Chained/Roped Weapons? [Comments Plz] [Archive] - Wizards Community

Chained/Roped Weapons? [Comments Plz] [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
NightScreamer20
11-07-05, 03:28 AM Chainlink Weapon
Description: Your normal run-of-the-mill weapon is slightly enhanced. From the hilt extends a ring and from that ring a great chain is connected. The chain itself goes from the weapon to a small weight, usually used to grasp the weapon. Most warriors use padded bracers to wrap the chain around when not in use.
Creation: Chainlink weapons can only be created from Light or One-Handed Melee weapons, that are not already Reach weapons. Although they are One-Handed Weapons for those with the correct Feats, exotic weapons that are considered Two-Handed Weapons without the appropriate Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat, cannot be made into Chainlink weapons. A Chainlink Weapon is treated as a Two-Handed weapon from then on.
Benefit: A Chainlink weapon grants that weapon Reach.
Special: A Chainlink weapon grants a +2 bonus on all Trip attempts. A Chainlinked weapon can be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt.
Penalties: Those not proficient in Chainlink weapons take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls made with the weapon. In addition all Reach attacks with the weapon impose a -2 penalty to attacks (a total of -6 to those not proficient with Chainlink weapons). A Chainlink weapon that is used to make attacks against an adjacent opponent cannot be used to make reach attack (or visa-versa) for that round.
Feats: Those that take Exotic Weapon Proficiency with a Chainlinked weapon no longer take the -4 penalty to attack rules due to inproficiency, but do continue to take the -2 penalty to all reach attack rolls. They are able to make both Reach and Adjacent Melee attacks with a Chainlinked weapon in the same round.
Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): A Chainlink weapon must be Masterworked, this automatically adds +300 gp to it's base price. The chain or rope itself is finely crafted, adding an additional +65 gp to the weapon's base price. A Chainlinked weapon also weighs +10 lbs. more than the original weapon.

Dual-Chainlink Weapon
Description: This thick metal chain hoists two weapons on each end, able to be swung around in order to strike your opponents.
Creation: A Dual-Chainlink Weapon can be created from any two Light weapons. The Dual-Chainlink Weapon itself is considered a Two-Handed Weapon.
Benefit: A Dual-Chainlink Weapon creates a weapon a Double Weapon with reach.
Special: A Dual-Chainlink weapon grants a +2 bonus on all Trip attempts. A Dual-Chainlink weapon can be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt.
Penalties: Those not proficient in Dual-Chainlink weapons take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls made with the weapon. In addition all Reach attacks with the weapon impose a -2 penalty to attacks (a total of -6 to those not proficient with Dual-Chainlink weapons). A Dual-Chainlink weapon that is used to make attacks against an adjacent opponent cannot be used to make reach attack (or visa-versa) for that round.
Feats: Those that take Exotic Weapon Proficiency with a Chainlinked weapon no longer take the -4 penalty to attack rules due to inproficiency, but do continue to take the -2 penalty to all reach attack rolls. They are able to make both Reach and Adjacent Melee attacks with a Chainlinked weapon in the same round. Those using a Dual-Chainlink Weapon as a Double Weapon take penalties as if they were wielding a One-Handed Weapon with a Light Weapon in their Off-Hand.
Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): Each end of a Dual-Chainlink weapon must be Masterworked, this automatically adds +600 gp to it's base price. The chain or rope itself is finely crafted, adding an additional +65 gp to the weapon's base price. A Chainlinked weapon also weighs +10 lbs. more than the original weapons.

Chainlink Bracelet
Description: A large metal bracelt with a thick ring from one-side. The inside inside is padded with wool and straw in order to keep it comfortable and secure on the wearer's wrist.
Benefit: The chain of a Chainlink weapon can be secured in such a bracelet, granting a +4 bonus to resist Disarm attempts and a +1 bonus on all Trip attempts (stacking with that of the Chainlink weapon for a total of +3).
Penalty: A Chainlink weapon connected to a Chainlink Bracelet cannot be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt.
Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): A Chainlink Bracelet costs 25 gp and weighs about 4 lbs.

