I get where you're coming from, but the reason I suggest short-chain flails is because it could be functionally similar to the bludgeons already in game. That is, it can use the same animations without any bad side-effects.
A short-chain flail would still be devastating, much more so than a...
That's kind of what excites me about flails, they would be as deadly as sin, but you would need to be very cautious about when to strike. High-risk, high-reward and all that jazz.
I actually think that a flail would be an extremely interesting weapon because of the physics that would be at play.
That is, it doesn't have to be a potentially self-harming thing on a crazy long chain.
It could be these: