I would STRONGLY advise playing it out before modifying any rules.  The non-damage stats on ranged weapons make them a bit of a sleeper surprise.  I personally believe they need no further damage increase.

This. So much.
Things didn't really come together on a lot of the rules, for me, until I got to sit down at the table and see it all in action.

[Lawren]

Lawren declines the offer of the vitality potion. It won't do the wound on her neck any good. She just patches up the bleeding, assuring her companions that she'll be fine.

She follows the group into the woods, taking the lead, pointing as to point the way to the cave.

Sadly, the Vit potion won't do me any good as it was a Wound Point that Lawren too.

[Lauren]

Lauren seems more than relieved to be on the ground again, the squat dwarf not used to such heights, unfettered. She pants for a moment, leaning on her halberd. She wipes the blood off her neck, the color returning to her face. "We should be able t'make it. Ow... one of th' lil bastards got a lucky shot..."

Shyla maintains her offensive against the wraithspawn in front of her, keeping the beast in place so it can't move to support it's allies.

(click to show/hide)

Attack 1 (I do not remember what penalties/bonuses are in effect @_@ This just has my base bonuses)
1d20+4=12, 1d10+2=11

If that missed (which I'm sure it did), second attack uses Relentless Attack Trick
1d20+6=18, 1d10+2=3

I'm here. I'll get a post up shortly.

[Lauren]

Lauren, getting fed up with all the vague answers turns to the man, but does her best to avoid sounding angry, "Well, if ye dinna know where his cave is, do ye at least know which direction he heads when leaving town t' get there?"

[Lauren]

Lauren looks around and picks up the vibe that this guy is one part pawn-broker and one part scavenger (because, seriously, where else is he going to get merchandise like this?). She leans over to Alexander and whispers, "You talk te him. Ask what ye can about th' lad an' his cave. I'll pretend te browse his wares."

She steps away and starts perusing the shelves, pretending to be interested, but really, she thinks most of it is second-hand junk. She can't help but wonder if the guy collected this stuff from adventurers that met poor ends... or whatever the dragon killed in protecting the town... that would make sense, but... is there really a market for this?

I'm torn. On the one hand, yeah, that's kinda cool. On the other hand, theres a part of me that would make that flaming whip eventually crumble to pieces because it was lit on fire. I give the player points for cool thinking. Just not exactly smart thinking. And oh the fun I'd have with the town watch hunting down the arsonists. *evil grin*

So, questions:
1. Whenever the whip fails its final damage save against the fire. But then, I'm just enough of a dick to do that. The other option is it goes out when you take the time to start patting it down. Or it goes out after an XdY number of turns, where X = number of dice of damage a flaming oil bottle would deal and Y = the damage code.

1a. One gets better damage saves than the other?

2. I would, just to be even handed with the rules. I mean, if the monsters in our Rogue Trader game get to make an Agility Test to avoid catching on fire, even though they just got covered in napalm and have no room to dodge, then NPCs in FC can get a Reflex save to avoid catching on fire when entwined with a flaming whip.

Yes, any instance of "equal to the number of Melee Combat Feats you have" is modified by Melee Combat Expert.

LOL, Alexander totally got outdone by the dwarf girl.

[Lauren]

Lauren sets her cup down, once Eliana finishes her story. "Thank ye very much fer yer help, Eliana." she rises to leave, "By th' way, that was th' best dwarven tea blend I've had in years. I'll have to purchase some from ye later."

Once everyone has finished asking anything else they want to ask (or, in Alexander's making a fool of themselves), she bids Eliana good day and heads back out into the village to confer with the group as a whole.

Sletch, I think there was a misunderstanding there.

The way I'm reading that is Morg is saying that changing a Dwarf's Thick Hide to DR IS the better, more valuable option.

To speed up character creation, I've had Mages decide how many 0 and 1st level spells they know at creation (out of their total pool) and leave the rest as an undefined blob until the game has progressed for awhile.

This was my solution as well.

Though, if you use the gladiator harness out of the Cloak and Dagger setting, you can add fittings to that unarmored body.