Best one-handed ranged weapon?

[Yogibear41]

Whats the best one-handed ranged weapon?

And whats the best simple/martial one handed ranged weapon? (assuming the first answer could be exotic)


Have an idea for playing a guy with one arm (at least to start with) and want to be able to do something decent for the first few levels, without having to get up in melee with a one hander.

[SolioFebalas]

Ofcource first would be exotic - kusari-gama, spinning sword, whip-dagger, chain sword.

Martial/Simple: Small two-handed weapons

[Ianuagonde]

I'd go with a throwing weapon, which are remarkably effective at low levels. A javelin has 30 ft range increments, decent damage and low cost, so that would be my pick.

At higher levels, when magic weapons are a must and full attacks are available, throwing weapons lose much appeal. But for starters, they can be quite useful.

[limejuicepowder]

Orcish shotput is pretty boss.

Take a look at master thrower from complete warrior. They dont really care what they throw, it's all deadly. High level throwing builds are perfectly viable, you just need quick draw and multiple weapons. There are also other build specific ways to get multiple attacks, like bloodstorm blade.

[Crake]

I'd go with a throwing weapon, which are remarkably effective at low levels. A javelin has 30 ft range increments, decent damage and low cost, so that would be my pick.

At higher levels, when magic weapons are a must and full attacks are available, throwing weapons lose much appeal. But for starters, they can be quite useful.

when you get a glove of endless javelins, it's still cool!

[Piggy Knowles]

Talenta boomerang, for the fun that is Boomerang Daze and Boomerang Ricochet. Also... boomerang!

[Yogibear41]

Martial/Simple: Small two-handed weapons



I'm pretty sure a small bow still requires two hands to shoot, this is something that I will only be doing for levels 1-3 or 4 ish, after that I will converting to the front lines.

Throwing weapons are fine but you can only carry so many realistically, and I don't want to run out mid fight. Considered having like a ton of daggers all sheathed all over me so I could just grab and throw one a round.

[TrollCapAmerica]

What about the sling?Its got a pretty good range reasonable damage+strength bonus and the ammo is easy to come by

[Captnq]

+1 flying, quick-loading, self-loading, reloading Light Ballista.

Okay, it occupies a 5 foot square all by itself, but it loads itself automaticly as a free action and does insane amounts of damage. It flies so you can have it attack on it's own (since it reloads as a free action, it gets one free attack at BAB +0) and you get to attack with it yourself up to your BAB.

Oh, and get yourself a Keen Abyssial Baatorian Green Steel stump knife. Nothing beats a stump knife for crits. If you got the stump, get the knife!

[Fax Celestis]

I'm pretty sure a small bow still requires two hands to shoot, this is something that I will only be doing for levels 1-3 or 4 ish, after that I will converting to the front lines.

Throwing weapons are fine but you can only carry so many realistically, and I don't want to run out mid fight. Considered having like a ton of daggers all sheathed all over me so I could just grab and throw one a round.

Buy a third arm? Cast girallon's blessing? Dip two levels of totemist and bind Girallon Arms to your totem chakra? There are ways to get more arms. Many ways.

[Sir_Thaddeus]

What about the sling?Its got a pretty good range reasonable damage+strength bonus and the ammo is easy to come by

I'm going to second slings. Their damage is a bit low, but the strength mod bonus is pretty good. It basically combines the best of thrown weapons (strength to damage) and projectile weapons (cheaply enchanted ammo). Also the ability to use small rocks as ammo for a trade-off in damage is situationally useful.

[Captnq]

I just finished my lawn and I was thinking to myself... I can do better then that.


So, we take a double crossbow and up size it until it's a ballista. All ballista are just oversized crossbows, after all. And it states a double crossbow is still fired with one hand, you just need two hands to load it.

Now we have a double ballista.

So we'll make it out of aurorium, because it being the size of a medium creature, that thing is gonna get sundered to hell and gone.

Now we give both the upper and lower crossbow +1, Flying, Quick-loading, Self-loading, and reloading. You need to give both flying so that both weapons are considered animated objects.

Oh, so you know a Light Ballista takes two full rounds to load. Self-loading takes that down to one round. Quick-loading takes it down to a move action. Reloading takes it down to a free action.

Now we add deathwand to both the upper and lower crossbow. That gives us room to mount four wands all of which are usable as if in our hand.

Now we add on two oil champers so we can coat the bolts with oil, and two triple weapon capsule retainers filled with quickflame so that two bolts can do 4d6 fire once before needing 8 rounds to reload.

And two gnome sights to reduce range penalties.

OH! and make those bolts tumbling. x1/2 range but +2 damage.

Now, since we have a double weapon and you'll be using two weapon fighting to shoot both the upper and lower crossbow in the same round, we can add Speed to the upper bow.

Now using the Axe of pairs as a base, we can determine that it is a +3 bonus to get an extra attack with your off handed weapon when making a full attack. So we can add the extrapolated WSA Off-handed to the lower bow, giving us an extra off-hand attack.

So you get your base BAB attacks, An off hand attack. An extra speed attack. An extra off-handed attack, and both the upper and lower crossbow are animated objects, so they each get an attack as themselves.

Now, I should point out that Quickloading only gives you space for 100 units of ammo. At 7 bolts a round, you are going last 14 round before you need to take 10 minutes to reload the extra-dimensional ammo holding space. And every time your BAB goes up 5 points and you buy another feat in the two-weapon fighting tree, it's going to burn through your ammunition all the faster.

And I'm sure you can come up with some fun ammo, but I'd still use tumbling bolts. A range of 75 is a small price to pay for 4d6+2 damage.

[Ianuagonde]

I see lots of expensive magic items, while the OP specifies something for the first few levels. I'll stand by the javelin. Daggers are indeed a good alternative: the range increments hurt a lot, but you can use them in melee without the -4 penalty.

Slings can indeed be fired one-handed, but you need two hands to load them. You won't get more than one shot per combat. Unless you can carry a lot of loaded slings...hmmm...
*starts adapting the potion belt to carry multiple slings instead. I'll call it the Girdle of Goliath bane, and then...*

[mabriss lethe]

The Atlatl in Sandstorm is also pretty sweet.

Pro:
-Martial weapon
-Good range
-Best of both thrown and projectile weapons.
-No listed reloading rules.


Con:
-Deals 1d4 base damage
-Darts are 1 G each.

I'm currently AFB, so some of this could be wrong (pricing and reloading time.)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The *best* one-handed ranged weapon is probably a Mind Arrow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2), but barring that I'd go with a Harpoon (exotic) or Javelin.

[Gavinfoxx]

This homebrew thingy I came up with!

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271165

It isn't one handed, though... but you dont need any hands to use it!

Otherwise, Gloves of Endless Javelins.

[Vizzerdrix]

Gnome Calculus. Uses alchemical items as ammo and has a 50 foot range.

I'll also vote for harpoons, Orc shotputs, and Caber.