Forums: Advice: thrown weapon build (2024)

You get a weapon with a returning rune.

I believe your attack and damage for thrown weapons depend on strength, but barbarian rage doesn't improve it IIRC.

I don't know of anything that really improves it very well.

Rogue using finesse thrown weapons could get dex to damage and attack rolls and sneak attack is easier to get on ranged attacks in this edition.

I haven't looked into it a whole lot, but there are a few ways I've seen to make this work well.

One is to make a monk with monastic weapons to be good with shuriken. You'll be decent at range, but this is more defensive/positioning based as the monk tends to get more movement abilities. If you take abilities to enhance your jumping, you can jump to areas in one action that will take enemies multiple actions to climb to and attack from afar. You should MC Ranger to get more damage with the hunted shot flourish feat.

If you want to fight more accurately, you'll want to find a weapon that can be thrown and has a critical specialization that you like then go fighter or, if you choose an agile weapon, maybe go ranger. The returning rune comes into play pretty early. I like the hatchet for this because its agile and the specialization will let you hit multiple grouped enemies on a crit, but it does have poor range.

If you want to hit hard with thrown weapons, be a barbarian and do raging thrower to get your rage damage to thrown weapons.

Claxon wrote:

You get a weapon with a returning rune.

I believe your attack and damage for thrown weapons depend on strength, but barbarian rage doesn't improve it IIRC.

I don't know of anything that really improves it very well.

Rogue using finesse thrown weapons could get dex to damage and attack rolls and sneak attack is easier to get on ranged attacks in this edition.

In the errata they clarified the rules.

Quote:

Page 283: In the definition for the thrown weapon trait, change the first sentence to “You can throw this weapon as a ranged attack, and it is a ranged weapon when thrown.”

So when throwing you would use Str for damage but Dex for the attack roll. And since the Thief Racket only gives Dex to damage for melee weapons with finesse, that won't work when throwing a finesse weapon.

Thrown build is one where you'll likely want to MCD. Its handicap is you're trading range for a smaller weapon (less damage) and you'll need to figure out how much you're willing to trade.
Or you can think of it as doing similar damage to a bow, yet losing lots of range. So the advantage here is getting to add your full Str damage, so you want both Str & Dex high. Throwing's other advantage is being able to switch-hit using the same weapon.

If "Brutal", a weapon trait in the Bestiary, ever becomes available to PCs (perhaps through a Dedication), then expect that to become the best thrower build.

A trident has the best base damage, can be used with a shield, and compares well w/ other one-handed weapons (trading versatility or sweep, etc. for thrown.) But it has little range & piercing is mediocre. Yet, if you get an extra attack because you didn't have to move, that's nice, though remember it's likely a later attack.
Javelins have second best damage and high range, but little else, not even switch hitting for good melee use. As a simple weapon though, if you find a deity that favors it, you can get it to d8s. Also, being cheap, a thrower can have a few disposable ones for when they need to use a secondary weapon (i.e. for piercing or vs. Rust Monster, et al)
Other d6 weapons have better abilities, like a Light Hammer which is agile if you're throwing a lot per round (like a Flurry Ranger) and they have good tactical range.
The d4 weapons are usually agile too, and some have cool flavor, though I wouldn't suggest them despite some good crit effects. (I don't recommend building around a crit specialization effect since throwing is already trying to catch up vs. bows)
The d8 Dwarven Thrower is something to consider too if playing to 13th+

As for classes:
-Barbarian: Raging Thrower helps your damage a lot. You can't boost Dex at first, but this is a solid foundation for damage alone. You'd pretty much have to MCD Ranger to get supporting feats.
Modest damage bonus if dipping.
-Champion: Blade Ally can get Returning (which might be especially important in a low magic campaign) and having that Rune slot open means you can get a damage Rune instead. Still only recommend for a campaign where Weakness to Good damage occurs, though if enough non-throwing aspects interest you, the class is functional.
Not worth dipping.
-Fighter: The increased accuracy is naturally nice, and Hammer or Axe weapon groups both have options to switch to a d12 melee weapon, so it's a strong class. I don't feel like you're getting full use out of the class though, so I have reservations.
-Monk: Would not recommend. Being able to move/flurry/move (perhaps w/ Stunning Fist) is about all the range you need. It's hard to catch up to that basic strategy.
-Ranger: Probably the default thrower because Hunt Prey doubles the distance before penalties and Far Shot extends that range. It's well-worth dipping into for both. That lame 10' trident can now reach 40' without penalty. The Flurry Ranger makes great use of those extra attacks from having a ranged weapon.
-Rogue: If you have a way to get an attack vs. a flat-footed foe every round (like an ally who regularly makes enemies flat-footed or Improved Invisibility, et al) then throwing is a strong option for a weapon-class that doesn't tank well. Your weapons are limited, but you'll being doing about the same damage as melee Rogues so there's little lost here (again, if you can get enemies flat-footed).

