TL;DR summation of rant
Rewrite Ultimate Equipment Scorpion Whip as follows.
Table entry:
Whip, Scorpion .... 15 gp .... 1d3 .... 1d4 .... x2 .... — .... 3 lb. .... S .... Performance
Scorpion Whip
Price 15 gp
Type exotic
This whip has a series of razor-sharp blades and fangs inset along its tip. If you are proficient with whips you are proficient with the scorpion whip, you can use it as a whip.
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I've been getting back into Pathfinder after a decent hiatus and am only now digging into Ultimate Equipment... and much to my horror I find the butchered Ultimate Combat version of the Scorpion Whip still clinging to life.
What was wrong the Adventurer's Armory Scorpion Whip? I want a designer to answer. Paizo, you've managed to dodge and basically ignore all feedback you got when you rolled out the UC version. You haven't addressed any of the problems or confusion pointed out. Such as why does it suddenly change from a Light weapon to a One-Handed weapon if you're proficient with and use it like a normal Whip.
From a mechanical standpoint the now Ultimate Equipment Scorpion Whip is a bogus use of the Exotic Weapon proficiency. The gladius makes a better choice. The knuckle axe, madu, Pata, Quadrens, and Sica as well.
.... *insert rage face meme here*
Okay I get it, a 15 foot reach lethal damage melee weapon isn't coming back as single feat equipment. For whatever strange reason you've decided this isn't balanced and you had to find a way to force Whip using characters into taking the Whip Mastery feat chain.
However could you at the minimum errata your neutered Scorpion Whip so that it's covered by Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip). If you have to bump the gold price to 15 gp instead of 5. As it stands there is zero logical reason to take EWP (Scorpion Whip). It's dead end for the "performance" tag and takes you out of the way of the Whip Mastery set
In short rewrite the entry as "Whip, Scorpion". The same way the game already treats a "Bow" and its Composite entires. "For purposes of Weapon Proficiency and Weapon Focus a scorpion whip is treated as if it were a whip." See even dropping the "and similar feats" to avoid any oddities that could come up from Whip Mastery.
OR to really KISS and save some word space
This whip has a series of razor-sharp blades and fangs inset along its tip. It deals lethal damage, even to creatures with armor bonuses. If you are proficient with whips you are proficient with the scorpion whip, you can use it as a whip.
5 extra words to turn a failure into something usable. plus 1 extra character to bump the gold price from 5g to 15g
You really want to get skimpy and rely on the implied elements of the weapon table
This whip has a series of razor-sharp blades and fangs inset along its tip. If you are proficient with whips you are proficient with the scorpion whip, you can use it as a whip.
Note completely dropping the "lethal damage part". It already has its entry doing 1d4 lethal damage, the lack of a "nonlethal" tag is a giveaway there. The only confusion will remain the "you can use it as a whip." part, which is currently a point of confusion as it is currently written so no change there.
Its things like this that make me glad I don't participate in Pathfinder Society play, as I can house rule poor design choices like this out of my games.
Checked your blood pressure lately?
Checked the forum history of this weapon since Ultimate Combat? Apparently Paizo didn't either.
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Checked your blood pressure lately?Checked the forum history of this weapon since Ultimate Combat?
No, but I've checked my Care Box and found it empty.
You're foaming at mouth over an exotic weapon that does 1d4 damage. I fear to imagine what happens when you encounter some *actual* issues in your life.
Also, if developers were to run around and discuss every request for changes that happens on this boards (hint: it happens a lot), they would basically never get anything done.
Gorbacz, evil toothy bag that he is, is right. Calm down. No dying / stroking out while typing on the forums allowed :)
And what is so confusing about the wording? If you are normally proficient with Whips you can use it *as* a Whip. Whip stats, not Scorpion Whip stats. If you spend the feat for Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Scorpion Whip, you get the Scorpion Whip stats. Not every exotic weapon is a super weapon; some are more about the flavor. Or am I missing something here?
