I see tons of posts and web results about spiked chain and none of them seem balanced or at least based on how 5e does things.
First off, spiked chain is a two-sided weapon. This means it has two attacks. However, this doesn't mean they should both have range.
Secondly, spiked chain is a weapon in motion. Yes, it's melee, but it still required "finesse" in order to use so it should have the finesse property.
Lastly, spiked chain is not a heavy weapon. It's just a chain...with blades on the end. It doesn't need to be thick, and its weight is well-distributed. (For those of you that might think a 10 lb weapon must be heavy - greatclub is 10 lb and not heavy, while greatsword is 6 lb and heavy; heavy refers to difficulty to actually hold, not weight or how many hands you need to attack.)
This is what I've put for Spiked Chain:
Cost: 25 (based on 3e pricing, not 4e) Damage: 2d4 Damage Type: Piercing Item Rarity: Standard Properties: Martial, Finesse, Reach, Two-Handed, Special Weight: 10
Special. If you attack with a spiked chain as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack does not have reach and deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit, instead of 2d4.
Let's compare this weapon to the Double-Bladed Scimitar. DBS has the same damage, except that it's slashing. It does not have finesse or reach. However, in order to take an opportunity attack, you just need to be 5 ft away and you can still use your special - compare that to SC where you need to be 10 ft away, and if you use the opportunity attack on your own turn that doesn't result in your special because the special has no reach.
This is significant because if you, say, failed to get the necessary attack roll for your normal attack, you can't use the special at all on SC - whereas if you managed to get the opportunity attack roll on DBS, you could use the special as your bonus action on that turn since the bonus action wasn't prompted on the normal attack due to the failed roll.
DBS means you can use the weapon special on opportunity as your one bonus action on your turn. SC means you have reach for the normal or opportunity attack but never the bonus, and you can use finesse. SC is specifically designed to be DBS's counterpart for DEX users, not just a reskin and not an upgrade.
I don't understand your comparison to the DBS for opportunity attacks. You only get to use the DBS special attack on your own turn, it is not influenced in any way by whether or not you made an opportunity attack. Its pretty much the same as you have the SC worded.
All of the martial weapons should be reasonable balanced against other martial weapons. To me, this is straight up better than the DBS due to having reach and finesse. The only difference is that with the DBS, if an enemy moves more than 5' away you get an AoO, vs 10 feet maneuvering room with the SC.
I think the damage die needs toned down, probably to a d6, but I would even consider going as low as the d4 a whip gets.
I don't understand your comparison to the DBS for opportunity attacks. You only get to use the DBS special attack on your own turn, it is not influenced in any way by whether or not you made an opportunity attack. Its pretty much the same as you have the SC worded.
You can use an opportunity attack on your own turn, and an opportunity attack is still an attack. I can't find anywhere that says that an opportunity attack doesn't count as an attack for DBS's/SC's effect. All it requires is that you attack. The only thing that's required for DBS and SC is that you attack on your turn - so, hypothetically, if you opportunity attack on your turn, you can still use it. The only limit is that you can only use the special once per turn since you only have one bonus action per turn.
The entire point of making it like DBS is because, like DBS, it's two-sided. Therefore it gets the two-sided special. Making it so that this weapon's special doesn't get reach is already a nerf. You can't be in reach distance and use the bonus action - so in that case the damage is already 2-8 instead of 3-12 like DBS; the only way to get 3-12 on this weapon is to be in normal distance. There's no point in nerfing the damage because it's already nerfed due to the reach not working for the special. And the finesse argument is irrelevant because someone with a strength focused build would use DBS anyway due to better opportunity proc.
If you attack with a double-bladed scimitar as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it.
Special. If you attack with a spiked chain as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack does not have reach and deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit, instead of 2d4.
So you can only use the special if you're 5 ft from the enemy, not 10.
Regarding opportunity attack as attack action or not, I've tweeted Crawford on this so hopefully he can clarify. (Since no one else on the Internet did when I googled it.)
