Apparently, If your whip isn't on fire, you're not trying hard enough...

[TheTSKoala]

So.. the party of whom survived their first intro adventure is sitting in a less than reputable tavern trying to get some information.  So, a few of the thugs started picking on the "sissy pirate" who is a french accented, frills wearing genetically spliced together Jack Sparrow and Indie Jones...

Gave them a little RP time.. and all went well.. right up until the Sissy Pirate had enough when a thug threw a tankard at him.  Sissy Pirate is a whip user.  Thug laughs at him and his "rope".. and taunts the pirate s'more.  What ya gonna do?  Knit me a sweater? etc etc.

Soooo... the Pirate uses an action to use a tankard of flamable oil.. and coat the whip.  Can you see where this is going?  Yeah.. I thought so too.  I was wrong.  He lights the whip on fire.  So far so good.  He then starts whipping anything flammable.  Table cloth if there is any.  Curtains.  Taxidermy'd animal heads.  Effectively scarring the hell out of everyone out of the tavern.  Shouting, "Am I scary yet?!" helped.

So, from there.. we start a fight with the thugs in a flaming bar.  Three questions.

1.)  How do you determine when an ignited whip will go out? 
1a.)  Should there be a difference between chain / leather?  One can soak fuel, one is metal, etc.
2.)  When you get entwined with a flaming whip, do you get a reflex save after failing the trip attack?  Part of me says no.. you have a flaming whip wrapped around your leg!, other part of me says.. yeah.. but if you don't.. Flaming whip = broken.

[ArawnNox]

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.

[TheTSKoala]

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.

Okay.  Let me be a little more specific.  In the art of whip snapping and using the whip, the fire could literally blow itself out.  How do you convert that concept to actual crunch?

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

Sure.  A leather whip, arguably, is going to have more sustained fuel supply than a metallic chain due to absorption, plus the material being flammable.

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.

I suppose that makes sense.  While the whip is on fire, it's failed to spread.. or... the part that hit him blown out at the time it struck, or.. something.

[Mister Andersen]

I'd tie the number of rounds the whip remains a viable weapon to the increase in error range your pirate was willing to accept (I'd say 1-4 for 2 rounds of use before it has to be dropped or is extinguished, 1-6 for 3 rounds, 1-8 for a max of 4)

[TheTSKoala]

I'd tie the number of rounds the whip remains a viable weapon to the increase in error range your pirate was willing to accept (I'd say 1-4 for 2 rounds of use before it has to be dropped or is extinguished, 1-6 for 3 rounds, 1-8 for a max of 4)

Hmmm... that may work.  And to complete the Home Rule.. once it has an error, it auto-fails damage save?  And.. with the chain set on fire.. once it has an error, the flame just goes out?  (Assuming oily fire can't destroy a metal chain.)

[Krensky]

Depends on the oil and the metal, but in general the chain should survive without issue.

Personally I'd probably smack the player down with a crit failure lighting him on fire, but I'm a mean heartless GM that way.

Well, that and it feels like your players should provide you with a whip, chair, pith helmet, and TASER gun to deal with them.

[Goodlun]

I though this was highly appropriate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBApCDabDUY

[TheTSKoala]

I though this was highly appropriate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBApCDabDUY

LOL.  Yeah.. that's the idea.

Depends on the oil and the metal, but in general the chain should survive without issue.

Personally I'd probably smack the player down with a crit failure lighting him on fire, but I'm a mean heartless GM that way.

Well, that and it feels like your players should provide you with a whip, chair, pith helmet, and TASER gun to deal with them.

You're right.  I think on error, he saves vs. getting lit on fire.  Critical error, no save.  He lit himself on fire.  And yes.. yes they should.  Either that.. or 40mm Tear Gas rounds.

[Krensky]

Well now we know what to get Koala for [REDACTED]'s Day.

A set of shock collars, one for each of his players.

 

[TheTSKoala]

Well now we know what to get Koala for [REDACTED]'s Day.

A set of shock collars, one for each of his players.

 

   Now to just find variable power supplies...

