I have a player who is doing a character build and sent me these questions regarding the use of a net. I am prepared to respond but I am curious how other GMs/prospective GMs and rules lawyers would answer these questions. How would you rule?
I'm about to build a net, so I can deal with our enemies less lethally. This means that I've got some net questions which I'm going to ask here, so that they're easy to find and refer to later on when we've both forgotten what your rulings were.
1. A net normally has a range of 10', and a 10' trailing rope which you hold on to when you throw it. Your enemy can't get more than 10' away from you without beating you in a strength check. My Strong Arm, Supple Wrist trait will up that range to 20' when I get a running start. Since I'm building the net myself, I could easily make the trailing rope 20' long. If I do, will my enemy still be forced to stay within 20' of me, or is that just too much slack, allowing him to build up enough momentum to break away even if I win the Strength check?
2. Can I choke up on that trailing rope? i.e. If I throw it from 20' away (or 10', if you disallow the 20' trailing rope) and then close to 5' on the following round, can I shorten his leash along the way? If so, is that a swift action, or something more substantial?
3. If I later take the Net Adept feat, suddenly I have the option of using my net as a melee weapon with a 10' reach. No, I'm not asking if Strong Arm Supple Wrist gives it a 20' reach. That'd be silly, particularly since the trait only affects ranged attacks. What I AM asking is if I can use it to attack creatures right next to me, or if it's like almost all the other reach weapons and can ONLY attack 10' away, not any closer.
4. If, instead of a net, I build a Snag Net, will I still be able to use net-based feats with it, even though it's technically a different weapon?
5. The net as written is made of hemp rope. Can I make it out of silk, or spider silk, to make it proportionately lighter, stronger, and more expensive? What about chain?
1. By RAW, I'd say not. A weapon's numerical statistics are what they are.
But adding 10ft to the range of a net at the cost of a trait seems more than fair to me.
2. Again, it would appear that you cannot, according to the RAW. But, if you win an opposed check, I don't see why not.
3. Weapons with reach usually spell out that they can't be used against adjacent opponents, no? Because otherwise, reach is reach.
4. A snag net functions "as a net", so I'd let that one slide.
5. You can make weapons out of special materials, so why not?
Though a chain net would be heavy and noisy.
Thank you makes sense. 3 and 4 were the ones I found myself on the fence on and was leaning the opposite way of both your posts but I find your answers are practical and grounded. I just wanted to make sure that if I am allowing anything it is more for flavor and I don't want to get "gamed" but with 1 and 2 there was give and take
Thank you makes sense...I don't want to get "gamed"
Any time.
I don't think the net is usually considered all that great of a weapon, so I don't think you need to worry about it becoming too much to handle. It's effective within a very narrow range of situations.