Even if the special can't be used on opportunity attack, though, it still doesn't matter - either you get the reach or you get the special, you don't get both at once on SC.
I am aware. I am comparing to the DBS. Both your SC and the DBS grant a bonus action attack, 5' range, that does 1d4 damage.
An opportunity attack is not an attack action on your turn. By definition, an opportunity attack uses your Reaction, not Action.
Comparing the DBS to your SC: Main Attack: both do 2d4. The SC in addition has a reach of 10 feet instead of 5 and the finesse property. Bonus Attack: both are triggered in the same way. both also do 1d4 with a range of 5 feet. The SC in addition has the finesse property.
Halberd is a 2-handed weapon with a 1d so it's not as useful with GWF which is designed for 2d two-handed weapons like greatsword, DBS, and this SC. Halberd is also a Heavy weapon, which means small PCs have disadvantage with it but it can use GWM. If a weapon says heavy, you use GWM if it has 1d. That is a very different kind of weapon.
If I could, I'd make DBS versatile, but I can't. If Crawford comes and clarifies that what you say is true Houligan, then I can change SC to 2d3 or 1d6, although changing it to 1d6 would be missing the point of 2d two-handed weapons (which is to maximize GWF potential). Also you can take an opportunity attack on your turn, the question is whether by attack action it specifically means your *normal* attack action or if it means *any* attack action. This doesn't just matter for reactions but for extra attacks as well.
Also someone who uses a DBS is probably going to roll elf anyway, and then get the feat to make the weapon finesse plus extra modifiers. So the finesse thing is a moot point. If I then nerfed this to 2d3 or 1d6, it would just be weaker than DBS period. The extra range wouldn't even matter.
Why would GWM be any less effective for a 1d10 weapon than a 2d6 weapon? -5 to hit and +10 damage is the same no matter what. You add +10 total, not +10/damage die.
Have you ever swung around 10 feet of chain? Chains are heavy. Pretty much any weapon 6lbs. or heavier gets the Heavy property. I guarantee that 10 feet of any decent sized chain will weigh somewhere in the range of 6+lbs. I think a chain weapon would utilize a lot less finesse and require a lot more force than you realize.
Why would GWM be any less effective for a 1d10 weapon than a 2d6 weapon? -5 to hit and +10 damage is the same no matter what. You add +10 total, not +10/damage die.
Have you ever swung around 10 feet of chain? Chains are heavy. Pretty much any weapon 6lbs. or heavier gets the Heavy property. I guarantee that 10 feet of any decent sized chain will weigh somewhere in the range of 6+lbs. I think a chain weapon would utilize a lot less finesse and require a lot more force than you realize.
I said it's less effective for GWF. GWF = Great Weapon Fighting. Great Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Mastery are not the same thing. GWF lets you reroll a die that lands on 1 or 2, but if you do then you have to keep the new result even if it's 1 or 2. It's specifically designed for fixing a bad roll on a low-damage die, and when you roll multiple dice that is more useful. GWF specifically requires just a two-handed weapon; GWM specifically requires just a heavy weapon.
And as I said in the OP, weight has nothing to do with the heavy property. Heavy is based on the weight *balance* of the weapon. Greatclubs for instance are 10 lb but not heavy, and DBS isn't heavy either. Plus if I made SC heavy it would be way, way too OP because it could use GWM; that's the main reason I left it out, the weight balance is just an observation. Plus it doesn't make sense for Small characters to not be able to use this weapon, imo.
And no, you need finesse to spin the chain and "throw" it straight at the opponent. Keyword: straight. This is a piercing weapon; it's always been a piercing weapon. You specifically have to make it pierce the opponent, which is tricky if you - as an individual - do not have finesse.
I must have read your post incorrectly. Your comments regarding GWF make sense.
Other than that I simply disagree with you. But I don’t have to agree with you. You do you.
