shurikens

[person29]

So I am going to be playing a monk in an upcoming campaign.

I am leaning towards halfling monk using shurikens

However in the shuriken description it says they are counted as ammunition for what happens after they are thrown...so they would break right?

So getting MW/magical shurikens is a huge gold dump due to breakage upon hit...unless I am missing something which is entirely possible.

Am I missing something?

[prufock]

You enchant 50 shurikens for the price of one weapon, so they are cheaper up to 50 attacks (actually more than that, since missed attacks are 50/50 if they break). After that, a single weapon is cheaper.

However, if you're going to be throwing a lot of attacks in a round, you'd need lots of weapons, so that gets WAY more costly.

EDIT: MIC has Gloves of Endless Javelins that give you +1 force javelins as a free action so you can use them every time you attack. Ask your DM if you can substitute gloves of endless shurikens.

Check the Master Thrower PrC in Complete Warrior. Palm Throw and Weak Spot are worth it. Also Exotic Weapon Master for 1 level to get Close Quarters Ranged Combat.

[Jeraa]

Nope, your not missing anything. Any shuriken that hit their target are destroyed, and any that miss have a 50% chance of being destroyed.

In 3.0, you could throw 3 shuriken at a target as a single attack, but you couldn't apply your strength modifier to the damage, and each shuriken only did 1 point of damage. They also weren't considered ammunition, so didn't break when thrown. But you had to enchant each one individually.

[AsteriskAmp]

I think there was a returning enchantment or something of the like.

[person29]

But would the returning enchantment work or only the ones that missed and hit the 50% to not be destroyed?

[Jeraa]

Returning would only work with the ones that missed, and only 50% of those. The ones that hit are destroyed, there is nothing to return.

Pathfinder, in Elves of Golarian, has durable arrows. Cost is 1gp each (7gp each for masterwork), and they don't break when fired. Magical durable arrows don't break, but the magic is still lost. You can retrieve the arrow, but you have to re-enchant it. Something similar could be made for shuriken. (Shuriken already cost 1gp each, though. Since durable arrows cost 20x the price for a normal arrow, then durable shuriken should cost 20gp.)

[prufock]

There has been some discussion before about what effect making shuriken out of aurorum (repairs itself if sundered) or riverine (immune to physical damage) would have. By RAW - none. However I think a reasonable DM would allow that an item that can not be damaged is not destroyed when it hits a target.

Now, ammunition that misses has a 50% chance of being destroyed or lost, which makes it a bit trickier. I would probably let a PC get shurikens with the Calling enchantment, so they can never be lost again.

Remember that you can flurry with shurikens as a monk, and you can combine with Two-Weapon, Improved Two-Weapon, and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting. Double up with Palm Throw from the Master Thrower class and you can be tossing off 20 shurikens every round.

[Salanmander]

Whether shurikens are cost effective is going to depend a lot on the pace of your campaign. If you typically level quickly (and therefore gain wealth quickly) it's likely you'd want better ones by the time your current stash runs out anyway. If you level slowly, they'll be more expensive.

When I've used shurikens in the past, it's been fine by a middling level because you have a stash of weaker-than-the-rest-of-your-party's weapons for a not-too-threatening situation (with basically negligible cost), but you also have a small stash of overleveled weapons (if your DM lets you buy in batches of <50) to pull out when the situation is dire.