Which class is the best "thrower" ?

[The Shadowdove]

So, let's say we wanted to make a character that excels in staying out of range with throwing weapons (whether it be 'just barely' or as far as effectively possible).



Which class makes for the best?


Is it better strength or Dex?


Which weapon provides the best advantage? (no, not the game mechanic "advantage"..unless there is one that does!)


Which feats would be "must have" and "helpful"?
Dex or str based fighter looks sooooo capable

but, obviously, rogue does too. Simply for sneak attacks.


What be your thoughts people?

-dove

[Esprit15]

Class: Whatever gets you into Hulking Hurler the fastest.
Weapon: The heaviest thing you can find.
Maximize strength as much as possible, roll several buckets of d6 for damage.

[Knaight]

Class: Whatever gets you into Hulking Hurler the fastest.
Weapon: The heaviest thing you can find.
Maximize strength as much as possible, roll several buckets of d6 for damage.

This is the 5e board. Hulking Hurler is 3e.

As for the best thrower, it is probably worth splitting dexterity and strength based ones, just because they tend to cover somewhat divergent character concepts. Fighter works for both, Barbarian is worth considering just for the second, Rogue works better for dexterity but is probably still fairly functional with strength, etc.

[Kane0]

A fighter with a pack of darts amd a shield or a bunch of handaxes he can twf with would make a formiddable number of attacks per round, seriously cramping a lot of opponent's styles. Both str and dex builds would be viable and the archery fighting style seriously improves your chances of hitting. (Edit: id go with a bunch of handaxes because they use either str or dex, have decent damage amd can be thrown. So versatile!)

You might be interested in dipping either barbarian or rogue, but rage only applies to melee attacks (those handaxes when he isnt throwing them) and sneak attack is only for one hit per turn (iirc, away from books rifht now). Id stick with straight fighter myself but thats just me.

The biggest issue is range. You will regularly be outranged by many spells and bows/crossbows, so keep that in mind. However going the fighter route means that you get second wind for early survivability and action surge for even more attacks when needed, as well as full access to all weapons and armor with good HP to boot. You could throw a bunch of weapons then strap on your shield for the next round when you close distance, then throw more handaxes as needed as the fight goees on.

Amd all three subclasses are of use to you. If you want consistent number crunching power then the champion will boost your damage output significantly amd open up a secondary style, battlemaster gives you a bunch of utility spells and EK grants you a bunch of useful spells that you can use for utility, buffs or extra firepower if your thrown weapons arent making the cut.

Edit: you might want to look into the sharpshooter and ctossbow mastery feats to see if they help. As a fighter you get a few more than normal, so you could theoretically afford them if they benefit thrown weapons ('ranged attack')

[Amnoriath]

While the Rogue does have Sneak Attack keep in mind it relies off of advantage. So once you get into a range beyond the first number it no longer applies. For starting out a Dagger is quite common in kits and a very good start as it both offers melee and range being Dexterity based. If you just want damage output a Spear is the way to go. If you want range the Javelin is the way to go.
As for the class I actually would go with the Monk simply because it can choose to always have Dexterity as its base for its base weapons and it increases the damage die as it gains levels. This means your smallest weapons go up to d10's. The Fighter while may be able to get more ranged attacks technically a thrown weapon is a property of a melee weapon so it can't benefit from Archery nor from Sharpshooter. So I would go with a Shadow Monk/Rogue multiclass to give you the best of both worlds.

[odigity]

A fighter with a pack of darts amd a shield or a bunch of handaxes he can twf with would make a formiddable number of attacks per round, seriously cramping a lot of opponent's styles.

Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that. I started a thread about dagger throwing here:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?386532-Dagger-Throwing-Build

TWF requires you to be wielding a weapon in both hands, and once you throw one of them, you're technially no longer TWF, so you can't use a bonus action to throw the other unless you use your free object interaction to draw another weapon as part of your Attack action. Even then, that only buys you one round, as next round you're going to fall behind (one object interaction, but two throws per round). Dual Wielder will get up to two attacks sustainably, but nother three or four.