Chainlink Warrior [General]
Taking this feat means you have mastered the use of Chainlinked weaponry.
Prerequisites: BAB +6, Use Rope 3 Ranks, Proficiency with any Chainlink Weapon
Benefit: You no longer take a penalty on Reach attacks with a Chainlink weapon. Furthermore you treat Chainlinked Weapons as One-Handed Weapons instead of Two-Handed Weapons (even those Chainlinked Weapons created from Light Weapons are still too cumbersome to be Light Weapons again).
Special: This feat can be taken as a Fighter Bonus Feat.

Author's Comments: Well is it fair? Would this be extremely unbalanced?

Farstrike [Enhancement]
Applicable: The Farstrike weapon enhancement can be placed on any Melee Weapon with Reach.
Benefit: The Farstrike Enhancement increases a weapon's normal reach by 10 ft.
Cost: +2 Weapon (+1 Farstrike Spiked Chain would cost +32,000 gp, weapon price not included).
Type: Moderate Transmutation, Enlarge Item?
tarkin
11-07-05, 10:43 AM You are using 3.0 style rules for reach, a bad idea, it causes huge problems.

To convert to 3.5, this is what you should be saying:

When you add chain link to a weapon it counts as a reach weapon if it is Small or larger.

For tiny or smaller sized weapons, it lets them threaten an area of 5ft, but they lose the ability to attack someone within their curren square.

---------
Also note, the reach granted should be regular reach, not the Spiked Chain reach. Spike chain full reach would take two feats to get, not one.
Outla
11-07-05, 11:50 AM "It takes a skilled hand to create the right balanced of the weapon and chain in order to grant it the fine tune it requires to be wielded effectively."

More specifically, the skill is to file down the sword (or whatever weapon) to a more reasonable size before attaching the chain. The ideal size is, of course, exactly the same size as the spikes on a spiked chain.

Any weapon on a chain, regardless of whether it's made out of swords, maces, or macaroni and cheese, needs to have equal-or-worse stats than a spiked chain when used on a chain. If ANY of its stats (damage, crit chance, crit amount, weight, or cost) are better than a spiked chain, then it is unfair. Face it, if spiked chains could be made any better, then everyone would have made them that way in the first place.

I don't want to be totally mean about it, as it's good to use some creativity; this is a nice idea and it would be neat to see a character use it. But you've got to adjust the damage and stats of your creative weapons so they're less than any of the standard weapons, not more than the standard weapons. Is that so hard?

It's also unfair to allow either spiked chains or these weapons to be made of leather. But... if you lower the damage and crits in much the same way that all the other druid weapons have lower damage than a longsword, then it's ok. Still, every opponent in the world with a sword or other slashing weapon will be thinking to himself... "His weapon is made out of leather? Well, maybe I'll cut it!" That's probably why most weapons aren't made out of leather to begin with.
NightScreamer20
11-07-05, 02:19 PM Ok lemme retry...
00_Whupass
11-07-05, 02:50 PM This reminds me of a 8-bit theater strip I read a while back where the fighter goes to the weapon shop and tries to convince the shopkeep to make him a pair of "Swordchucks". It went something like this.

Shopkeep: "You want what?!"
Fighter: "Swordchucks. Like nunchucks but with swords instead of sticks."
Shopkeep: "How would you hold them? They'd cut everything"
Fighter: "Exactly."
Shopkeep: "You do realise that when I said 'everything' that included you right?"
Fighter: "Ok, so how much?"
Shopkeep: "..."

But seriously, bad idea. The spiked chain is already a rediculously powerful weapon with better than average damage, reach, a bonus to trip attempts, and is Finessable. What your feat does is allow every fighter to turn whatever weapon he may be using into a spiked chain+, the plus is because you could chain-link a weapon with better damage or different special abilities, the chain linked greatsword springs to mind as the obvious example of a spiked chain+, you've done this for no more feats than the normal spiked chain user, since a greatsword is martial the feat that would have gone to exotic weapon prof (spiked chain) instead goes to chain-link fighter...and, whala, you've just managed to eclipse the most abused weapon in the game in terms of power, without an comensurate drawback.

