Reading the play testing, and listening to the podcast on the new updated class, I seeing some potential for whips to be a good choice as the primary weapon for a rogue, and I have a very rare magic whip in mind that will be great.
Rogues will be getting weapon proficiently with melee weapons that are simple and martial that have the finesse or light traits. This will be short swords, simitars, rapiers and whips. Out of the four, whips are the only one that has the reach feature. Why is this important? Cunning action. Normally with a 5ft weapon, Cunning action (and the bonus action) is used to disengage, now its not needed, and thus the bonus action can be used for other things (poison and the like)
Whips also get the slow mastery, which is mostly reserved for ranged weapons. -10 speed on your foe, while you can still Dash as a bonus action sound good to me.
Now the damage is on par with a dagger, and a little less than a short sword, but in early levels having that reach might be worth the safety in melee range.
Now the weapon of choice is the Dyrrn’s Tentacle Whip. Why is this my prime choice? Three reason: Damage, Concealment and Utility.
Damage - it is a +2 , 1d4 slash + 1d6 psychic damage weapon. A damage range of 2 and10 +2+prof. Psychic is a less resistant damage type, and this is a non conditional damage. Lets agree that this is around a 1d10 damage weapon, normal reserved for heavy type weapons, Not bad. Yes there are other weapons that do more damage, but they also have more restrictions (activation cost, limit charges etc) This is a flat 1d6+2 bonus
Concealment - Well, you won't be walking with a simitar on your back for one which is very obvious "you're a combatant", as a whip more common as a tool for herding than a weapon. You can also retract the whip into your arm for 100% concealment. It also cannot be removed from you as it is a symbiotic item; no being disarmed.
Utility - on a 20 on a d20 attack roll, it stuns. no save. Stun gives advantage on this target (priming for sneak attack). Also a whip can be a a tool as well, or more accurately, a 10 ft length of cordage. climbing/descending, drawing items, tripping lines, tying, strangling, etc, can be preformed with this item. This is more a narrative and DM dependent idea, but more functional thinking than a short sword.
Now there are flaws to this idea. One it is not a light weapon, so no dual wielding (there are ways around this), can't Vex (as a Simitar can) and it is kind of cursed (can't unattuned by choice, disadvantage to aberrations, but nothing too crazy here either.).
Also I want to point it out this is about the Rogues melee weapon changes. The subclass looks really strong as a ranged combatant as well, but I haven't really explored that as much as the using a whip idea.
End Ramble :)
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More of a ramble than anything.
Reading the play testing, and listening to the podcast on the new updated class, I seeing some potential for whips to be a good choice as the primary weapon for a rogue, and I have a very rare magic whip in mind that will be great.
Rogues will be getting weapon proficiently with melee weapons that are simple and martial that have the finesse or light traits. This will be short swords, simitars, rapiers and whips. Out of the four, whips are the only one that has the reach feature. Why is this important? Cunning action. Normally with a 5ft weapon, Cunning action (and the bonus action) is used to disengage, now its not needed, and thus the bonus action can be used for other things (poison and the like)
Whips also get the slow mastery, which is mostly reserved for ranged weapons. -10 speed on your foe, while you can still Dash as a bonus action sound good to me.
Now the damage is on par with a dagger, and a little less than a short sword, but in early levels having that reach might be worth the safety in melee range.
Now the weapon of choice is the Dyrrn’s Tentacle Whip. Why is this my prime choice? Three reason: Damage, Concealment and Utility.
Damage - it is a +2 , 1d4 slash + 1d6 psychic damage weapon. A damage range of 2 and10 +2+prof. Psychic is a less resistant damage type, and this is a non conditional damage. Lets agree that this is around a 1d10 damage weapon, normal reserved for heavy type weapons, Not bad. Yes there are other weapons that do more damage, but they also have more restrictions (activation cost, limit charges etc) This is a flat 1d6+2 bonus
Concealment - Well, you won't be walking with a simitar on your back for one which is very obvious "you're a combatant", as a whip more common as a tool for herding than a weapon. You can also retract the whip into your arm for 100% concealment. It also cannot be removed from you as it is a symbiotic item; no being disarmed.
Utility - on a 20 on a d20 attack roll, it stuns. no save. Stun gives advantage on this target (priming for sneak attack). Also a whip can be a a tool as well, or more accurately, a 10 ft length of cordage. climbing/descending, drawing items, tripping lines, tying, strangling, etc, can be preformed with this item. This is more a narrative and DM dependent idea, but more functional thinking than a short sword.
Now there are flaws to this idea. One it is not a light weapon, so no dual wielding (there are ways around this), can't Vex (as a Simitar can) and it is kind of cursed (can't unattuned by choice, disadvantage to aberrations, but nothing too crazy here either.).
Also I want to point it out this is about the Rogues melee weapon changes. The subclass looks really strong as a ranged combatant as well, but I haven't really explored that as much as the using a whip idea.
End Ramble :)