How to make an effective whip-wielding character - two examples


Advice


Whips are interesting weapons:

Weapon Description wrote:

A whip deals no damage to any creature with an armor bonus of +1 or higher or a natural armor bonus of +3 or higher. The whip is treated as a melee weapon with 15-foot reach, though you don't threaten the area into which you can make an attack. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, you can use it against foes anywhere within your reach (including adjacent foes).

Using a whip provokes an attack of opportunity, just as if you had used a ranged weapon.

You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a whip sized for you, even though it isn't a light weapon.

Weapon Features: finesse, reach, disarm, trip.

At first glance, this seems to be a highly impractical weapon. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued by its potential - mainly due to the fact that it provides excellent reach, even beyond that of ordinary reach weapons.

Concerning Whips and Large/Huge creatures:
James Jacobs states that the whip TRIPLES your natural reach if you attack with it; this means 30' for large whippers and 45' for huge whippers(and 10' for tiny whippers, for some reason)

Furthermore, as a weapon with the trip feature, we can use whips to drag and reposition. (And trip, and disarm, and sunder, but you can do that with any weapon)

So, without further ado, I present two whip-wielding characters in the hope to somehow move this weapon from the realms of novelty to the realms of practical optimization.

1)Elf (Kensai) Magus

15 PB:

13 STR 16 DEX 10 CON 17 INT 10 WIS 8 CHA

Alternate racial traits: Arcane Focus(+2 racial to concentration checks to cast defensively; replaces weapon familiarity)

Traits: Threatening Defender(-1 Combat Expertise penalty), Focused Mind(+2 concentration)

1st: Cantrips, Spell Combat, Canny Defense, EWP(Whip), Weapon Focus(Whip), Combat Expertise
2nd: Spellstrike
3rd: Magus Arcana(Wand Wielder), Whip Mastery
4th: Perfect Strike, +1 INT
5th: Improved Reposition, Tactical Reposition
6th: Magus Arcana(Spell Blending(Mage Armor, Mirror Polish)), Disruptive)
7th: Fighter Training(-3), Iaijutsu, Improved Whip Mastery
8th: Improved Spell Combat, +1 INT
9th: Critical Perfection, Combat Reflexes
10th: Fighter Training(1/2)
11th: Superior Reflexes, Greater Reposition, Greater Weapon Focus(Whip)
12th: Magus Arcana(Spellbreaker, Spell Blending(Spiked Pit, Mirror Hideaway)), +1 INT
13th: Iaijutsu Focus, Teleport Tactician
14th: Greater Spell Combat
15th: Magus Arcana(Spell Blending: Illusory Wall, Bestow Curse), Pin Down
16th: Counterstrike, +1 INT
17th: Celestial Obedience(Arqueros), Improved Initiative
18th: Magus Arcana(Familiar, Maneuver Mastery: Reposition)
19th: Iaijutsu Master, Greater Whip Mastery
20th: Weapon Mastery(Whip), +1 INT

At 3rd level, with a Wand of True strike and a whip, you can safely disarm and trip opponents with a +18 bonus to the CMB check. The whip's reach will probably allow you to avoid provoking an AoO.

At 5th level, Tactical reposition allows you to reposition someone into a pit trap, or into acid/lava, or reposition them into another hazardous place.

At 7th level, you can use spell combat to disarm someone, then use the second attack with the whip to pick up a tiny(i.e. ~ medium dagger/shortsword sized) object and yoink it for yourself.

An excellent strategy to disarm something, then snatch it away!

At higher levels, you have many AoO attempts and many AoO triggers:

We get an AoO if...
Someone moves via 5-step: Pin Down
Someone charges and enters our threatened area: Arqueros
Someone moves normally inside our threatened area: Normal
Someone teleports within our threatened area: Teleport Tactician
Someone casts a spell defensively within our threatened area: Counterstrike(after the spell is cast)
Someone casts a spell within our threatened area: Normal
Someone bullrushes us: Arqueros

Reposition CMB:
1st: +20 with spell combat
3rd: +23 with mwk whip and spell combat
5th: +26 with tactical reposition, mwk whip and spell combat
10th:+40 with tactical reposition, +1 dueling whip(+4 with arcane pool) and spell combat
11th:+44 with greater reposition
18th:+57 with greater reposition, tactical reposition, +1 dueling whip(+5 with arcane pool) and spell combat
20th:+59

All this with 13 STR and medium size...

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2) Whip Oracle

1/2-elf (Ancient Lorekeeper, Spirit Guide) (Battle) Oracle

15 PB:
17 STR 14 DEX 12 CON 10 INT 7 WIS 14 CHA

Alternate racial traits: Ancestral Weapon(Whip)

Traits: Birthmark, Valknar Graduate(Dirty Trick)

1st: Orisons, Oracle's Curse(Tongues: 1st language), Mystery(Battle), Revelation(Maneuver Mastery: Dirty Trick), EWP(Whip), Extra Revelation(Weapon Mastery(Whip)), (WF(Whip))
2nd: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(0th))
3rd: Wandering Spirit(Hex), Whip Mastery
4th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(1st)), Wandering Spirit(Bonus Spells), (Improved Dirty Trick), +1 STR
5th: Divine Protection, (Tongues: 2nd language)
6th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(2nd))
7th: Wandering Spirit(Spirit Ability), Improved Whip Mastery
8th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(3rd)), (Greater Dirty Trick), (Improved Critical(Whip)), +1 STR
9th: Performance Weapon Mastery
10th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(4th)), (Tongues: Understand any language)
11th: Revelation(Maneuver Mastery: Trip), Combat Reflexes, (Improved Trip, Greater Trip)
12th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(5th)), (GWF(Whip)), +1 STR
13th: Extra Revelation(Maneuver Mastery: Grapple) (Improved Grapple, Greater Grapple)
14th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(6th))
15th: Wandering Spirit(Greater Spirit Ability), (Tongues: Speak any language), Greater Whip Mastery
16th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(7th)), +1 STR
17th: Quicken Spell
18th: Bonus Spell(Elven Arcana(8th))
19th: Revelation(Battlefield clarity), Extra Revelation(War Sight)
20th: Final Revelation, +1 STR

At 9th level, with Serpentine Tattoos, we can hit someone with a Whip(which is treated as performance weapon thanks to Performance Weapon mastery) and immediately inflict a (Greater) Dirty Trick with +22 CMB.

At 11th level, we can *hit* someone with a trip attempt with the whip, and immediately trigger a Greater Dirty trick in the same manner.

At 15th level, we can grapple with the whip via Greater Whip Mastery: Thanks to Greater Grapple, we can maintain the grapple as move action and use a standard action to cast spells.

Like the Whip magus above, a dueling whip can grant very large luck bonuses to Combat Maneuvers performed with the whip(i.e. Grapple, Trip, Disarm, Reposition, Sunder; Drag is specifically excluded).

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Thoughts? Does a Whip seem to be a somewhat viable weapon of choice?

Would you play a specialized character like one of the above?

Did I miss anything that could be used for a competent whip-wielding character?

Scarab Sages

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If I were going to make a Whip-based character, I would go warpriest. The Sacred Weapon damage makes the damage acceptable, and the bonus feats help with the multitude of necessary feats to make whips work.

Sovereign Court

Imbicatus wrote:

If I were going to make a Whip-based character, I would go warpriest. The Sacred Weapon damage makes the damage acceptable, and the bonus feats help with the multitude of necessary feats to make whips work.

Pretty much this, warpriest is great for everybody who wants to play with odd weapons and keep up easily in damage and utility.

I mean your builds are nice, but I dunno about many people out there, but I just like to keep it simple when making some characters.

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