Whip wielding character


Advice


So I'm kinda at a loss of how I want to set up my 3rd level character. I know I want him/her to wield a whip and probably do minor speaking for the group. I want them to specialize in the steal maneuver. Class/race etc. suggestions?


The steal maneuver wouldn't be good for a whip user. If I read This FAQ right only Sunder, Trip, and Disarm can be performed with a whip or any other reach weapon.

Not regarding the steal maneuver bard is probably the best class for your concept. You get a whip proficiency for free and bards are the classic party face. For race just don't go with a small race or a race with negative charisma to keep your CMB up, although Human will help in the early levels with that extra feat. Still, you can probably get away with any race that isn't small or has a penalty to charisma.

For any other class though, I'd recommend the half-elf who can get a whip for free and early for any medium BAB class.

For feats, if you're willing to forgo the thieving I'd recommend Combat Expertise and Improved Trip since you're level 3. With the whip you don't have to worry about Attacks of Opportunity but a +2 to your trip attempts can help and there's more goodies in the trip line. Weapon Finesse is highly recommended if you go dex based.

Grand Lodge

I'm a fan of the kensai magus.


if the agile weapon enchant is used in your game think about going with a dexterity build, basically a dervish dance (feat not archetype) build with whip mastery replacing dervish dance. a halfling or gnome isn't a bad choice since the whip does so little M size damage that the change to S is barely even noticeable, halfling can get good milage out of risky striker. bard isn't a bad choice for a CHR class so you don't need to waste a feat learning to use the whip (exotic weapon). if agile weapon enchant is not in play (and you want to focus on DEX) then slashing grace is the way to go, but it is a somewhat feat heavy path that takes a few levels to come into it's own.

If doing a dexterity build without the agile weapon enchant you want a class/race combination which allows you to have the feats of weapon proficiency (whip), weapon focus (whip), weapon finesse, slashing grace, whip mastery as soon as possible. Fighter can get this in by level 3 if they are 1) human and use the bonus racial feat to get whip profiency 2)half-elven and can get whip proficiency through ancestral arms 2) hobgoblin and take pit boss which gives whip proficiency and +1 to CMB when using the whip to trip or disarm. A human kensai magnus can have all 5 feats at level 3 as well, 5 if non human. A human bard or swashbuckler with the mysterious avenger archetype gets whip proficiency from their class and can have these at level 5, any other race at level 7.

Or you could go with a more traditional STR build. Then you can do anything, but it isn't as fun as a dexterity build.


With Sacred Weapon, bonus feats, and Focus Weapon, Warpriests also make excellent whip wielders.


Gisher wrote:
With Sacred Weapon, bonus feats, and Focus Weapon, Warpriests also make excellent whip wielders.

hmm, a warpriest of any race could have the 5 essential feats for dexterity at level 3 & doesn't have to worry about the crappy damage of the whip - if only they had more skill points.

Grand Lodge

I am gonna second the Kensai Magus. Manuver Mastery Arcana, Weapon Focus, Arcane Pool, bonus feats, and being able to still deal large amounts of damage with manuevers (being able to discharge spells with manuevers is awesome) are great boons that can help you feel relevant when foes are not tripable, disarmable, etc.


Kensai also has the advantage of going Spell Combat -> True Strike -> Whatever combat maneuver I feel like, 'cause it's at a +18 over my normal stuff.

Warpriest has the feat slots though. It really comes down to whichever of those two you prefer, I'd think.


Mysterious Avenger Swashbuckler works too


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Magus.
Magical Lineage trait applied to the Frostbite spell.
Rime Spell metamagic feat.
Enforcer feat.
Cruel Whip.

With a 15' reach, you Spell Combat and Spellstrike a Rime Frostbite, applying the entangled and fatigued conditions. You also hit with your whip, so you can roll to apply shaken. On your regular hit with your whip, the Cruel weapon enchantment applies sickened. If 4 debuffs doesn't do in your target, I dunno what will.

Otherwise, Kestral nailed what the Magus can do. True Strike = nigh automatic combat maneuvers. You don't need any trick other than this to succeed at whatever combat maneuver you could possibly want. Even more amazing is that you don't need to worry about incurring AoOs to cast, because of your insane reach. Basically, don't bother dumping feats into Combat Expertise or Improved Whatever. It won't help you, realistically. The same applies to the Maneuver Mastery Arcana. It's just a waste.

You'll also have damage as a possibility. While not as spikey as a scimitar wielding Magus, you'll be able to cast Shocking Grasp (and later, you can add the metamagic Intensified to that) for 1d6/level bonus damage. If that doesn't slice through your opponent, there's bigger issues to worry about.

