[Inconnu]

Strands shorter than the handle?  Is this like a polearm?  Some kinda wire-rake of death?  Or is it like a normal-ish handle that's maybe 10 inches long, meaning the whips are only like five or so inches and you're prettymuch just stabbing a guy with a deadly feather duster?

Like a polearm, I guess. Give the pole itself a reach worth 2 and the strands a reach of 1.

Of course it would lose a little efficiency every time you used it (strands cutting each other)...

[Mithlas]

Strands shorter than the handle?  Is this like a polearm?  Some kinda wire-rake of death?  Or is it like a normal-ish handle that's maybe 10 inches long, meaning the whips are only like five or so inches and you're prettymuch just stabbing a guy with a deadly feather duster?

Are we still talking about monowhips, or have we gotten into the Feather Duster that Ishida Mitsunari uses in Sengoku Basara as his joke weapon?

More directly to the topic, monowire weapons are an amusing but niche weapon because they require such extensive investment in order to not be regularly cutting off your own arms. Not all that much in tune with cyberpunk, too, but with as wireless as the Matrix has gotten starting with 4E I guess that's not much an issue.

[Reaver]

I remember Mono whips as far back as 2e (not sure if they were in 1e... can't remember)

They have always been incredibly dangerous weapons (both for operator and target!).

and it is that investment in skill VS the supreme damage they can dish out that makes them a possibly viable weapon.. if you accept the risks.

remember, no matter your strength, they are an 12p -8 AP attack! you need a strength of 11 to match that output with a combat axe! Meaning, now the human with a 2 STR is just as deadly as that troll with 10STR and an combat axe (only 10, not 11 due to the trolls +1 reach)

So that troll has spent 5 attribute points + Armed Combat skill points +$4000 to be as "effective" * While that human spent 1 attribute point + exotic weapon skill points +$10,000. And the Human still have the accuracy advantage!


*Couse that troll doesn't need to worry about cutting off his own hand, arm or head! .... unless his GM is a total dick on Critical glitches

[Anarkitty]

Strands shorter than the handle?  Is this like a polearm?  Some kinda wire-rake of death?  Or is it like a normal-ish handle that's maybe 10 inches long, meaning the whips are only like five or so inches and you're prettymuch just stabbing a guy with a deadly feather duster?

Like a polearm, I guess. Give the pole itself a reach worth 2 and the strands a reach of 1.

Of course it would lose a little efficiency every time you used it (strands cutting each other)...

I'm fairly certain monowire can't cut other monowires.  Same with the handle, make it out of ceramic, or even line it with ceramic and the wire won't even scratch it.

Remember, monowire is thin and sharp, but there are things it can't cut, otherwise it would be almost useless.

That said, a cat-o-nine (or any multi-strand lash) made from monowire would be almost unusable.  Remember, all the weight on a monofilament whip is at the tip of the strand.  Multiple strands from the same handle would rapidly twist and snarl around each other as the weights spin and bounce off each other.  Within 2-3 swings you would just have a tangled mess of wire too thin to un-knot safely, but too thick and irregular to actually cut anything.

If you don't weight the ends, it won't tangle as quickly, but it wouldn't be able to cut either.  At worst it would cause superficial scratches and surface cuts on anything soft.  It could make a good torture implement/extreme-S&M toy, but not much else.

[Inconnu]

Strands shorter than the handle?  Is this like a polearm?  Some kinda wire-rake of death?  Or is it like a normal-ish handle that's maybe 10 inches long, meaning the whips are only like five or so inches and you're prettymuch just stabbing a guy with a deadly feather duster?

Like a polearm, I guess. Give the pole itself a reach worth 2 and the strands a reach of 1.

Of course it would lose a little efficiency every time you used it (strands cutting each other)...

I'm fairly certain monowire can't cut other monowires.  Same with the handle, make it out of ceramic, or even line it with ceramic and the wire won't even scratch it.

Remember, monowire is thin and sharp, but there are things it can't cut, otherwise it would be almost useless.

That said, a cat-o-nine (or any multi-strand lash) made from monowire would be almost unusable.  Remember, all the weight on a monofilament whip is at the tip of the strand.  Multiple strands from the same handle would rapidly twist and snarl around each other as the weights spin and bounce off each other.  Within 2-3 swings you would just have a tangled mess of wire too thin to un-knot safely, but too thick and irregular to actually cut anything.

If you don't weight the ends, it won't tangle as quickly, but it wouldn't be able to cut either.  At worst it would cause superficial scratches and surface cuts on anything soft.  It could make a good torture implement/extreme-S&M toy, but not much else.

Alright so you only get to use the Cheese Grater a few times. And?

If you did the pole thing with 1 strand it'd be risk-free!

[Anarkitty]

While a 10' pole with a 5' whip on the end would be mostly risk free, if someone got closer than 5' away from you you would basically be unable to attack them with the dangerous part, and be reduced to hitting them with an unwieldy staff that you can't choke-up on without risking cutting yourself.  This is true if it has 10 strands or 1.
In addition you would be carrying around a 10 foot pole everywhere which would make it hard to go through doors or ride in cars, or even the subway.
Both realism and game balance would require it to have severe penalties to use against adjacent enemies or in hallways and other enclosed spaces.  A 15' weapon is cool when you are in an open square surrounded by mooks, but it's less helpful against a melee specialist in a standard 8'-wide hallway with a 10' ceiling. 
And don't think the whip could cut through the ceiling tiles or wallboard, remember there is a weight on the end.  Only things completely between the weight and the handle can be effectively cut.  If the weight hits and bounces off, the wire goes slack and potentially tangles.  It can't cut if it's not under tension.