At my table I will still reskin polearms as chain weapons. If a player wanted it to do 2d4 instead of 1d10 I have no problem with that. If they want to make a second attack with the other end I would require them to take a reskin of the Polearm Master feat And I believe that a small creature would be at a disadvantage swinging a 10-foot chain. But that’s just my opinion. Like I said, you do you.
On one of the wikis, there's a non-official version of this weapon that shows a person swinging the chain in a certain motion, really quickly. Realistically, when the weapon is then thrown/released in a set direction, the rest of the chain can quickly follow in that direction. This is why the weapon made perfect sense as an exotic weapon - you had to do specific techniques with it to get it to work properly and match the stats. To me, a Small person could still do the spin thing, release the weapon, and then pull it back, and then maybe follow up with the other side of the chain. That's how I see this weapon being used, to be honest, not just throwing it up and smacking it down or something - after all, you do need to throw the weapon *straight forward* to pierce. And if not for Thrown suggesting the weapon is dislodged on other weapons, I totally would've designed the weapon around that instead, but le sigh.
So based on the other thread's discussion of DBS. I think that it is okay if your spiked chain does more / equal to DBS, but it should be gated behind a fighting style and/or a feat.
I've decided I'm just going to leave it as-is. I can't nerf it any further.
DBS is meant to be used with RB, which SC can't get. Without RB, I still say it can't contend end-game.
I'd prefer it if finesse just meant Dex was required, but DnD didn't design it that way. And I can't make it Ranged without completely changing the rules of the weapon from melee to ranged rules.
If DBS had versatile, then that would balance finesse. Versatile wouldn't make DBS any stronger, just more useful. Unfortunately, it doesn't have that.
And the reach doesn't matter because the inability to use the bonus attack with reach balances that out.
I'm not going to go d3 on this weapon, and I can't remove the finesse and/or reach properties or else it really will be a DBS clone. I'm just going to say that RB makes DBS viable against SC and leave it at that.
Out of interest (and apologies if you have covered it previously) why not use something like the Shadar Kai Spike Chain form Mordenkainens Tome of Foes?
2d6 piercing damage, if you hit you can use a bonus action to either attempt to grapple the target you hit or attempt to knock them prone, two handed, finesse and reach properties.
You could use contested Strength/Acrobatic checks for the grapple and prone attempts but you cannot attempt to grapple another target whilst one is already grappled.
Because that's a trait action, not a weapon, and it's way too OP.
In 5e, you can't grapple with two-handed weapons. Throughout all editions, spiked chain has been a two-handed weapon, with no one-handed functionality. Therefore, grapple should not be possible. Grapple, however, is purely something you can do with one or two free hands. It's not something a chain can do. The only rule for Chain is that it can be Burst, but there are no details regarding what Burst means, as burst fire is a separate thing. All I've found on reddit and etc is that burst = break for chain and rope.
Spiked Chain attack action in Foes:
Melee Weapon Attack, +6 to hit, 10ft reach, one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC14 Dex save or suffer one effect of choice (not a bonus action):
- Target is grappled (escape DC14) if it's Small or Medium. Until this ends, target is restrained, and another target cannot be grappled. - Target is knocked prone. - Target takes 22 (4d10) necrotic damage.
So in just one attack action, you get 2d6 and a guaranteed extra 3 damage in a single roll. Then you can force a secondary effect to bypass normal grapple rules, which completely restrains the opponent, knock them prone, or damage them for a massive amount of necrotic damage.
As for knocking the enemy prone, restraining them, and so on, you can do that with or without weapons under the conditions of the PHB and DMG. You don't need a specific weapon effect to do that, and weapons shouldn't be able to do that unless the DM says so.
I believe Rob76's intent was to use the Foe version as a baseline / inspiration, and not verbatim.
Spiked Chain: Cost 25 gp, 2d4 piercing damage, Weight 10 lbs, finesse, reach, two-handed, special special: if you attack with a spiked chain as part of the attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to take a grapple action or a shove action to knock the creature prone.
