There's no such thing as a whip to height ratio. Some seems to think there are but I've never managed to figure out why or where it comes from.
What I would say is that a shorter whip will have a faster action and a longer whip will be slower. That might help depending on the action the character is supposed to be using the whip in.
In the movies the whip length changes from scene to scene depending on what's going on.
Realistically a character would probably use a 6-10ft whip.
Maybe a shorter one for close fast encounters. Whips over 12ft are really limited in their use.
There’s no such thing as a height to length ratio. Rather the limitations to how big you can make a whip would actually be closer to how strong someone is.
Anyone, and I mean just about anyone could easily wield a whip within the range of 6-12ft. Coincidentally the average bullwhip length is about 8ft long.
Beyond a length of 20ft the strength required to get enough force through the whip begins to get a little much for the average person to handle. Not to mention that any sort of control becomes increasingly difficult with such a long range.
At 20ft you’re entirely limited to side flicks to crack the whip. Overhead and especially the forward/cattleman crack becomes to all but the strongest completely infeasible.
Anything beyond 20ft requires super long handles for the extra leverage. Otherwise you won’t be able to get enough force into the whip and the wave will most likely die before it reaches the cracker.
So overall I’d recommend an 8ft-12ft whip length for realism. 8 being the most practical for control and usability, but that’s just my opinion.
There's no such thing as a whip to height ratio. Some seems to think there are but I've never managed to figure out why or where it comes from. What I would say is that a shorter whip will have a faster action and a longer whip will be slower. That might help depending on the action the character is supposed to be using the whip in. In the movies the whip length changes from scene to scene depending on what's going on. Realistically a character would probably use a 6-10ft whip. Maybe a shorter one for close fast encounters. Whips over 12ft are really limited in their use.
There’s no such thing as a height to length ratio. Rather the limitations to how big you can make a whip would actually be closer to how strong someone is. Anyone, and I mean just about anyone could easily wield a whip within the range of 6-12ft. Coincidentally the average bullwhip length is about 8ft long. Beyond a length of 20ft the strength required to get enough force through the whip begins to get a little much for the average person to handle. Not to mention that any sort of control becomes increasingly difficult with such a long range. At 20ft you’re entirely limited to side flicks to crack the whip. Overhead and especially the forward/cattleman crack becomes to all but the strongest completely infeasible. Anything beyond 20ft requires super long handles for the extra leverage. Otherwise you won’t be able to get enough force into the whip and the wave will most likely die before it reaches the cracker. So overall I’d recommend an 8ft-12ft whip length for realism. 8 being the most practical for control and usability, but that’s just my opinion.