Edit: Alright, I just re-read the thread an noticed that on first blush I missed the "light or one handed weapons only" part which ruins my chain-linked greatsword example, but I still feel this is a bad idea.
Vestigial_Thumb
11-07-05, 02:55 PM Swordchucks, yo!
Keenath
11-07-05, 03:32 PM Beyond the Spiked Chain, there are a couple other weapons that might be of interest to you:

In D20 modern they have the "chain", which could easily also represent a chinese Sheng Bao (AKA Meteor Hammer), which is essentially a five-pound brass weight on the end of a cotton rope, or a manriki-gusari ("10,000-power chain"), which is the same thing using a chain instead of rope. (Ten thousand, for reference, is the Japanese equivalent of saying "a million" in english -- a large, undefined number. The chain multiplies your strength by "a lot".)

In OA, they have presented the kusarigama ("kama-and-chain"), traditionally a ninja weapon. As the name suggests, it's a kama with a long chain on the other end, which terminates in a small weight. The usual use was either whirling the chain and using the high-speed weight as a bludgeon, or tangling a warrior's sword in the chain, giving it a sharp tug to disarm him or break the blade, and then slice the swordless samurai with the kama end. (And no, I don't care WHAT you saw on Inuyasha, nobody EVER threw the kama end.)

In both cases, the weapon is either a double weapon OR a reach weapon, but it can only be one or the other in any given turn. The chain is 1d6/1d6 bludgeoning, and the kusari-gama is 1d6/1d4 slashing/bludgeoning, and you can only use the bludgeoning end at range (which is accurate to the actual use of the weapon). Both weapons grant a bonus to disarm and allow trips.

In my opinion, the chain is mildly overpowered, but neither is bad enough to complain about very loudly; what you're looking for may be filled by one of these two.
NightScreamer20
11-07-05, 04:20 PM Changed Chainlink Fighter to just EWP: Chainlink Weapon

Unproficient Penalties: -6 penalty to Reach attacks, -4 penalty to Melee attacks.

The only sure way to use this weapon would be Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Chainlink (Weapon) like the Spiked Chain, however... these weapons aren't as powerful as the normal Spiked Chain... So I fail to see why EVERYONE is comparing it to the Spiked Chain.

This does NOT make it a Spiked Chain, the maximum damage any Core One-Handed Weapon deals is 1d8, which is half of the minimum damage of the Spiked Chain. A Chainlinked weapon is also not Finesse-able (one of the major unbalancing points of the Spiked Chain). A Spiked Chain can be dropped in order to avoid a Trip attempt, a Chainlink weapon cannot (further details after looking at the drawing that inspired this concept have invoked). A Spiked Chain also isn't as expensive as this weapon... So really guys... what am I missing?
NightScreamer20
11-07-05, 11:08 PM Made a few changes. Look at it.
Outla
11-08-05, 07:51 PM It's definitely clearer now. Good rewriting. Now I understand. There's still three things to change:

1. You still need to add something that says you can't make bastard swords and dwarven waraxes into chain weapons, because those technically are one-handed melee weapons, they're just exotic ones.

2. The chain should add weight. I doubt it weighs zero pounds.

3. You should also add a line that says that a person with weapon focus and weapon specialization in the original weapon does *not* get to apply them when swinging it by a chain.

After that, it's reasonable. Except for one thing. There's never been a one-handed reach weapon in D&D before! That's a pretty major issue. Being able to turn just about any weapon into a reach weapon, for almost free (65gp) (at -6 to hit). Don't tell me 300gp either -- almost all adventures buy masterwork anyway, so it's not really costing them extra. Makes you wonder why every adventurer shop everywhere doesn't have chains available for all their weapons. Even a non-proficient person can just ignore the chain and use the weapon normally if he wants to. Come to think of it... maybe they do in some worlds :)

The only real solution is to say that any weapon with a chain attached must be held in two hands, even when it's being used 'normally' at short range instead of at reach. Then it's totally fair compared to other D&D weapons. I realize that would ruin the entire goal of having a one-handed reach weapon... but I don't know what else would be fair.
NightScreamer20
11-08-05, 10:54 PM I made that change, along with the change to the Feat 'linked' (I crack myself up) with the weapon.