[Reaver]

While a 10' pole with a 5' whip on the end would be mostly risk free, if someone got closer than 5' away from you you would basically be unable to attack them with the dangerous part, and be reduced to hitting them with an unwieldy staff that you can't choke-up on without risking cutting yourself.  This is true if it has 10 strands or 1.
In addition you would be carrying around a 10 foot pole everywhere which would make it hard to go through doors or ride in cars, or even the subway.
Both realism and game balance would require it to have severe penalties to use against adjacent enemies or in hallways and other enclosed spaces.  A 15' weapon is cool when you are in an open square surrounded by mooks, but it's less helpful against a melee specialist in a standard 8'-wide hallway with a 10' ceiling. 
And don't think the whip could cut through the ceiling tiles or wallboard, remember there is a weight on the end.  Only things completely between the weight and the handle can be effectively cut.  If the weight hits and bounces off, the wire goes slack and potentially tangles.  It can't cut if it's not under tension.

if you could even use it

try an experiment....

grab a broom by the very end of the handle in one hand and try to lift the head off the floor.  It's way more difficult then it sounds and you'll feel it in your fore arm!

[Inconnu]

It could be a very light pole-- the weight doesn't matter.

[Reaver]

we do that trick with conduit

20 foot length weights about 18 ounces. Can't really get much lighter then that and have structure



it's just a point of physics that came about from "griping on the end"... as this trick doesn't use a combat style grip And a combat style grip would place your hands in the bottom 18-24 inches of the weapon for a (bottom) style grip (so you could swing like a bat, opposed to like a staff)

[Linkdeath]

You guys just made me think of two things: I had a guy playing a rigger once who thought about pop-out monofilament whips on the tips of the rotors on a root-drone. He could swoop down into crowds and baddies, engage and turn them all into soup.

And secondly something I just thought of: monofilament fly swatter!

[Anarkitty]

You guys just made me think of two things: I had a guy playing a rigger once who thought about pop-out monofilament whips on the tips of the rotors on a root-drone. He could swoop down into crowds and baddies, engage and turn them all into soup.

And secondly something I just thought of: monofilament fly swatter!

That would be fun until he rolled a critical glitch and the weighted end of one of the whips caught on something, causing the drone to crash rather spectacularly.  Then it would become awesome.

Fly swatter like a tennis racket?  Or like an actual flyswatter with some sort of woven monofilament head?

[Vidnaut]

You guys just made me think of two things: I had a guy playing a rigger once who thought about pop-out monofilament whips on the tips of the rotors on a root-drone. He could swoop down into crowds and baddies, engage and turn them all into soup.

And secondly something I just thought of: monofilament fly swatter!

That would be fun until he rolled a critical glitch and the weighted end of one of the whips caught on something, causing the drone to crash rather spectacularly.  Then it would become awesome.

Fly swatter like a tennis racket?  Or like an actual flyswatter with some sort of woven monofilament head?

Hrm, maybe a safety release on the wirelines so it pops out when subject to a certain tug threshold?  Maybe each wire would only be good for one hit but it's still a net gain over potentially totalling the drone in urban environments.

[The other Bandit]

Tell me what you make of this little recipe:

One tiny spool with 2 metres of monowire, one handgrenade with the tripmine option (set to veeery sensitive and maybe 10 second delay) and two pieces of gecko tape

[Vidnaut]

Tell me what you make of this little recipe:

One tiny spool with 2 metres of monowire, one handgrenade with the tripmine option (set to veeery sensitive and maybe 10 second delay) and two pieces of gecko tape

You'd need containment brackets on both ends of the monowire (similar in construction what a monowire garrote which is 2/3rds the cost of a monowhip) so the line doesn't slice through the tape and go limp.  If you need containment brackets then that'll bulk out the ends of the wire so you'd have to be a bit more clever in concealing the end not attached to the grenade more so than usual.

Also, I'm concerned about high-sensitivity tripwire since that has a much higher chance of false-positive triggering in ad-hoc scenarios even if it is monowire.  Also, it's better that the grenade just goes off immedately to get the payout you're going for than for 3 combat turns to go by while the rest of the goons see and get a running start at vaulting over their ankle-less friend before he and a few stragglers get caught in the blast.  If you're going for deterrence then the up-front explosion is more than scary enough to warrant pause while the smoke clears pro or not-pro (each for their own reasons).  To be honest, the use of mono-tripwire with a grenade is overkill going into cruelty rather than additional effectiveness.  You'd be better off bundling multiple grenades to go off simultaneously to guarantee casualties.  The use of non-lethal tripwire also lends itself better to disabling opposition with flashbangs rather than outright killing and other collateral damage (makes for lesser chances of revenge from corps and organized/unorganized criminals).

[The other Bandit]

When I am getting chased by some Tamanous muscle through the worse parts of the Barrens I most certainly do not care about killing them or causing collateral damage.
Sure the monofilament setup is not nesessary and yes it is cruel, but hell so are most things that start with "I am going to use monowire!".

Another thought, is monowire really that hard to handle? The rules state that it can be strung using special gloves without giving a pricing for said gloves. Plus monowire gets mounted on fences and although very sharp there should be materials that can handle it (special ceramics maybe?).
That whole monowire sharpness deal seems to be highly debateable too. In some books its like somekind technomagic wunderwaffe that cuts right through to the earths core if you drop it, in others its like the japanese kitchen knife of piano wires.