I do not think War Priest or Bard work well here, though they could be made functional. Their spells sorta overshadow modest thrown weapons.

Check out the Dart. It is the only thrown weapon with Reload “-“ if I’m recalling correctly.

If you need to spend an action to draw a new weapon before each throw, your action economy is borked.sure you can get 2 throws off in 1 round, but next round you are playing catch up. Best case scenario is starting combat with a thrown weapon in each hand:
Turn 1
A1 throw
A2 throw with multiple attack penalty
A3 draw
Turn 2
A1 throw
A2 draw
A3 throw with multiple ttack penalty
Turn 3
A1 draw
A2 throw
A3 draw

At that point you are oscillating between your turn 2 and turn 3 rotation.
And this is very hypothetical. If the enemy doesn’t oblige you and come within range, you are facing a penalty or sinking an action into moving. If there are intervening creatures or terrain cover features, again... deal with it or sink an action into moving.

About 50% of your actions will be drawing unless you get that Reload “-“ weapon.

Of course Returning Rune is the holy grail, but it’s deep into the character before you get that. Even a d4+ STR is better, IMO, than any d6 or D8, if you can bypass the drawing requirement of most thrown weapons.

jdripley wrote:

Check out the Dart. It is the only thrown weapon with Reload “-“ if I’m recalling correctly.

Javelins and Alchemical Bombs as well.

jdripley wrote:

About 50% of your actions will be drawing unless you get that Reload “-“ weapon.

I think you are confused about the rules for Reload.

CRB, p. 279 wrote:

An item with an entry of “—” must be drawn to be thrown, which usually takes an Interact action just like drawing any other weapon.

So when it comes to action economy these are no better than daggers, hatchets, and the like.

I think you might be getting the "—" case confused with the "0" case where "drawing ammunition and firing the weapon are part of the same action." I believe that Shuriken are the only thrown weapons with a "0" reload time.

Thanks, I’ll have to go over all of that again.

My specifics are off I guess, but I think the overall point might still stand? If you need to draw a thrown weapon repeatedly it loses efficiency.

*hurries off to reread this part of the rules.

Right, so I was way off and Gisher is right.

No matter, Shuriken and Darts do the same damage, so in that we're still OK.

However Shuriken are Uncommon, so you'd need to have some way to access them. Monk with Monastic Weapons is the sure fire way.

I suppose you could find a pile of Shuriken as loot somewhere, but then you're relying on the AP/GM providing them. Depending on the situation that may or may not work out. i.e. in PFS, loot is as-written and the GM really can't give you extra nice things.

Or, you could go Leshy with the Seedpod ancestry feat. Now it's baked into your character. That's pretty nice. So, any Monk, or Leshy with Seedpod. Or anybody who is proficient in Martial weapons and happens to find Shuriken.

..or anybody who doesn't mind blowing 50% of their actions drawing whichever thrown weapon they choose.

Currently been mulling over a number of Thrown Weapon builds. A lot of them revolve around Barbarian and Raging Thrower. Though someone suggesting Champion and Blade Ally has me thinking up some interesting build ideas.

Curious what peoples opinions are on Fighter’s ‘Point Blank Shot’ stance with Thrown Weapons?

Pumpkinhead11 wrote:

Currently been mulling over a number of Thrown Weapon builds. A lot of them revolve around Barbarian and Raging Thrower. Though someone suggesting Champion and Blade Ally has me thinking up some interesting build ideas.

Curious what peoples opinions are on Fighter’s ‘Point Blank Shot’ stance with Thrown Weapons?

The wording is awkward, which is why I avoided addressing it in my post.

PBS requires you to wield a ranged weapon to maintain.
The errata clarified that thrown weapons are ranged weapons when thrown.
But what about when held, being ready to be thrown?
Some, like javelins, get around this by having no melee option so they're listed under "Ranged Weapons", but that's very limiting. The melee weapons w/ thrown trait would technically not be ranged while held, so it'd end the stance since you wouldn't meet the prereqs anymore.

I'd rule on the side of allowing these thrown weapons to count for PBS, even in PFS, because PF2 explicitly encourages taking the most common sense interpretation rather than parsing like a lawyer.
(According to RAW; RAI > RAW)
If they used a melee attack though, I'd have the stance end.

That said, I don't think it's worth dipping for (even though I lean that way with bows) mainly because there are better dips re: throwing (Ranger for non-Rangers; or Rogue or Barbarian for Rangers.)

At least it works for what i was imagining. Can still be very useful for specific builds like Giant Totem Barbarian or Flurry Ranger. I would rather Thrown Weapon Trait be something along the lines of; ‘A weapon with this trait count as both Melee and Ranged for the purpose of Feats and Abilities.’ That still might not be a perfect fix honestly but eh.

Fighter has some pretty nice Ranged Feats. All depends on what you’re looking to build when all is said and done. So far i count like 13 different combinations that look like they could be fun; Fighter combos were kinda dependent on PBS stance personally speaking.