All Chainlinked Weapons are Two-Handed Weapons, the Chainlink Warrior feat allows them to be used as One-Handed Weapons... and now requires you to be Proficient with a Chainlink Weapon *slaps forehead*.

Also added the Chainlink Bracelet, basically a Locking Gauntlet for Chainlink Weapons.
FlameLover
11-09-05, 12:10 AM There's never been a one-handed reach weapon in D&D before!
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#whip

Anyway it's perfectly balanced now I feel. And i wouldn't prevent you from using Weapon Focus with it myself - you're already taking an EWP for it and all that. It basically removes the need for a Spiked Chain even because you can have a Chained Longsword which does basically the same thing :) And I love the idea of Chained Kukris with TWF... (takes and extra 2 feats to do so but i'd say it's worth it).
Outla
11-09-05, 05:26 AM The whip doesn't really count in my opinion. It has a bunch of restrictions that make it more like a ranged weapon. Some people might count a lance as a reach weapon, but it's only one-handed while mounted. And some DMs allow a spear to be used with reach, under the right circumstances.

Your new weapon seems fair now. Unusual and powerful... but I think many DMs would allow it.
NightScreamer20
11-09-05, 12:44 PM Really it's jsut for me and my campaign... I mean seriously...

How else was I supposed t re-create a BBEG who was like Kratos... God of War :P
NightScreamer20
11-09-05, 03:52 PM This is definately a weapon for Fighters, no one would waste 2 feats in order to really be able to unleash the potential of such a weapon...

I mean, EWP (Chainlinked Longsword) + Chainlink Warrior in order to wield it without penalties. And then Two-Weapon Fighting and Overside Two-Weapon Fighting to boot.

I never mentioned this but maybe now's a good time. This is a 'replacement' for the Spiked Chain in my campaign.

Oh and one more thing... I was pondering like Chainlinked Double Weapons. The ability to place two usually Light Weapons to become a single Two-Handed Weapon with Reach (Dual Kama Chain for example...) This however, I don't if it would be fair or not...

