Benefit: You are so quick with your whip that you never drop it due to a failed disarm or trip combat maneuver attempt. Further, you gain the ability to grapple using your whip. To do so, use the normal grapple rules with the following changes.
Attack: You cannot use your whip to attack while you are using it to grapple an opponent.
Damage: When dealing damage to your grappled opponent, you deal your whip’s weapon damage rather than your unarmed strike damage.
Free Hands: You take no penalty on your combat maneuver check for having fewer than two hands free when you use your whip to grapple.
Reach: Rather than pulling your grappled opponent adjacent to you when you successfully grapple and when you move the grapple, you must keep him within your whip’s reach minus his own reach to maintain the grapple. If the difference in reach is less than 0, such as is the case for a Medium whip wielder and a Gargantuan creature, you cannot grapple that opponent with your whip. If you have to pull a creature adjacent to you to grapple it with your whip, you still provoke an attack of opportunity from that opponent unless you have the Improved Grapple feat.
Tie Up: While adjacent to your opponent, you can attempt to use your whip to tie him up. If you do so to an opponent you have grappled rather than pinned, you take only a –5 penalty on the combat maneuver check rather than the normal –10.
This special ability can only be added to a melee weapon or a thrown weapon. An anchoring weapon pins a target in place and prevents it from moving. As a swift action, the weapon can be fixed in place in a point in space, functioning as an immovable rod. This ability can also be used when the wielder hits a creature with a melee attack using an anchoring weapon. This anchors the target to the weapon, preventing it from moving away from the weapon. The target is not entangled or paralyzed; it simply cannot move from its location without first destroying the weapon or making a successful DC 30 Strength check as a full-round action to move with the weapon up to 10 feet. An anchoring weapon remains motionless and cannot be used to attack while it is anchoring a creature. An anchoring weapon has no effect on amorphous creatures, including elementals, oozes, and creatures in gaseous or liquid form. It also cannot anchor incorporeal creatures unless the weapon also has the ghost touch special ability.
-------------------------
1) How do these two interact if, I, say, grappled someone with my +1 ghost touch, anchoring whip and activated the anchoring part as a swift action?
2) Would it be better than tying them up?
3) What if I tied them up first?
4) What if I pinned them first? (are they on the ground now?)
5) What if the opponent is flying when I grapple them?
I am really curious to know how this would work. I am looking forward to pulling this off with a non-optimized whip tripper alchemist/lore warden in an upcoming game, at least later in the campaign! Seems fun at least! :D
It's pretty obvious that they didn't consider this rules combination
1) Technically they don't interact at all, so you'll have to adjudicate on your own (as they obviously SHOULD interact). RAW you have to hit with a melee attack to get the actual anchoring effect. A grapple uses an attack roll but isn't technically a melee attack, if I am interpreting this sentence correctly: "While many combat maneuvers can be performed as part of an attack action, full-attack action, or attack of opportunity (in place of a melee attack), others require a specific action". (emphasis mine).
2) Not really. A grappled opponent already cannot move so other than creating an extra impediment in case they break the grapple you haven't done a lot. Chances are your opponent will just sunder the whip, which would be a very expensive waste..
3) and 4) You are preventing them from easily sundering the whip, which is extremely helpful, but again it doesn't technically stop them from getting out of the pinned or tied up condition.
5) If I am reading it correctly, the anchoring effect would prevent them from falling. It quite explicitly says the opponent isn't paralyzed or entangled or similar, it just cannot move from the square. Similarly, you wouldn't be able to drag or reposition such a creature.
If you used your whip to grapple someone, they are grappled. They can still do a CMB check to try to get free from the grapple however that just frees them from the grapple. A target hit with an anchoring weapon can not move from the space where they were hit (unless they break the weapon or have a very large strength check.) Until you free them. If they can get free from the grapple they can still attack from that spot or use magic to free themselves.
The tricky part of this questions is would the whip suddenly becoming non flexible make the grapple check harder to brake free from. As far as I know there is no rule for this however it would make sense. If I was the DM in your game I probably would add some difficulty to the CMB.
I the opponent is flying when hit with an anchoring weapon they are stuck up in the air until something frees them.
Just one more thing to note before you try this. Whips are easy to break and thus do not make very good anchoring weapons.
1)As written you'd effectively have them tethered to a particular space. The whip would become rigid holding the enemy in place while anchoring the handle wherever as an immovable rod. If you're wondering whether they'd have to break the grapple and the anchor separately or in which order that looks like it'd be up to the GM.
2) Depends, what's the DC to escape being tied up? Then you'd have to consider which DC they're more likely to beat (high str vs high dex and possible escape artist). Also keep in mind there are size limits to grappling and tying people up where as all you need to do is hit them to anchor them.
3) & 4) They'd be anchored in that condition (tied up or pinned) again whether and how the opponent has to break free seems like it's up to the GM.
5) Well depends. If they're flying using wings I'd rule that they'd plummet to the ground and take falling damage unless you activated the anchor while they were still in the air. If you activate the anchor while they're falling or they have some magical means of flight they'd be anchored in air since as written the target cannot move until the weapon is destroyed or the succeed at the Str check.
It's pretty obvious that they didn't consider this rules combination
1) Technically they don't interact at all, so you'll have to adjudicate on your own (as they obviously SHOULD interact). RAW you have to hit with a melee attack to get the actual anchoring effect. A grapple uses an attack roll but isn't technically a melee attack, if I am interpreting this sentence correctly: "While many combat maneuvers can be performed as part of an attack action, full-attack action, or attack of opportunity (in place of a melee attack), others require a specific action". (emphasis mine).
Anchoring wrote:
As a swift action, the weapon can be fixed in place in a point in space, functioning as an immovable rod. This ability can also be used when the wielder hits a creature with a melee attack using an anchoring weapon.
Sounds like it's an either or option. You can hit the enemy and then anchor them as a swift action, or you can grapple them and activate the anchor whenever you like.
It's pretty obvious that they didn't consider this rules combination
1) Technically they don't interact at all, so you'll have to adjudicate on your own (as they obviously SHOULD interact). RAW you have to hit with a melee attack to get the actual anchoring effect. A grapple uses an attack roll but isn't technically a melee attack, if I am interpreting this sentence correctly: "While many combat maneuvers can be performed as part of an attack action, full-attack action, or attack of opportunity (in place of a melee attack), others require a specific action". (emphasis mine).
Anchoring wrote:
As a swift action, the weapon can be fixed in place in a point in space, functioning as an immovable rod. This ability can also be used when the wielder hits a creature with a melee attack using an anchoring weapon.
Sounds like it's an either or option. You can hit the enemy and then anchor them as a swift action, or you can grapple them and activate the anchor whenever you like.
I don't disagree, but only the 'on hit' anchor allows you to hold the enemy in place RAW. There's no rules for what happens when you use the swift action immovable rod version on an enemy grappled with the weapon (because normally it wouldn't be 'stuck in' or inhibiting someone this way), so the GM will have to think of something. Having it interact like the 'on hit' anchor makes a lot of sense, but it is technically a houserule so I can't tell the OP that's definitely how it would work for him.
