems pretty trivial. Not to mention that people in the kink scene who use actual whips(seriously it's a thing. rare, but it happens) train to be able to precisely hit anything to an absurdly precise amount of force and precision(seriously, they're really precise). Anything less and they'd put someone in the hospital instead of having good fun.

Of all the things to say are unrealistic, that's probably the most bizarre one I've ever heard. Also, samurai(and one modern one who does it on camera) can slice a pea in half out of the air with a katana. If someone can do that with a giant hunk of steel, I'm pretty sure a whip is a lot easier to do something like that with. Or at the very least it's feasible.
Using a whip to strike precisely and possibly inflict hospital-worthy wounds against a very likely bound and naked victim is one thing; doing that against very likely armored or at least fully clothed enemies in combat is another.

But you are right - it is a fantasy game, so I let it slide in-game. Still, it festers in my heart like a washed up corpse writhing with maggots, ya know? :P

[Garresh]

Using a whip to strike precisely and possibly inflict hospital-worthy wounds against a very likely bound and naked victim is one thing; doing that against very likely armored or at least fully clothed enemies in combat is another.

But you are right - it is a fantasy game, so I let it slide in-game. Still, it festers in my heart like a washed up corpse writhing with maggots, ya know? :P

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTAhtySh8Q

Harder than shanking someone with a dagger? Yeah sure. But in combat EVERYONE has to dodge around and aim precisely. Also, whips can have metal on the end to give it some extra force and penetration. It's really not that unrealistic. Speaking of, have you seen that guy who trained with the quiver-less rapid fire shortbow style? He can grab arrows out of the air if they're fired with a low enough draw. Longbows aint happening, but shortbows he'll definitely grab it and return fire in one fluid motion.

[coolAlias]

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTAhtySh8Q

Harder than shanking someone with a dagger? Yeah sure. But in combat EVERYONE has to dodge around and aim precisely. Also, whips can have metal on the end to give it some extra force and penetration. It's really not that unrealistic. Speaking of, have you seen that guy who trained with the quiver-less rapid fire shortbow style? He can grab arrows out of the air if they're fired with a low enough draw. Longbows aint happening, but shortbows he'll definitely grab it and return fire in one fluid motion.
I don't find those videos very persuasive, but yes, whips can be fortified with metal to make them more dangerous, chain whips have a long history in kung fu, etc. I understand that they can be weaponized and that it's not any more unrealistic than a lot of things in D&D, so I don't dwell on it - I was mainly expressing my distaste for them being used to sneak attack.

I have seen the trick-shooter guy - he puts on an impressive show, that's for sure!

[Naanomi]

I think as soon as it becomes a 'magic whip' I stop caring about how realistic it is

[Nifft]

Using a whip to strike precisely and possibly inflict hospital-worthy wounds against a very likely bound and naked victim is one thing; doing that against very likely armored or at least fully clothed enemies in combat is another.

But you are right - it is a fantasy game, so I let it slide in-game. Still, it festers in my heart like a washed up corpse writhing with maggots, ya know? :P

Fortunately for us, hit points aren't wounds, so there's no need for your heart to fester.

A whip vs. a fully armored knight might knock the knight off-balance, thus leaving her open for a follow-up attack. That's what hit points can represent -- your ability to not get stabbed lethally, depleted by your efforts to avoid or turn aside all the stabs before the lethal one (which is when you ran out of HP).

[coolAlias]

I recognize that my distaste for it has absolutely no legs to stand on as far as the game is concerned and admit that there are indeed real life weapon versions of whips and that whether or not they ever saw real combat use is immaterial to their use in a game. Sorry I brought up a personal preference and semi-derailed the thread.

Back to ideas on magic whips - you could always take a cue from the Zelda games and have a whip that sticks to certain types of surfaces, thus allowing you to swing from them, without having to wrap around.

[leoryff]

You could make it a whip sword and add some blade only specialty to it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi

Though the most straightforward idea would be a whip that moves as its wielder commands, rather than the random movements regular whips use.

[Arcangel4774]

When I think magic whip I think ivy from soulcalibur... does really fit the whole slaver bit though

[JackPhoenix]

Finally get a use from the (one of the) worst spell(s) in the game? Sort of...

When you hit the enemy with this whip, you can use your bonus action to wrap it around him (perhaps allow save/check?), giving him the grappled condition and causing 1d12 lightning damage. On a subsequent turn, as long as the target remain grappled, you may use your bonus action to cause further 1d12 damage (no save this time). You can't use the whip to make further attacks while grappling an enemy with it without breaking the grapple.

Escape prevention AND punishment in one package!

[Foff]

i've had this idea for a while that I got inspired from League of Legends Champion Zac's Q ability.
what the whip does is this: on a successful hit you roll your damage normally; then you can spend your bonus action to make another harmless attack on another target within reach (it won't deal damage) if the second attack hits the following things happen, based on target sizes:
Target 1 Huge or bigger, target 2 large or smaller: the second target gets slammed onto the first, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage and putting both targets speed to 0 until your next turn

Both targets are Large or smaller: both targets get slammed onto each other, meeting halfway and each receiving 1d6 bludgeoning damage, both targets speed gets reduced to 0 until your next turn


ofc this can be tweaked with numbers and appropriate saving throws, i just had the idea and it felt cool

[nickl_2000]

I recognize that my distaste for it has absolutely no legs to stand on as far as the game is concerned and admit that there are indeed real life weapon versions of whips and that whether or not they ever saw real combat use is immaterial to their use in a game. Sorry I brought up a personal preference and semi-derailed the thread.

Back to ideas on magic whips - you could always take a cue from the Zelda games and have a whip that sticks to certain types of surfaces, thus allowing you to swing from them, without having to wrap around.

I thought about this, and it is a natural fit for a magical whip. Just not one that a slaver would be using

[nickl_2000]

Finally get a use from the (one of the) worst spell(s) in the game? Sort of...

When you hit the enemy with this whip, you can use your bonus action to wrap it around him (perhaps allow save/check?), giving him the grappled condition and causing 1d12 lightning damage. On a subsequent turn, as long as the target remain grappled, you may use your bonus action to cause further 1d12 damage (no save this time). You can't use the whip to make further attacks while grappling an enemy with it without breaking the grapple.

Escape prevention AND punishment in one package!

Sounds wicked, I will have to consider this in a weaker form. It's way to powerful for the level of the PCs and the style of he campaign

[Bohandas]

How about a whip that plays it's own theme music?

https://youtu.be/j_QLzthSkfM

Maybe it has some kind of power over time or memory

"...give the past the slip"

[JackPhoenix]

Sounds wicked, I will have to consider this in a weaker form. It's way to powerful for the level of the PCs and the style of he campaign

It's based on improved Witch Bolt, with less range, but grappled condition set in (and as BA, or rather, Action + BA to "cast", and BA to sustain), just FYI.