Placving this here which may cause Flamerdoom, but X-Posted to the Magic and Spells Section (it's a magical enhancement)... the Farstrike Weapon Enhancement.... See above?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
NightScreamer20 11-07-05, 03:28 AM	Chainlink Weapon Description: Your normal run-of-the-mill weapon is slightly enhanced. From the hilt extends a ring and from that ring a great chain is connected. The chain itself goes from the weapon to a small weight, usually used to grasp the weapon. Most warriors use padded bracers to wrap the chain around when not in use. Creation: Chainlink weapons can only be created from Light or One-Handed Melee weapons, that are not already Reach weapons. Although they are One-Handed Weapons for those with the correct Feats, exotic weapons that are considered Two-Handed Weapons without the appropriate Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat, cannot be made into Chainlink weapons. A Chainlink Weapon is treated as a Two-Handed weapon from then on. Benefit: A Chainlink weapon grants that weapon Reach. Special: A Chainlink weapon grants a +2 bonus on all Trip attempts. A Chainlinked weapon can be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt. Penalties: Those not proficient in Chainlink weapons take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls made with the weapon. In addition all Reach attacks with the weapon impose a -2 penalty to attacks (a total of -6 to those not proficient with Chainlink weapons). A Chainlink weapon that is used to make attacks against an adjacent opponent cannot be used to make reach attack (or visa-versa) for that round. Feats: Those that take Exotic Weapon Proficiency with a Chainlinked weapon no longer take the -4 penalty to attack rules due to inproficiency, but do continue to take the -2 penalty to all reach attack rolls. They are able to make both Reach and Adjacent Melee attacks with a Chainlinked weapon in the same round. Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): A Chainlink weapon must be Masterworked, this automatically adds +300 gp to it's base price. The chain or rope itself is finely crafted, adding an additional +65 gp to the weapon's base price. A Chainlinked weapon also weighs +10 lbs. more than the original weapon. Dual-Chainlink Weapon Description: This thick metal chain hoists two weapons on each end, able to be swung around in order to strike your opponents. Creation: A Dual-Chainlink Weapon can be created from any two Light weapons. The Dual-Chainlink Weapon itself is considered a Two-Handed Weapon. Benefit: A Dual-Chainlink Weapon creates a weapon a Double Weapon with reach. Special: A Dual-Chainlink weapon grants a +2 bonus on all Trip attempts. A Dual-Chainlink weapon can be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt. Penalties: Those not proficient in Dual-Chainlink weapons take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls made with the weapon. In addition all Reach attacks with the weapon impose a -2 penalty to attacks (a total of -6 to those not proficient with Dual-Chainlink weapons). A Dual-Chainlink weapon that is used to make attacks against an adjacent opponent cannot be used to make reach attack (or visa-versa) for that round. Feats: Those that take Exotic Weapon Proficiency with a Chainlinked weapon no longer take the -4 penalty to attack rules due to inproficiency, but do continue to take the -2 penalty to all reach attack rolls. They are able to make both Reach and Adjacent Melee attacks with a Chainlinked weapon in the same round. Those using a Dual-Chainlink Weapon as a Double Weapon take penalties as if they were wielding a One-Handed Weapon with a Light Weapon in their Off-Hand. Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): Each end of a Dual-Chainlink weapon must be Masterworked, this automatically adds +600 gp to it's base price. The chain or rope itself is finely crafted, adding an additional +65 gp to the weapon's base price. A Chainlinked weapon also weighs +10 lbs. more than the original weapons. Chainlink Bracelet Description: A large metal bracelt with a thick ring from one-side. The inside inside is padded with wool and straw in order to keep it comfortable and secure on the wearer's wrist. Benefit: The chain of a Chainlink weapon can be secured in such a bracelet, granting a +4 bonus to resist Disarm attempts and a +1 bonus on all Trip attempts (stacking with that of the Chainlink weapon for a total of +3). Penalty: A Chainlink weapon connected to a Chainlink Bracelet cannot be dropped in response to a failed Trip attempt. Price and Weight (Medium Creatures): A Chainlink Bracelet costs 25 gp and weighs about 4 lbs. Chainlink Warrior [General] Taking this feat means you have mastered the use of Chainlinked weaponry. Prerequisites: BAB +6, Use Rope 3 Ranks, Proficiency with any Chainlink Weapon Benefit: You no longer take a penalty on Reach attacks with a Chainlink weapon. Furthermore you treat Chainlinked Weapons as One-Handed Weapons instead of Two-Handed Weapons (even those Chainlinked Weapons created from Light Weapons are still too cumbersome to be Light Weapons again). Special: This feat can be taken as a Fighter Bonus Feat. Author's Comments: Well is it fair? Would this be extremely unbalanced? Farstrike [Enhancement] Applicable: The Farstrike weapon enhancement can be placed on any Melee Weapon with Reach. Benefit: The Farstrike Enhancement increases a weapon's normal reach by 10 ft. Cost: +2 Weapon (+1 Farstrike Spiked Chain would cost +32,000 gp, weapon price not included). Type: Moderate Transmutation, Enlarge Item?
