I hate to be the odd one out here, but, while I dislike the fact that spears are so stupidly far ahead of other weapons in ADOM, I quite like how bad whips are. I think they're in the right place.
If we buff whips, what's next, buffing use of cloaks in melee for 'balance'? How about wielding wooden sticks? Should that be more powerful? Wielding musical instruments?
I'm all for a fantasy setting and stuff, but there's a reason whips tend to be so bad in most roleplaying systems - a whip, despite what films might have us believe, isn't actually a weapon. It's never been a weapon historically. It's an animal training tool. At no point in history has a whip been a combat weapon, and I quite like the way ADOM makes their use possible, but not really practical outside of style-seeking. I think that's the right place for them, and getting powerful whips or buffs to the bonuses destroys realism.