When you say "in 5e you can't grapple with two handed weapons" there is a yes and no response to that, yes in player terms there is no weapon as written that allows you to do it aside from a net, but you do have monster variations which do grapple, the Koa Toa Pincer staff for instance, so you could translate those over to playre weapons, adding in bonus actions to initiate the grapple where needed.
Also going back to 3.5e (pg99 in the phb), spiked chain specifically has the following:
"A spiked chain has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 feet away with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe. You can make trip attacks with the chain"
and
"You can use the weapon finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a spiked chain sized for you, even though it isn’t a light weapon for you."
So having a bonus action to knock someone prone or to have the chain Grapple a targets legs (bestowing the grappled condition and reducing their speed to zero) is fair.
3.5e Spiked chain (or "Chain, Spiked" as they liked to keep putting it) had 2d4 piercing damage so easy to scale it back to that, I think the Shadar Kai bonus Necrotic damage is more flavor for them than intrinsic tot he weapon so easy to ignore that bit.
So a 5e version would be: 2d4 Piercing Damage,, Properties: Martial Weapon, Reach, Two Handed, Finesse, Special: on hit can use bonus action to attempt to either Trip the target (knock them prone) or cause the chain to wrap around their legs (Grapple them)
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3.5e rules do not apply in 5e. In 5e, things like surprise, disarm, trip, and weapon grapple are purely by the DM's discretion. For things like trip, the DMG outlines the conditions for disarm which is similar. For restraining someone with a chain, whether that would be considered a grapple or not, it would function the same as the normal Chain.
The entire point of this version of the Spiked Chain having the second attack is because 5e has the DBS as an example of a weapon with two sides. SC has two sides. In 3.5 and 4 there were other weapons with two sides, but there's only the DBS in 5e so the way the DBS handles two-sided weapons is the way 5e handles two sided weapons - the second side is a bonus attack with half damage (or half dice).
Again, I'm using the 5e rules for two-sided weapons, not the 3.5 rules for chained weapons. Tripping, disarming, weapon-based grappling, those are up to the DM in 5e, period.
Fair enough, your note about a "weapon in motion" got me thinking and there are some fantastic YouTube vids showing martial artists using meteor hammers and chain whips to demonstrate the weapon in motion style if anyone was curious just search for chain whip, rope dart or meteor hammer.
I see tons of posts and web results about spiked chain and none of them seem balanced or at least based on how 5e does things.
First off, spiked chain is a two-sided weapon. This means it has two attacks. However, this doesn't mean they should both have range.
Secondly, spiked chain is a weapon in motion. Yes, it's melee, but it still required "finesse" in order to use so it should have the finesse property.
Lastly, spiked chain is not a heavy weapon. It's just a chain...with blades on the end. It doesn't need to be thick, and its weight is well-distributed. (For those of you that might think a 10 lb weapon must be heavy - greatclub is 10 lb and not heavy, while greatsword is 6 lb and heavy; heavy refers to difficulty to actually hold, not weight or how many hands you need to attack.)
This is what I've put for Spiked Chain:
Cost: 25 (based on 3e pricing, not 4e)
Damage: 2d4
Damage Type: Piercing
Item Rarity: Standard
Properties: Martial, Finesse, Reach, Two-Handed, Special
Weight: 10
Special. If you attack with a spiked chain as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to make a melee attack with it. This attack does not have reach and deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit, instead of 2d4.
Let's compare this weapon to the Double-Bladed Scimitar. DBS has the same damage, except that it's slashing. It does not have finesse or reach. However, in order to take an opportunity attack, you just need to be 5 ft away and you can still use your special - compare that to SC where you need to be 10 ft away, and if you use the opportunity attack on your own turn that doesn't result in your special because the special has no reach.
This is significant because if you, say, failed to get the necessary attack roll for your normal attack, you can't use the special at all on SC - whereas if you managed to get the opportunity attack roll on DBS, you could use the special as your bonus action on that turn since the bonus action wasn't prompted on the normal attack due to the failed roll.