tarkin 11-07-05, 10:43 AM	You are using 3.0 style rules for reach, a bad idea, it causes huge problems. To convert to 3.5, this is what you should be saying: When you add chain link to a weapon it counts as a reach weapon if it is Small or larger. For tiny or smaller sized weapons, it lets them threaten an area of 5ft, but they lose the ability to attack someone within their curren square. --------- Also note, the reach granted should be regular reach, not the Spiked Chain reach. Spike chain full reach would take two feats to get, not one.
Outla 11-07-05, 11:50 AM	"It takes a skilled hand to create the right balanced of the weapon and chain in order to grant it the fine tune it requires to be wielded effectively." More specifically, the skill is to file down the sword (or whatever weapon) to a more reasonable size before attaching the chain. The ideal size is, of course, exactly the same size as the spikes on a spiked chain. Any weapon on a chain, regardless of whether it's made out of swords, maces, or macaroni and cheese, needs to have equal-or-worse stats than a spiked chain when used on a chain. If ANY of its stats (damage, crit chance, crit amount, weight, or cost) are better than a spiked chain, then it is unfair. Face it, if spiked chains could be made any better, then everyone would have made them that way in the first place. I don't want to be totally mean about it, as it's good to use some creativity; this is a nice idea and it would be neat to see a character use it. But you've got to adjust the damage and stats of your creative weapons so they're less than any of the standard weapons, not more than the standard weapons. Is that so hard? It's also unfair to allow either spiked chains or these weapons to be made of leather. But... if you lower the damage and crits in much the same way that all the other druid weapons have lower damage than a longsword, then it's ok. Still, every opponent in the world with a sword or other slashing weapon will be thinking to himself... "His weapon is made out of leather? Well, maybe I'll cut it!" That's probably why most weapons aren't made out of leather to begin with.
NightScreamer20 11-07-05, 02:19 PM	Ok lemme retry...
00_Whupass 11-07-05, 02:50 PM	This reminds me of a 8-bit theater strip I read a while back where the fighter goes to the weapon shop and tries to convince the shopkeep to make him a pair of "Swordchucks". It went something like this. Shopkeep: "You want what?!" Fighter: "Swordchucks. Like nunchucks but with swords instead of sticks." Shopkeep: "How would you hold them? They'd cut everything" Fighter: "Exactly." Shopkeep: "You do realise that when I said 'everything' that included you right?" Fighter: "Ok, so how much?" Shopkeep: "..." But seriously, bad idea. The spiked chain is already a rediculously powerful weapon with better than average damage, reach, a bonus to trip attempts, and is Finessable. What your feat does is allow every fighter to turn whatever weapon he may be using into a spiked chain+, the plus is because you could chain-link a weapon with better damage or different special abilities, the chain linked greatsword springs to mind as the obvious example of a spiked chain+, you've done this for no more feats than the normal spiked chain user, since a greatsword is martial the feat that would have gone to exotic weapon prof (spiked chain) instead goes to chain-link fighter...and, whala, you've just managed to eclipse the most abused weapon in the game in terms of power, without an comensurate drawback. Edit: Alright, I just re-read the thread an noticed that on first blush I missed the "light or one handed weapons only" part which ruins my chain-linked greatsword example, but I still feel this is a bad idea.
Vestigial_Thumb 11-07-05, 02:55 PM	Swordchucks, yo!
Keenath 11-07-05, 03:32 PM	Beyond the Spiked Chain, there are a couple other weapons that might be of interest to you: In D20 modern they have the "chain", which could easily also represent a chinese Sheng Bao (AKA Meteor Hammer), which is essentially a five-pound brass weight on the end of a cotton rope, or a manriki-gusari ("10,000-power chain"), which is the same thing using a chain instead of rope. (Ten thousand, for reference, is the Japanese equivalent of saying "a million" in english -- a large, undefined number. The chain multiplies your strength by "a lot".) In OA, they have presented the kusarigama ("kama-and-chain"), traditionally a ninja weapon. As the name suggests, it's a kama with a long chain on the other end, which terminates in a small weight. The usual use was either whirling the chain and using the high-speed weight as a bludgeon, or tangling a warrior's sword in the chain, giving it a sharp tug to disarm him or break the blade, and then slice the swordless samurai with the kama end. (And no, I don't care WHAT you saw on Inuyasha, nobody EVER threw the kama end.) In both cases, the weapon is either a double weapon OR a reach weapon, but it can only be one or the other in any given turn. The chain is 1d6/1d6 bludgeoning, and the kusari-gama is 1d6/1d4 slashing/bludgeoning, and you can only use the bludgeoning end at range (which is accurate to the actual use of the weapon). Both weapons grant a bonus to disarm and allow trips. In my opinion, the chain is mildly overpowered, but neither is bad enough to complain about very loudly; what you're looking for may be filled by one of these two.
