Topic: Whips in HARP

[Erik Sharma]

Well I was creating a Goblin Harper NPC in HARP that I had envisioned using a whip and chanting to boost the morale among among her fellow Goblins.
The idea is from the Goblin Warchanters you can find in http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventurePath/riseOfTheRunelords/v5748btpy7zkq that I am converting to test how their adventure paths would work with the HARP ruleset.

But no Whips do exist in HARP. No problem! I just lifted most of the info out of Rolemaster (Cost 2sp, Production Time 12hrs, Weight 2-5 lbs. or 0.5 lbs. (Arms Law 2003), Fumble 01-06). So far so good! But I am having a little trouble deciding on the size and damage type.

At first I was gonna let it be a Small Crush since Crush is the main critical in Rolemaster. But after some thought and looking over the critical tables in Martial Law (thats the ones I use) I am thinking about making the criticals Grapple instead of Crush. I am also thinking about reducing the size another step down to Tiny, I have always envisioned a whip as a weapon that causes more nuisance than actual serious harm but I am a bit worried that the additional step would make the Whip a bit to weak. So what do you think, what damage type and size should I go for?

[Erik Sharma]

After comparing the weapon sizes a bit more I feel that Small is the size to go with.
Still undecided if I should go with Crush or Grapple though.

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Small size, yes. But Slash or Grapple, not Crush I would say

[Right Wing Wacko]

Small size, yes. But Slash or Grapple, not Crush I would say

Agreed.
Slash or grapple... maybe dependent on how the user uses it in that instance...

[Erik Sharma]

I have actually been thinking about Slash too, but wanted to keep it line with the RM whip. But seems like I  have to reconsider.
Might go with both as suggested and basicly the user just have to state if he intend to snare (Grapple) or just hurt (Slash) his target, sounds like a decent selling point for the whip without making it overpowered.

[GMLovlie]

I’d say tiny slash and/or small grapple. depending on how much choice you want. you could of course also add some penalty or bonus to the grapple, not that grappling at a distance is great a bonus in itself, of course there could be a bonus to the slash too, or just tie a knife/dagger on the end and wha-bam you could, in my opinion, go for perhaps a small slash.
It would also depend on the whip I guess, the standard Indiana Jones whip would perhaps be something along these lines, not that whips are at all my area of expertise (contemporary theatre on the other hand!).