It was also pointed out that while Darts count as ammo, and ammo can be drawn for free, ammo can't qualify for TWF, so holding a dart in each hand will also not give you access to a bonus action attack.

So, building a good dagger build requires house-ruling.

Another problem:


Both str and dex builds would be viable and the archery fighting style seriously improves your chances of hitting.

This also does not work because:


The Fighter while may be able to get more ranged attacks technically a thrown weapon is a property of a melee weapon so it can't benefit from Archery nor from Sharpshooter.

All in all, it's a sad state of affairs for 5e fans who like to throw things.


While the Rogue does have Sneak Attack keep in mind it relies off of advantage. So once you get into a range beyond the first number it no longer applies.

A sneak attack thrower is going to be relying on targeting enemnies adjacent to allies to trigger Sneak Attack more often than advantage, so that's not a big issue.


If you just want damage output a Spear is the way to go. If you want range the Javelin is the way to go.

Why spear? The only benefit it has over javelin is versatile, which only matters if you want to two-hand it in melee. The javelin has better range, so is a better choice for throwing.


As for the class I actually would go with the Monk simply because it can choose to always have Dexterity as its base for its base weapons and it increases the damage die as it gains levels. This means your smallest weapons go up to d10's... ...So I would go with a Shadow Monk/Rogue multiclass to give you the best of both worlds.

This seems like the answer. By level 5 you can throw four darts per round as long as you have Ki points, then three darts per round forever after. (I suggest fluffing them as shuriken.)

EDIT: Brain fart. You can't throw things with your bonus action using Martial Arts; it's limited to unarmed strike. So it's actually not any better than Fighter. Arg! Throwing builds shouldn't be this difficult to construct...

[bloodshed343]

The Dart is the only thrown weapon that can be used with archery fighting style, sharpshooter, and extra attack, so that's your weapon.

Convince your DM to let you use it in melee as an improvised dagger. Or take the tavern brawler feat to use it as an improvised weapon with proficiency. If your DM doesn't count darts as light weapons, he's wrong, since they're the lightest weapon in the book.

[numerek]

tavern brawler, dual wielder

Adventuring Gear - Acid
It does 2d6 acid damage. It says to treat it as an improvised weapon which is why I suggest tavern brawler for proficiency to hit. and dual wielder is the only way to be able to throw two things round after round without working something out with your dm. you can also use holy water against fiends and undead, there are other adventuring gear that can do thrown damage but they do less alchemist's fire and oil.

It is also possible your dm will allow the acid to do d4 improvised weapon impact damage + ability modifier, then you are doing potentially 2d6+d4+5=14.5 per vial, granted you are going to need to have a wagon full of acid if you are going to be adventuring away from a town for a long period of time, and if an accident happens to that wagon you could lose a lot of your ammo.

Perhaps a gnomish character could come up with an acid vial thrower, that could get around other limitations.

You are also burning thru 40gold per turn. Though you could work out some type of bulk discount.

Since you can only draw two weapons a turn you don't really need extra attack except to free up your bonus action and potential apply ability modifier to second attack.

Cleric's divine strike just needs to be a weapon attack so that can add some d8s to your damage.

Ranger's Colossus Slayer and two weapon fighting hunter's mark.

So at cleric 14 ranger 3 I would say you could be doing 3d8 + 6d6 + 2d4 + 10 = 49.5 damage which isn't great but I don't think a thrower can get much more than that. If your dm will let your draw a third weapon a turn at cleric 14 ranger 5 then 3d8 + 9d6 + 3d4 + 15 = 67.5 which is pretty decent.

If you are going with this concept I would suggest dragon born black or copper since at some point those vial are probably going to break on you.

The same sort of build throwing darts would be 3d8 + 2d6 + 2d4 + 30 = 58 damage with sharpshooter instead of tavern brawler but that is with -5 to hit.

If the dm allows sharpshooter to apply to the vials then the damage would go up to 69.5 and 97.5 respectively and if they allow sharpshooter they are basically allowing archery.

[silveralen]

If your DM counts thrown weapons as melee weapons, you can mix things like dueling, smites, and barbarian rages in, even reckless attack.