DBS means you can use the weapon special on opportunity as your one bonus action on your turn. SC means you have reach for the normal or opportunity attack but never the bonus, and you can use finesse. SC is specifically designed to be DBS's counterpart for DEX users, not just a reskin and not an upgrade.
I don't understand your comparison to the DBS for opportunity attacks. You only get to use the DBS special attack on your own turn, it is not influenced in any way by whether or not you made an opportunity attack. Its pretty much the same as you have the SC worded.
All of the martial weapons should be reasonable balanced against other martial weapons. To me, this is straight up better than the DBS due to having reach and finesse. The only difference is that with the DBS, if an enemy moves more than 5' away you get an AoO, vs 10 feet maneuvering room with the SC.
I think the damage die needs toned down, probably to a d6, but I would even consider going as low as the d4 a whip gets.
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You can use an opportunity attack on your own turn, and an opportunity attack is still an attack. I can't find anywhere that says that an opportunity attack doesn't count as an attack for DBS's/SC's effect. All it requires is that you attack. The only thing that's required for DBS and SC is that you attack on your turn - so, hypothetically, if you opportunity attack on your turn, you can still use it. The only limit is that you can only use the special once per turn since you only have one bonus action per turn.
The entire point of making it like DBS is because, like DBS, it's two-sided. Therefore it gets the two-sided special. Making it so that this weapon's special doesn't get reach is already a nerf. You can't be in reach distance and use the bonus action - so in that case the damage is already 2-8 instead of 3-12 like DBS; the only way to get 3-12 on this weapon is to be in normal distance. There's no point in nerfing the damage because it's already nerfed due to the reach not working for the special. And the finesse argument is irrelevant because someone with a strength focused build would use DBS anyway due to better opportunity proc.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/erftlw/character-creation#DoubleBladedScimitar
The DBS is worded exactly like your SC
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My SC is worded differently -
So you can only use the special if you're 5 ft from the enemy, not 10.
Regarding opportunity attack as attack action or not, I've tweeted Crawford on this so hopefully he can clarify. (Since no one else on the Internet did when I googled it.)
Even if the special can't be used on opportunity attack, though, it still doesn't matter - either you get the reach or you get the special, you don't get both at once on SC.
I am aware. I am comparing to the DBS. Both your SC and the DBS grant a bonus action attack, 5' range, that does 1d4 damage.
An opportunity attack is not an attack action on your turn. By definition, an opportunity attack uses your Reaction, not Action.
Comparing the DBS to your SC:
Main Attack: both do 2d4. The SC in addition has a reach of 10 feet instead of 5 and the finesse property.
Bonus Attack: both are triggered in the same way. both also do 1d4 with a range of 5 feet. The SC in addition has the finesse property.
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I usually just reskin a pole arm like a Halberd as a chain weapon. Then it just stacks naturally with the feats and fighting styles and such.
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Halberd is a 2-handed weapon with a 1d so it's not as useful with GWF which is designed for 2d two-handed weapons like greatsword, DBS, and this SC. Halberd is also a Heavy weapon, which means small PCs have disadvantage with it but it can use GWM. If a weapon says heavy, you use GWM if it has 1d. That is a very different kind of weapon.
If I could, I'd make DBS versatile, but I can't. If Crawford comes and clarifies that what you say is true Houligan, then I can change SC to 2d3 or 1d6, although changing it to 1d6 would be missing the point of 2d two-handed weapons (which is to maximize GWF potential). Also you can take an opportunity attack on your turn, the question is whether by attack action it specifically means your *normal* attack action or if it means *any* attack action. This doesn't just matter for reactions but for extra attacks as well.
Also someone who uses a DBS is probably going to roll elf anyway, and then get the feat to make the weapon finesse plus extra modifiers. So the finesse thing is a moot point. If I then nerfed this to 2d3 or 1d6, it would just be weaker than DBS period. The extra range wouldn't even matter.
