[D&D 3.5] Making the Practical Hurler

[Cieyrin]

It's been tossed around how much theoretical damage a Hulking Hurler can throw around (puns fully intended) so many times that it's practically boring, since whatever is hit WILL die. My take on it is making a Hurler that won't get the DM to throw books back in response yet still be effective.

What this means is what build options do you go after that are both appetizing but not smelling of the Gorgonzola. I'm thinking Goliath Barbarian as a base, though playing with an Eneko (SoS 109) could be an interesting alternative. Investing in a Belt of the Wide World would probably be a later investment, as well as picking Natural Heavyweight possibly. I'd like to have some actual BAB, so making a War Hurler is out of the question but what other sources of Strength should I go after in replacement? Silithar Grafts seem a decent choice for the late game.

Here I'm rambling, so, without further ado, how do you, the Playground, make the Practical Hurler?

[Greenish]

Hulking Hurler requires you to be Large. Whether Powerful Build counts is questionable.

[realbombchu]

I'm very sorry if this is a double post.

Anyway, I had the same idea. I chose a half-ogre barbarian as the base, though. I have feats chosen up to level 12.

1) Power Attack
3) Point Blank Shot
6) Weapon Focus (rock)
9) Brutal Throw
12) Power Throw

Elite array: 21, 11, 16, 8, 12, 6.

Or something like that.

[Cieyrin]

Hulking Hurler requires you to be Large. Whether Powerful Build counts is questionable.

Eh, perhaps, though how it's called out in RoS in the feat section that requires Large size working for Goliaths by virtue of being Powerfully Built makes me think it should work. I'm sure Curmudgeon will berate me for my flawed view of RAW any time now...


I'm very sorry if this is a double post.

Anyway, I had the same idea. I chose a half-ogre barbarian as the base, though. I have feats chosen up to level 12.

1) Power Attack
3) Point Blank Shot
6) Weapon Focus (rock)
9) Brutal Throw
12) Power Throw

Elite array: 21, 11, 16, 8, 12, 6.

Or something like that.

Half-Ogre would nicely sidestep the Powerful Build debate for an extra point of LA. The part of the build that I don't think is legal is WF(rock), what with rocks not actually being weapons, per se. Much as I'd love EWP(Halfling) on some characters I've made, they just don't work that way.

I'd also move Brutal Throw forward, so you can accurately hit targets, as that Dex of 11 isn't doing you any favors, plus Power Attack doesn't do that much for you at 1st level, with only 1 BAB to trade in for 2 damage on a two-handed weapon.

[SaintRidley]

My favourite conceptual hurler is the Drunken Hurler.

Half-Ogre Monk/Hurler/Drunken Master.

If possible, talk to your DM and get EWP: Improvised Weapon: Living beings. Or, if you want to be funny, see if you can take WP: Fist and qualify for Hulking Hurler with that (You do throw a fist :p).

But seriously, go humanoid bowling with humanoids as your balls.

[SurlySeraph]

You could get some interesting synergy with Bloodstorm Blade and possibly Warmind (using Thunderous Throw to apply Sweeping Strike to ranged attacks) for more options than "I kill it with a rock." Plus Expansion is obviously nice for Hurlers.

You could also take Deformity (obese) and other ways of increasing your weight, enter Kensai, and apply the Throwing property to yourself. DM protest may be countered via questionable readings of how Powerful Build interacts with Fling Ally (which lets you pick up "an ally at least one size category smaller than you"), or via polymorphing into a Kobold and using an augmented Expansion or Giant Size with a similarly questionable reading of Slight Build if that fails.

Returning weapons are pretty much a must, and you'll want a range of weapons (or a way of shrinking them) for when the DM rules that you can't get a boulder through the door. You may also want ways to acquire things to throw if you get disarmed, such as Fling Enemy, Summon Instrument, or Force Chest.

[Cieyrin]

My favourite conceptual hurler is the Drunken Hurler.

Half-Ogre Monk/Hurler/Drunken Master.

If possible, talk to your DM and get EWP: Improvised Weapon: Living beings. Or, if you want to be funny, see if you can take WP: Fist and qualify for Hulking Hurler with that (You do throw a fist :p).

But seriously, go humanoid bowling with humanoids as your balls.

