So this weapon is supposed to be advantageous to use when disarming and tripping (knockdown) opponents, according to rules established by NWN and PnP. However, especially because everyone already gets the Disarm feat for free, I dont see the point to using it. Sure, whips give you disarm for free, but when the attempt is made at -6ab, and your opponent gets a free shot on you, youll probably wind up dead before being sucessful. Add to this the fact that based on game mechanics, it is easier to disarm using a longsword than a whip because longswords are medium sized weapons, while whips are considered small sized weapons, giving the longsword a +4 advantage in opposed attack roll. So I was thinking, and propose the following changes be made to the whip to show it some love:
+4AB. Whips are designed to wrap around objects, objects being weapons, hands, arms, legs, whatever. By giving the weapon +4, it gives a bonus to the whip for knockdown and disarm attempts, which should be rather blatant so see when you picture someone trying to disarm/kd you when using a longsword, and then compare it to someone trying to do the same thing to you when using a whip. There needs to be some sort of bonus to using a whip when making these sorts of attacks compared to other weapons since the whip was made for doing these sorts of attacks. I chose +4 since it is the equivalent of using 1 size weapon higher for disarm, and being 1 size larger for knockdown. Whips cant be used in the off-hand, so youll either be at -2 ab using a small or tiny weapon in your off-hand, or -4 ab for using a medium weapon in your off-hand, thus negating the bonus to using the whip for knockdown anyway. Actually, perhaps it should be +6 since youll most likely be using a weapon in your off-hand, giving you a -2 for dual wielding during your attack anyway, bringing us back to the origional proposal of +4ab when actually making the kd/disarm attempt?
NO COMBAT DAMAGE. First and foremost, a lot of the creatures here that Ive seen (and the majority that I havent) have some sort of +/dr to them. By making the whip deal no actual damage, then you wont see everyone and their mother picking one up just to be able to beat on the damage resistant creatures. The only thing they will be good for is knockdown and disarm, as it should be. Well that and torture, which could just as easily be RPed anyway. Which also brings me to my second point; those wearing armor cannot be harmed by whips anyway, at least according to PnP. And even monsters with either a +2 or +3 natural ac (cant rememberw which) arent supposed to harmed by whips either.
Thoughts?