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I've only just seen the rope dart in Ultimate Combat, and having looked it up (and seen videos of it in use), I wanted to try making a version that seems as it it better reflects the actual weapon.
Exotic Light Melee Weapon
Johyo
Cost: 2gp
Damage: 1d3(S), 1d4(M), 1d6 (L)
Critical: 20/x2
Damage Type: Varies (see description)
Range: 0/20ft. (see description)
Weight: 2lbs.
Special: Monk, Distracting, Trip, Reach (see description)
Description:
This deceptively complex weapon appears as nothing more than a rope or thin chain (7ft small, 12ft medium, 17ft large) with a weighted end. It can be whirled at great speeds, then aimed to strike opponents with great reach (+5ft small, +10ft medium, +15ft large). Once it strikes, the wielder can quickly retrieve the weapon with a free action. The weighted end can have a solid weight attached to deal bludgeoning damage, a bladed to deal slashing damage, or spike piercing damage. Changing the end takes 1 minute.
This weapon can be used in two ways, selected as a free action at the beginning of your turn. The first is as a reach weapon that does not threaten squares adjacent to you. The second is as a thrown weapon with a range of 20ft, or 40ft if the wielder lets go of the rope which must then be retrieved.
When fighting defensively, this weapon gains the Blocking special weapons quality (+1 shield bonus to AC).
Having different raches for small and medium is more realistic but non-standard. Don't punish the poor halflings.
I also think that being able to freely change from reach to thrown is too strong. Compare the Dorn-dergar. It taxes you a move action to switch from melee to reach. I think it would make sense to do the same for your Johyo. Then again, since this is not a racial weapon, you would need to invest a feat to wield it anyway...
Having different raches for small and medium is more realistic but non-standard. Don't punish the poor halflings.
I feel as if that's because with a normal reach weapon, if you were to make the reach less for a small character, it would no longer be a reach weapon.
Small weapons are suppose to be smaller and lighter than their medium counterparts. If the reach for small character doesn't change, why should the damage? Or do they just make it longer and thinner (and therefor lighter), and if so, shouldn't that make them easier to break?
It's an inconsistency, so with this one weapon I fixed it. But for almost nothing they get to attack at both 10 (and 15 using the thrown attack) feet away from them, more than any standard weapon would allow, so they aren't really being punished for being small.
I also think that being able to freely change from reach to thrown is too strong. Compare the Dorn-dergar. It taxes you a move action to switch from melee to reach. I think it would make sense to do the same for your Johyo. Then again, since this is not a racial weapon, you would need to invest a feat to wield it anyway...
That weapon is changing from melee non-reach to melee reach, this weapon is always in reach, and it is basically being thrown every time it is used to attack. For the game though, when attacking so far out, you have to make a specific effort to do it, so that's why I changed it to thrown (also because that's how the original version of this badly written weapon was). I gave it a 40ft maximum (or at least that's what it is suppose to be) if it wasn't held onto, instead of the 5x range of 100ft that a normal thrown weapon would have, based on comments I had seen from people who have actually used rope darts.
Contrast the Dorn-dergar with the Meteor Hammer, which is in the same book as the original rope dart (Ultimate Combat). It can also be used to attack as a non-reach weapon (double weapon in this case) as a free action at the start of your turn. It does less damage than the dorn-dergar and by it's stats it's also 5lbs lighter.
I had thought to add a line in the Johyo that says, 'This weapon can be used to threaten and attack squares adjacent to you until the beginning of your next turn, with a -2 penalty to attack.' But, I don't really see anyone but a monk using this weapon, so instead of using the weapon, they'd just kick whoever got that close.
It's an inconsistency, so with this one weapon I fixed it. But for almost nothing they get to attack at both 10 (and 15 using the thrown attack) feet away from them, more than any standard weapon would allow, so they aren't really being punished for being small.
But now your weapon is inconsistent with every other weapon in the game :o
Contrast the Dorn-dergar with the Meteor Hammer, which is in the same book as the original rope dart (Ultimate Combat). It can also be used to attack as a non-reach weapon (double weapon in this case) as a free action at the start of your turn. It does less damage than the dorn-dergar and by it's stats it's also 5lbs lighter.
Good point, I didn't realize the meteor hammer could strike in the 5ft range.
Its a little unclear from the write-up, but does a medium creature with a Johyo threaten 10-15 ft? Because that's moderately crazy. That't the reach of an ogre with a spear without having the 10ft doughnut-of-sadness.
If you want to fix ranges, you should probably have the throwing range scale with the wielder's size too. Since a large Johyo wielder can't throw it farther then he can attack with it.
Have you considered just using a whip instead?
But now your weapon is inconsistent with every other weapon in the game
Exotic weapons are odd weapons, they can have unique mechanics, that's why they're exotic XD
Its a little unclear from the write-up, but does a medium creature with a Johyo threaten 10-15 ft? Because that's moderately crazy. That't the reach of an ogre with a spear without having the 10ft doughnut-of-sadness.
I could very well be wrong, but I always thought they only had a 5ft 'doughnut-of-sadness' since the spear, in this case, means they cannot threaten/attack squares adjacent to them, which would only be 5ft
If you want to fix ranges, you should probably have the throwing range scale with the wielder's size too. Since a large Johyo wielder can't throw it farther then he can attack with it.
Hmm.....Though..a large character could still throw it 40ft, if they let go, you're right, that was an oversight on my part.
Have you considered just using a whip instead?
Whips completely suck, and we all know it. Plus, they aren't monk weapons, which this and the rope dart are, so I wanted to keep that quality and just fix it a bit.
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My original idea, that I scrapped because I couldn't find a good way to word it, was that each round, as a free action, the character could choose which range they threatened (5ft, 10ft, 15ft, or 20ft, but not all at once) but could attack at any of them (they just wouldn't threaten). In this version it was an Exotic Two-Hand weapon with a special of automatically using Dex to attack and damage.