Your theoretical IC build is what got me thinking about this, actually. Well, rethinking about it, as I built a Goliath Barbarian/Hurler/Master Thrower/War Hulk built around throwing Orcish Shotputs of massive size and disturbing crit potential (17-20/x4!!:smallbiggrin:). The thing with War Hulk is the lack of BAB/skills bugs me, plus DMs I play with tend to ix-nay War Hulk as NPC only. Plus, while 8d6+stupid bonus was nice, it didn't really reach Hurler abuse levels that that Improvised Weapon table at the back of CW suggests it should, making me go back to the drawing board.

For EWP(Living Beings), that seems the providence of Fling Enemy (http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Fling_Enemy) to me. Either that or just put it together with Really Throw Anything, as long as they weigh less your Light Load (Medium with the appropriate trick). Doing it completely legitly would involve Setting Sun, which would probably mean going Swordsage at some point, which is counter-intuitive to the Drunken Hurler if you ask me.

EDIT:
You could get some interesting synergy with Bloodstorm Blade and possibly Warmind (using Thunderous Throw to apply Sweeping Strike to ranged attacks) for more options than "I kill it with a rock." Plus Expansion is obviously nice for Hurlers.

You could also take Deformity (obese) and other ways of increasing your weight, enter Kensai, and apply the Throwing property to yourself. DM protest may be countered via questionable readings of how Powerful Build interacts with Fling Ally (which lets you pick up "an ally at least one size category smaller than you"), or via polymorphing into a Kobold and using an augmented Expansion or Giant Size with a similarly questionable reading of Slight Build if that fails.

Returning weapons are pretty much a must, and you'll want a range of weapons (or a way of shrinking them) for when the DM rules that you can't get a boulder through the door. You may also want ways to acquire things to throw if you get disarmed, such as Fling Enemy, Summon Instrument, or Force Chest.

Slightly ninja'd but other insights as well. The thing with Hulking Hurler is you REALLY THROW ANYTHING, so it should really be whatever is handy. Rocks just tend to come up b/c of the whole "Giant Rock Throwing" thing but really, if you aren't uprooting and throwing Gazebos, you're not using it to the full potential.

Throwing yourself seems a little too Naruto for my tastes, though Kensei'ing it up to magic your bulk does have it's own amusement factor. Gives new meaning to 'Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps', indeed. :smallwink:

[realbombchu]

Complete Warrior does list rock as a Weapon Focus option, but if that's incorrect, switch it to spear, I guess. You're right that Power attack doesn't do much at 1st level. I was just going for earliest entry into hulking hurler, but I'm flexible about that.

[Cieyrin]

Complete Warrior does list rock as a Weapon Focus option, but if that's incorrect, switch it to spear, I guess. You're right that Power attack doesn't do much at 1st level. I was just going for earliest entry into hulking hurler, but I'm flexible about that.

The thing is that's from the Sample Build, which are notorious for not working as intended or even necessarily qualifying for the PRC they're supposed to be in. The thing with rocks is that they're improvised weapons, which you can't WF in, either. :smallannoyed:

[realbombchu]

The thing is that's from the Sample Build, which are notorious for not working as intended or even necessarily qualifying for the PRC they're supposed to be in. The thing with rocks is that they're improvised weapons, which you can't WF in, either. :smallannoyed:

Okay, no problem. I thought that might be wrong. Just switch it to the ranged weapon of your choice. The build still works. Good catch though. :)

[Kelb_Panthera]

Hulking Hurler requires you to be Large. Whether Powerful Build counts is questionable.

Since he's a goliath barbarian massive build doesn't matter one way or another. As long as he's raging, he's large; unless he didn't take that ACF for some inexplicable reason.

[Greenish]

Since he's a goliath barbarian massive build doesn't matter one way or another. As long as he's raging, he's large; unless he didn't take that ACF for some inexplicable reason.Right, I forgot about Mountain Rage (which I really shouldn't do, since it's great).

[Cieyrin]

Well, this didn't go much of anywhere but I suppose I should ask a couple questions about the Hurler that bug me.

The first of which is whether you can use multiple Two-Handed Hurl Tricks on the same throw? The text doesn't seem to imply you couldn't, given it just says to use any, not that that you're limited to one at a time.

The second is about the reading of Meteor Strike, as is the bonus replacing the normal damage bonus from strength or is it adding double Strength bonus, effectively giving triple Strength bonus to damage?