Silver Crusade Contributor

I personally am a big fan of building for Improved Whip Mastery and Combat Reflexes. I built a swashbuckler cohort for my Carrion Crown party, and it's insane. I actually had to weigh her down with some noncombat feats (albeit still useful; Iron Will/Improved Iron Will) so that she wasn't shaming the rest of the party. If you try it, I love the fortuitous weapon property. It's glorious. :D


I made a whip warpriest a while back for a discussion on reddit. Maybe It can give you some ideas. Dropbox


heyyon wrote:

Magus.

Magical Lineage trait applied to the Frostbite spell.
Rime Spell metamagic feat.
Enforcer feat.
Cruel Whip.

Need a Merciful weapon too, or a very lenient GM to let Enforcer + Frostbite work on its own.


kestral287 wrote:
heyyon wrote:

Magus.

Magical Lineage trait applied to the Frostbite spell.
Rime Spell metamagic feat.
Enforcer feat.
Cruel Whip.
Need a Merciful weapon too, or a very lenient GM to let Enforcer + Frostbite work on its own.

For other weapons I would agree with you, but this is a whip. It does non-lethal damage normally.


Do you need to do damage? I have a really really fun whip build if you've already got 2 other bruiser in your group.

You play a half-orc with the city-raised race trait for whip proficiency.

Play an oracle. Battle mystery is going to be your best bet for disarm. Take the revelation that gives you full BAB on disarm and the improved and greater disarm feats.

Take the weapon finesse feat. Now your dex applies to your CMB when using a whip to trip and disarm.

Take weapon focus whip (gives the bonus to CMs made with a whip too) and as many whip mastery feats as you see fit. Improved let's you move small objects which means you can disarm and then pull a weapon into your square once you have multiple attacks. That's nearly a steal.

If possible, take dazzling display whip. With a half-orc intimidate bonus and high charisma, you'll be able to intimidate large numbers of opponents regularly.

Build with high DEX and decent CHA. You're now a full caster with tons of options for disarm, trip, and intimidate when you don't want to burn a spell.

If you get a mithral shield (needs to have 0 ACP to work with weapon finesse), and a mithral breastplate, you can have an outstanding AC too. You don't do any physical damage though.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

If you want to be a whip user and a face, may I suggest the Archaeologist Bard? He already comes packed with out-of-combat support for the party, and he gets free whip proficency at that. With him, I'd focus more on a STR build though, since STR whip builds are more capable of taking advantage of Enlarge Person and other such size increasing spells.

As an archaeologist, you also get a scaling luck bonus on most of your rolls, and can increase this bonus with a trait (Fate's Favored). If you're lucky, you can even join the Kithordian Academy and grab the Master Performer and Grandmaster Performer Faction feats to increase those bonuses by another +1 each.

So as an Archaeologist, you're a handsome rouge with great face skills, great sneaking skills, and even great fighting skills. If you wanted to be Indiana Jones, there's nobody better.

Except maybe the Kensai, but that's only as far as combat is concerned.


Gisher wrote:
kestral287 wrote:
heyyon wrote:

Magus.

Magical Lineage trait applied to the Frostbite spell.
Rime Spell metamagic feat.
Enforcer feat.
Cruel Whip.
Need a Merciful weapon too, or a very lenient GM to let Enforcer + Frostbite work on its own.
For other weapons I would agree with you, but this is a whip. It does non-lethal damage normally.

My memory of Whip Mastery was off. I thought you had to use the lethal damage option to punch through armor. My mistake.


kestral287 wrote:
Gisher wrote:
kestral287 wrote:
heyyon wrote:

Magus.

Magical Lineage trait applied to the Frostbite spell.
Rime Spell metamagic feat.
Enforcer feat.
Cruel Whip.
Need a Merciful weapon too, or a very lenient GM to let Enforcer + Frostbite work on its own.
For other weapons I would agree with you, but this is a whip. It does non-lethal damage normally.
My memory of Whip Mastery was off. I thought you had to use the lethal damage option to punch through armor. My mistake.

It's an easy mistake to make. My guess is that you confused it with the Deadly enhancement which is either completely on or completely off.


You do know you can make a steal combat maneuver with a whip at -4.

It's in the rules.

I have a Half Orc Lore Warden Fighter/Skulking Slayer Rogue that has ridiculous trip/Steal/Dirty trick CMB.

He uses a (PFSFG version) +2 Dueling Whip, and a Heavy Flail for damage. Both are in the same weapon training group for Gloves of Dueling to boost, and he has a slotted Dusty Rose Ioun Stone in a Wayfinder.

With a Burglar's Buckler (UE), and adding his sneak attack dice total to dirty trick and steal maneuvers, along with the feats and the lore warden bonus, he hits upper 28-34 on the regular for all 3 maneuvers.

In addition, blinding means sneak attack the rest of the time.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Whip wielding character All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice
Is Paragon Surge OP?