Whips

Whips are effective disarming
weapons. When you strike to disarm
with a whip, you get +2 in the ensuing
Quick Contest; see Knocking a Weapon
Away (p. 401).
You may try to entangle your oppo-
nent instead of his weapon. This
attack is at an extra -4 to hit, and
inflicts no damage, but follows the
Lariat rules (p. 411) if successful.
Whips are poor defensive weapons,
and get -2 to Parry. Whips are also
unbalanced, and cannot attack and
parry on the same turn – and long
whips actually become unready after
an attack or a parry. It takes one turn
to ready a two-yard whip, two turns to
ready a whip three yards or longer.
Additional rules apply, depending
on the type of whip:
Whip: You can “crack” an ordinary
bullwhip – this is the sound of the tip
breaking the sound barrier! This
requires an attack at -4 to skill, but
inflicts +2 damage. Any whip blow is
painful: anyone who suffers a whip
wound to his arm or hand must roll
against Will, modified by the shock
penalty for the injury. On a failure, he
drops anything in that hand.
Kusari: This is a weighted chain.
You can adjust reach from 1 to 4 yards
with a Ready maneuver. Treat it as a
whip when disarming, entangling
opponents, or readying. Treat it as a
flail vs. enemy defenses: -2 to block
and -4 to parry. If someone parries
your kusari with a weapon, make a
skill roll immediately. On a success,
your kusari entangles his weapon. A
failure has no special effect; a critical
failure means you drop the kusari!
Your opponent may disentangle his
weapon on his turn. This requires a
free hand and a DX roll. If he does not,
you may make a disarm attempt on
your next turn without rolling to hit
first: state that you are attempting to
disarm and immediately roll the
Quick Contest. This still counts as an
attack. You cannot use a kusari if
there is no headroom, or in an area
full of obstacles (nearby people count
as obstacles). On a critical miss, a roll
of 3, 4, 17, or 18 indicates that you
have hit yourself in the face!
Monowire Whip: An ultra-tech
whip made of superfine wire. A con-
trol allows you to vary length from 1 to
7 yards, changing both reach and
ready time. Adjusting the length
requires a Ready maneuver. When
used to snare an opponent or a
weapon, the whip cuts into its target,
inflicting thrust+1d(10) cutting dam-
age every turn it is pulled taut until the
victim escapes. A “drop weapon” criti-
cal miss indicates that you have hit
yourself or a friend.