NightScreamer20 11-07-05, 04:20 PM	Changed Chainlink Fighter to just EWP: Chainlink Weapon Unproficient Penalties: -6 penalty to Reach attacks, -4 penalty to Melee attacks. The only sure way to use this weapon would be Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Chainlink (Weapon) like the Spiked Chain, however... these weapons aren't as powerful as the normal Spiked Chain... So I fail to see why EVERYONE is comparing it to the Spiked Chain. This does NOT make it a Spiked Chain, the maximum damage any Core One-Handed Weapon deals is 1d8, which is half of the minimum damage of the Spiked Chain. A Chainlinked weapon is also not Finesse-able (one of the major unbalancing points of the Spiked Chain). A Spiked Chain can be dropped in order to avoid a Trip attempt, a Chainlink weapon cannot (further details after looking at the drawing that inspired this concept have invoked). A Spiked Chain also isn't as expensive as this weapon... So really guys... what am I missing?
NightScreamer20 11-07-05, 11:08 PM	Made a few changes. Look at it.
Outla 11-08-05, 07:51 PM	It's definitely clearer now. Good rewriting. Now I understand. There's still three things to change: 1. You still need to add something that says you can't make bastard swords and dwarven waraxes into chain weapons, because those technically are one-handed melee weapons, they're just exotic ones. 2. The chain should add weight. I doubt it weighs zero pounds. 3. You should also add a line that says that a person with weapon focus and weapon specialization in the original weapon does not get to apply them when swinging it by a chain. After that, it's reasonable. Except for one thing. There's never been a one-handed reach weapon in D&D before! That's a pretty major issue. Being able to turn just about any weapon into a reach weapon, for almost free (65gp) (at -6 to hit). Don't tell me 300gp either -- almost all adventures buy masterwork anyway, so it's not really costing them extra. Makes you wonder why every adventurer shop everywhere doesn't have chains available for all their weapons. Even a non-proficient person can just ignore the chain and use the weapon normally if he wants to. Come to think of it... maybe they do in some worlds :) The only real solution is to say that any weapon with a chain attached must be held in two hands, even when it's being used 'normally' at short range instead of at reach. Then it's totally fair compared to other D&D weapons. I realize that would ruin the entire goal of having a one-handed reach weapon... but I don't know what else would be fair.
NightScreamer20 11-08-05, 10:54 PM	I made that change, along with the change to the Feat 'linked' (I crack myself up) with the weapon. All Chainlinked Weapons are Two-Handed Weapons, the Chainlink Warrior feat allows them to be used as One-Handed Weapons... and now requires you to be Proficient with a Chainlink Weapon slaps forehead. Also added the Chainlink Bracelet, basically a Locking Gauntlet for Chainlink Weapons.
FlameLover 11-09-05, 12:10 AM	There's never been a one-handed reach weapon in D&D before! http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/weapons.htm#whip Anyway it's perfectly balanced now I feel. And i wouldn't prevent you from using Weapon Focus with it myself - you're already taking an EWP for it and all that. It basically removes the need for a Spiked Chain even because you can have a Chained Longsword which does basically the same thing :) And I love the idea of Chained Kukris with TWF... (takes and extra 2 feats to do so but i'd say it's worth it).
Outla 11-09-05, 05:26 AM	The whip doesn't really count in my opinion. It has a bunch of restrictions that make it more like a ranged weapon. Some people might count a lance as a reach weapon, but it's only one-handed while mounted. And some DMs allow a spear to be used with reach, under the right circumstances. Your new weapon seems fair now. Unusual and powerful... but I think many DMs would allow it.
NightScreamer20 11-09-05, 12:44 PM	Really it's jsut for me and my campaign... I mean seriously... How else was I supposed t re-create a BBEG who was like Kratos... God of War :P
NightScreamer20 11-09-05, 03:52 PM	This is definately a weapon for Fighters, no one would waste 2 feats in order to really be able to unleash the potential of such a weapon... I mean, EWP (Chainlinked Longsword) + Chainlink Warrior in order to wield it without penalties. And then Two-Weapon Fighting and Overside Two-Weapon Fighting to boot. I never mentioned this but maybe now's a good time. This is a 'replacement' for the Spiked Chain in my campaign. Oh and one more thing... I was pondering like Chainlinked Double Weapons. The ability to place two usually Light Weapons to become a single Two-Handed Weapon with Reach (Dual Kama Chain for example...) This however, I don't if it would be fair or not... Placving this here which may cause Flamerdoom, but X-Posted to the Magic and Spells Section (it's a magical enhancement)... the Farstrike Weapon Enhancement.... See above?