this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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Feat: Whip Master | Wha-pow! (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by owenfromcanada to c/dndhomebrew
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Want to be DnD Indiana Jones? Follow your dreams! Whips are awesome and underutilized, so try out this feat to enjoy them in all their greatness!

Feedback always welcome.

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[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I like the attempt to make an interesting weapon less useless. However...The crack effect seems way OP.

It's easier than breaking concentration through normal damage with a high damage roll of ~20 hit points (which also requires a roll to hit). It's easier than counterspelling which A) requires you know the spell and have it prepared, B) requires you spend a spell slot, C) could require a roll on your part if the spell is higher than your spent slot, and D) requires your reaction.

This feat gives you an unlimited free counterspell you could use every single turn with the only real limitation being range (a 15ft radius is huge and covers 36 squares beside the one you occupy), and your reaction (which is required for counterspell anyway). What's more is it puts the roll on the caster instead of the attacker with success weighed against them. It's basically the prefect anti-mage feat. With a whip of all things.

Maybe if it was more limited, it would be less over powered but still useful. Making it only usable a few times a day wouldn't really make sense flavor-wise. But it could require a reasonable skill check to reflect their skill with handling a unique weapon and only work one time on the same caster in a single encounter as they should be expecting it next time.

[–] owenfromcanada 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the feedback! That all makes sense. The flavor in my mind was primarily a squishy wizard-type that would typically be out of range, but there are lots of closer-combat casters that would find ridiculous amounts of use for this.

I purposely put the roll on the caster so they could take advantage of anything that boosts their concentration checks (e.g., War Caster), but the DC would definitely end up being kinda high compared to actually getting hit.

What would you think of the following changes?

  1. Limit the range to the usual (10 feet typically)

  2. Give the caster advantage on concentration checks against this feature after the first attempt (whether successful or not)

  3. One of the following:

  • Change the DC to 10 + Proficiency mod (12 in tier 1, up to 16 in tier 4)
  • Require both an attack roll that hits the caster (no damage applied), then a concentration check from the caster (vs. 8 + prof + Dex mod)
  • A contested check (attacker's Dex vs caster's concentration)--a tie would favor the caster
[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

  1. Nerfing the range to 10 definitely goes a long way to making it a more reasonably situational feature. Leaving it with less than half the number of squares it could affect on any given turn. That's probably the biggest need to make it balanced.

  2. That would make sense flavor-wise, sure. I would include the caveat that they have to be able to see the whip coming to gain advantage on subsequent cracks. So if they're blinded, if the whip-weilder is obscured by fog, if they're successfully hidden, etc. then the caster does not gain advantage (i.e. advantage is not just canceled by disadvantage, but never granted at all, thus they could still get advantage/disadvantage from other sources). That would both make sense for flavor and make setting up clever ways to keep spamming casters a fun secondary goal.

  3. I think of those options, I like the first the best. That way it's scaling with level only, it makes the weapon equally useful to all builds and doesn't just benefit dex-builds/min-maxers, and it's also a decent bottom and top end for a DC for such a powerful feature of the feat. Though I could see the argument for wanting to utilize dex into the success or failure of the feature too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why specify that the die change doesn't stack? They never do.

Also why 15 ft instead of 10 ft for the abilities?

[–] owenfromcanada 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the feedback--I specified the non-stacking die change mainly because the other sources specify it as well. I imagine there could be some misinterpretation of it, but in any case I didn't see the harm.

I put 15 feet instead of 10 feet for the Crack ability because I imagined that 10 feet wouldn't see much use, but as I've considered it (based on another commenter) I'm already leaning toward pulling it back to the usual 10 feet.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah that's a good point, also even if a whip is 10 ft I think you could affect someone with a crack of it a little further.

I think you could make crack once per short rest and be a little more balanced. That's what the Crusher/Piercer/Slasher feats do (off the top of my head, may be wrong).

Edit: Those feats don't do a per short rest thing, my bad. They have a once per turn ability and an on-crit ability.

[–] owenfromcanada 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm considering it, but the once-per-short-rest thing doesn't make as much sense flavor-wise. Maybe if the character adds something to the end that allows foe the distraction that has to be replaced during a short rest... I'll have to see if I can get that concise enough to fit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I get that. If you like the anti-caster idea then maybe something like foes having disadvantage to maintain concentration from attacks.

Or like you said, something like the Lizardfolk's racial ability might be a good template.,

As part of a short rest, you can [use materials] to create [a thing]. To use this trait, you need [tools]

So something like "as part of a rest you can use Bang Snaps to create an explosive tip for your whip." (I wouldn't say it needs any specific tools.)

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