Why would GWM be any less effective for a 1d10 weapon than a 2d6 weapon? -5 to hit and +10 damage is the same no matter what. You add +10 total, not +10/damage die.
Have you ever swung around 10 feet of chain? Chains are heavy. Pretty much any weapon 6lbs. or heavier gets the Heavy property. I guarantee that 10 feet of any decent sized chain will weigh somewhere in the range of 6+lbs. I think a chain weapon would utilize a lot less finesse and require a lot more force than you realize.
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I said it's less effective for GWF. GWF = Great Weapon Fighting. Great Weapon Fighting and Great Weapon Mastery are not the same thing. GWF lets you reroll a die that lands on 1 or 2, but if you do then you have to keep the new result even if it's 1 or 2. It's specifically designed for fixing a bad roll on a low-damage die, and when you roll multiple dice that is more useful. GWF specifically requires just a two-handed weapon; GWM specifically requires just a heavy weapon.
And as I said in the OP, weight has nothing to do with the heavy property. Heavy is based on the weight *balance* of the weapon. Greatclubs for instance are 10 lb but not heavy, and DBS isn't heavy either. Plus if I made SC heavy it would be way, way too OP because it could use GWM; that's the main reason I left it out, the weight balance is just an observation. Plus it doesn't make sense for Small characters to not be able to use this weapon, imo.
And no, you need finesse to spin the chain and "throw" it straight at the opponent. Keyword: straight. This is a piercing weapon; it's always been a piercing weapon. You specifically have to make it pierce the opponent, which is tricky if you - as an individual - do not have finesse.
I must have read your post incorrectly. Your comments regarding GWF make sense.
Other than that I simply disagree with you. But I don’t have to agree with you. You do you.
At my table I will still reskin polearms as chain weapons. If a player wanted it to do 2d4 instead of 1d10 I have no problem with that. If they want to make a second attack with the other end I would require them to take a reskin of the Polearm Master feat And I believe that a small creature would be at a disadvantage swinging a 10-foot chain. But that’s just my opinion. Like I said, you do you.
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On one of the wikis, there's a non-official version of this weapon that shows a person swinging the chain in a certain motion, really quickly. Realistically, when the weapon is then thrown/released in a set direction, the rest of the chain can quickly follow in that direction. This is why the weapon made perfect sense as an exotic weapon - you had to do specific techniques with it to get it to work properly and match the stats. To me, a Small person could still do the spin thing, release the weapon, and then pull it back, and then maybe follow up with the other side of the chain. That's how I see this weapon being used, to be honest, not just throwing it up and smacking it down or something - after all, you do need to throw the weapon *straight forward* to pierce. And if not for Thrown suggesting the weapon is dislodged on other weapons, I totally would've designed the weapon around that instead, but le sigh.
So based on the other thread's discussion of DBS. I think that it is okay if your spiked chain does more / equal to DBS, but it should be gated behind a fighting style and/or a feat.
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I've decided I'm just going to leave it as-is. I can't nerf it any further.
DBS is meant to be used with RB, which SC can't get. Without RB, I still say it can't contend end-game.
I'd prefer it if finesse just meant Dex was required, but DnD didn't design it that way. And I can't make it Ranged without completely changing the rules of the weapon from melee to ranged rules.
If DBS had versatile, then that would balance finesse. Versatile wouldn't make DBS any stronger, just more useful. Unfortunately, it doesn't have that.
And the reach doesn't matter because the inability to use the bonus attack with reach balances that out.
I'm not going to go d3 on this weapon, and I can't remove the finesse and/or reach properties or else it really will be a DBS clone. I'm just going to say that RB makes DBS viable against SC and leave it at that.
Out of interest (and apologies if you have covered it previously) why not use something like the Shadar Kai Spike Chain form Mordenkainens Tome of Foes?
