Whips

[The UnderKing]

How do you make Whip-like weapons effective. (if they can be) I know there are several "whip" variants. (One that deals lethal damage, one that could deliver poison, etc) Basicly...

1. Which "whip should I use.

2. Which feats would help me.

3. What are some good tactics.

Thank you in advance!!!

[Mojo_Rat]

Whips are best looked at int terms of crowd control not damage. I really recomend them in conjunction with a bard.

they give you 15 foot reach with which to attempt disarm and trip attempts. The Lack of AOO really is not an issue I found. So someone with feats to support either disarm or tripping is effective with this weapon.

You can also use it to do 'aid other' at 15 foot range by making a dc 10 touch attack. This helps a 'less combat oriented' character influence the battle nicely either by helping his allies hit or making it harder for them to be hit.


In our last game my bard tripped the BBEG twice without imp trip and using the weapon for the first time.

[Dr. Weasel]

Bards do get proficiency, which is ironic because their crummy base attack combined with a touch of MAD (Light armor makes Dexterity important, You need Intelligence to make the most of that skill list, You need considerable Charisma to keep your spell DCs high) makes them one of the worst classes to use them.

Barbarian/Fighters or fighters are probably the best since their high Strength (aided by Rage) combined with the availability of the Improved Disarm/Trip Feats and good base attack would allow them to make the most use of whip abilities.

I don't have any sources of variant whips, so I can't help there.

[JellyPooga]

1) Use the standard Whip from the PHB...Whip-Daggers are silly...you may as well tie a greatsword or a cow to the end of a whip and it would make as much sense as a weapon.

2)Improved Trip and Improved Disarm are obvious choices as they give you a direct bonus to that which the Whip does best. Less obvious is TWF+Oversized TWF; because you only need make a melee touch attack to trip, using two simultaneously is a viable option as the TWF penalty is offset by the fact that it's a touch attack. This allows you to either practically guarantee a trip on one opponent or trip several opponents in one round. Similarly, having TWF+Oversized TWF allows you to use a Whip in conjuction with a thrown weapon or crossbow wielded 1-handed, allowing you to control one opponent by tripping or disarming them whilst attacking another with your ranged weapon. Again, this combo also allows you to use a Rapier or other 1-handed weapon against an adjacent opponent whilst you trip another opponent that isn't adjacent (remember, using a Whip at 15' range is still classed as a melee attack, so doesn't provoke AOO).

3)See (2).

[MrNexx]

I agree. Get into tripping and disarming with your whip; you can stand behind the front rank and help your buddies, and even if you fail, don't particularly care about it... just drop the whip. Get a few of them, if you have the money and carrying capacity.

For enchantments, things that add damage types (shock, frost, flaming) are good. However, with the "don't care about dropping it" idea, I wouldn't invest too much in the weapon, unless you can convince your DM to allow a "rearming" enchantment, on par with "returning" or "teleporting".

[Zincorium]

Pyrokineticist is a pretty good dip for anyone using a whip, the touch attack of the fire lash really cuts down on worrying whether you hit or not. The 'any feats that apply to the use of a regular whip' is generally taken to mean things like power attack, so with a two handed grip on it, you're dealing some serious damage without worrying too much about whether you're going to connect.

The requirements aren't too bad, either, as long as you've got a skill point or two to spare and are either a psionic race or take the wild talent feat, you're good to go. Oh, and that pesky 'must have set fire to something just to watch it burn' should already be accomplished for most barbarian types.

[DraPrime]

1) Use the standard Whip from the PHB...Whip-Daggers are silly...you may as well tie a greatsword or a cow to the end of a whip and it would make as much sense as a weapon.

You think that's silly? What about the gunwhip (http://dndorks.com/comics/7%2f23%2f2004.aspx)? Isn't that even worse? The funny thing is my DM let me use that thing in D20 modern. It had hilarious effects.

[Rex Blunder]

There's also a skill trick in the Complete Scoundrel you might as well pick up. If your DM will allow 3.0 material, there is a Lasher prestige class which is pretty good. Besides combat uses, you can pick up things with the whip, and swing across chasms (cue the John Williams music). However, Indiana Jones is pretty hard to make in 3.5.

Hey now, I just remembered that Factotum, in Dungeonscape, is advertised as the "Indiana Jones class", because it's all about being a knowledge-seeker who can do a bit of everything. Come to think of it, it would make a pretty good whip class. It's a great tripper - you get your intelligence bonus, in addition to your strength bonus, on all strength checks - including opposed strength checks for tripping.

[Sornjss Lichdom]

I have a question, if you make a whip of dancing (+4, dances around attacking people for you) could you make a trip with it then, I doubt it myself but the whole never having to drop it is cool, not to menching the nice reach you could get with it, just keep it in a ring of storing and call appon it when needed.