[Krensky]

And here I thought the good ones had variable settings.

It's like a mosquito.
He's refusing to move.
He spit on me.
He pissed on me.
We don't admit to the Red Cross the switch goes to here.

[TheTSKoala]

And here I thought the good ones had variable settings.

It's like a mosquito.
He's refusing to move.
He spit on me.
He pissed on me.
We don't admit to the Red Cross the switch goes to here.

Touche.  And.. yeah.. the Red Cross will need to be a hair trigger.  I'll give it a safety dongle just to avoid accidentally pressing it.. but yeah..

[Mister Andersen]

I though this was highly appropriate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBApCDabDUY

I note with some amusement his lack of hair.

Alright, so for the moment ignoring that we have no idea how long he soaked those whips it looks like 10 rounds is going to be pretty much the maximum a leather whip will stay lit; after that he's pretty casual about the fire restance of his leather pants dealing with a half-action of contact. The intensity of the flame noticeably lessens around the 5th or 6th round. Critically, the whips are more like wicks rather than something that simpy burns

I think I'd handle it as follows:

• An ignited whip does fire damage; on a critical hit the target automatically fails their reflex save
• A whip will burn for 4 rounds per pint of oil it's soaked in, maximum of 2 pints; a chain whip can only take 1 pint and burns half as long but doesn't have to make damage saves.
• Base error range becomes 1-8; on error you can choose to drop the whip to avoid the reflex save yourself, on critical fail you autofail your reflex save and drop the whip.

[LordKruelos]

So.. the party of whom survived their first intro adventure is sitting in a less than reputable tavern trying to get some information.  So, a few of the thugs started picking on the "sissy pirate" who is a french accented, frills wearing genetically spliced together Jack Sparrow and Indie Jones...

Gave them a little RP time.. and all went well.. right up until the Sissy Pirate had enough when a thug threw a tankard at him.  Sissy Pirate is a whip user.  Thug laughs at him and his "rope".. and taunts the pirate s'more.  What ya gonna do?  Knit me a sweater? etc etc.

Soooo... the Pirate uses an action to use a tankard of flamable oil.. and coat the whip.  Can you see where this is going?  Yeah.. I thought so too.  I was wrong.  He lights the whip on fire.  So far so good.  He then starts whipping anything flammable.  Table cloth if there is any.  Curtains.  Taxidermy'd animal heads.  Effectively scarring the hell out of everyone out of the tavern.  Shouting, "Am I scary yet?!" helped.

I love your player. Seriously. Give me that guy at my table ANYTIME.

So, from there.. we start a fight with the thugs [Naturally] in a flaming bar.  Three questions.

1.)  How do you determine when an ignited whip will go out? 
1a.)  Should there be a difference between chain / leather?  One can soak fuel, one is metal, etc.

Unless he carefully soaked it for a long time/prepared it ahead of time to do this, I'd say pretty short -- 1 round for a chain or unprepared whip, 1d4 rounds if prepared ahead of time, but  in both cases allow spending an Action die to roll and add result to duration. or if he spends and rolls an action die, on the last round that the whip would be ignited, he can add the AD's result to rounds on fire -- as perhaps explained by "he whips back through a burning pile of pitch as part of the general destruction"

2.)  When you get entwined with a flaming whip, do you get a reflex save after failing the trip attack?  Part of me says no.. you have a flaming whip wrapped around your leg!, other part of me says.. yeah.. but if you don't.. Flaming whip = broken.

I'd say the opposed Acrobatics check IS essentially the saving throw to avoid the trip.
I'd treat the burning whip as having a temporary Fire Damage Aura (1d6 damage)

I'd say a critical failure on the part of the whip user should definitely ruin the whip.

[pawsplay]

I'd treat it as a "virtual feat" that allows the player to add fire damage when they spend an Action Die to increase the whip's damage, and only one time. I don't think a chain could hold much fuel, and a leather whip is only going to take so much abuse... if it were pre-treated, I might allow it to slow burn at +1 fire damage per round, but which also damages the whip.