2d6 piercing damage, if you hit you can use a bonus action to either attempt to grapple the target you hit or attempt to knock them prone, two handed, finesse and reach properties.
You could use contested Strength/Acrobatic checks for the grapple and prone attempts but you cannot attempt to grapple another target whilst one is already grappled.
Because that's a trait action, not a weapon, and it's way too OP.
In 5e, you can't grapple with two-handed weapons. Throughout all editions, spiked chain has been a two-handed weapon, with no one-handed functionality. Therefore, grapple should not be possible. Grapple, however, is purely something you can do with one or two free hands. It's not something a chain can do. The only rule for Chain is that it can be Burst, but there are no details regarding what Burst means, as burst fire is a separate thing. All I've found on reddit and etc is that burst = break for chain and rope.
Spiked Chain attack action in Foes:
So in just one attack action, you get 2d6 and a guaranteed extra 3 damage in a single roll. Then you can force a secondary effect to bypass normal grapple rules, which completely restrains the opponent, knock them prone, or damage them for a massive amount of necrotic damage.
As for knocking the enemy prone, restraining them, and so on, you can do that with or without weapons under the conditions of the PHB and DMG. You don't need a specific weapon effect to do that, and weapons shouldn't be able to do that unless the DM says so.
The Foes version is way too OP.
I believe Rob76's intent was to use the Foe version as a baseline / inspiration, and not verbatim.
Spiked Chain: Cost 25 gp, 2d4 piercing damage, Weight 10 lbs, finesse, reach, two-handed, special
special: if you attack with a spiked chain as part of the attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action immediately after to take a grapple action or a shove action to knock the creature prone.
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When you say "in 5e you can't grapple with two handed weapons" there is a yes and no response to that, yes in player terms there is no weapon as written that allows you to do it aside from a net, but you do have monster variations which do grapple, the Koa Toa Pincer staff for instance, so you could translate those over to playre weapons, adding in bonus actions to initiate the grapple where needed.
Also going back to 3.5e (pg99 in the phb), spiked chain specifically has the following:
"A spiked chain has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 feet away with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe. You can make trip attacks with the chain"
and
"You can use the weapon finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a spiked chain sized for you, even though it isn’t a light weapon for you."
So having a bonus action to knock someone prone or to have the chain Grapple a targets legs (bestowing the grappled condition and reducing their speed to zero) is fair.
3.5e Spiked chain (or "Chain, Spiked" as they liked to keep putting it) had 2d4 piercing damage so easy to scale it back to that, I think the Shadar Kai bonus Necrotic damage is more flavor for them than intrinsic tot he weapon so easy to ignore that bit.
So a 5e version would be: 2d4 Piercing Damage,, Properties: Martial Weapon, Reach, Two Handed, Finesse, Special: on hit can use bonus action to attempt to either Trip the target (knock them prone) or cause the chain to wrap around their legs (Grapple them)
3.5e rules do not apply in 5e. In 5e, things like surprise, disarm, trip, and weapon grapple are purely by the DM's discretion. For things like trip, the DMG outlines the conditions for disarm which is similar. For restraining someone with a chain, whether that would be considered a grapple or not, it would function the same as the normal Chain.
The entire point of this version of the Spiked Chain having the second attack is because 5e has the DBS as an example of a weapon with two sides. SC has two sides. In 3.5 and 4 there were other weapons with two sides, but there's only the DBS in 5e so the way the DBS handles two-sided weapons is the way 5e handles two sided weapons - the second side is a bonus attack with half damage (or half dice).
Again, I'm using the 5e rules for two-sided weapons, not the 3.5 rules for chained weapons. Tripping, disarming, weapon-based grappling, those are up to the DM in 5e, period.
Fair enough, your note about a "weapon in motion" got me thinking and there are some fantastic YouTube vids showing martial artists using meteor hammers and chain whips to demonstrate the weapon in motion style if anyone was curious just search for chain whip, rope dart or meteor hammer.