Can i use shuriken like Genji?

[poolio]

I'm looking to make a very ninja-like shadow monk
And i was wondering if i took the dart and reskined it
To be shuriken, could i hold them three at a time (like Genji from overwatch) and thow all three for a single attack with the chance to do 3d4 instead of 1d4?

Just wondering what you guys thought before trying to convince my dm to alow it :smalltongue:

Also what about the idea of holding a set of three in each hand? It'd be a lot of d4s' sure but I'm into the idea of making that his primary attack, like something he's practiced a lot, so what's the verdict guys 'n gals? To OP? Or just need to flavor it right? :smallsmile:

[Wolfsraine]

Monks can already swap out dart/shuriken damage with their unarmed damage, and you can try to convince your DM to let you make your martial arts bonus attack with a shuriken. That will give you 2 attacks or 3 attacks if you flurry, then you get your additional attack at level 5. So you could get a similar feel to Genji I suppose. Never played Overwatch so not sure what else you are looking to do besides throw lots of shurikens.

Allowing 3 shurikens in each hand and to attack with all of them would be a bit much, thats basically 6 attacks regardless if theyre d4's or not. I think the game mechanics allow for you to get what youre looking for without going overboard for the most part.

[Plaguescarred]

I wouldn't allow it. I'm all for reskinning as long as it doesn't involve any rule change. That change makes it significantly more powerful than the other weapons.

[Rhaegar14]

Using darts is totally a thing that Monks can do, and refluffing is usually par for the course. However, you may need a LITTLE leeway from your DM, as using throwing weapons becomes difficult quickly if you have multiple attacks since you only get one free object interaction per turn.

Using shuriken how you've described, by stacking a bunch of them in one hand, is far outside the boundaries of the rules, however. I don't think there's even anything remotely comparable to it. It's not so much that it would be SUPER overpowered as it is that at that point you're just making stuff up (though that IS higher base damage than any weapon in the game, even a greatsword). Attacking with more weapons is modeled by making more attacks (as with two weapon fighting), not by stacking weapon damage.

On a tangential note, I'm not really sure Genji's a Monk, or at least not a Shadow Monk. He doesn't make any unarmed attacks, does tons of damage with the longsword (Dragonblade), and doesn't have any overtly magical abilities. I'll give you that Monk has the deflect, though.

[poolio]

Monks can already swap out dart/shuriken damage with their unarmed damage, and you can try to convince your DM to let you make your martial arts bonus attack with a shuriken. That will give you 2 attacks or 3 attacks if you flurry, then you get your additional attack at level 5. So you could get a similar feel to Genji I suppose. Never played Overwatch so not sure what else you are looking to do besides throw lots of shurikens.

Allowing 3 shurikens in each hand and to attack with all of them would be a bit much, thats basically 6 attacks regardless if theyre d4's or not. I think the game mechanics allow for you to get what youre looking for without going overboard for the most part.

Yeah never really played overwatch ether lol just wantch my brother play a bit, was just using Genji as an example,

And i like the idea of trying to use my flurry of blows for this, it would help keep it balanced with the spending of ki points to keep doing it,

Thanks for the imput

[Rhaegar14]

Yeah never really played overwatch ether lol just wantch my brother play a bit, was just using Genji as an example,

And i like the idea of trying to use my flurry of blows for this, it would help keep it balanced with the spending of ki points to keep doing it,

Thanks for the imput

Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows both specifically require you to make unarmed attacks. Letting a character use a mundane melee weapon would generally be harmless refluffing, but allowing ranged attacks changes the nature of the feature to some extent. Most notably, it would allow you to use Sharpshooter with those bonus action dart attacks, which takes it from a minor, fluff-driven buff to a potentially major change.

[Wolfsraine]

Using darts is totally a thing that Monks can do, and refluffing is usually par for the course. However, you may need a LITTLE leeway from your DM, as using throwing weapons becomes difficult quickly if you have multiple attacks since you only get one free object interaction per turn.

Using shuriken how you've described, by stacking a bunch of them in one hand, is far outside the boundaries of the rules, however. I don't think there's even anything remotely comparable to it. It's not so much that it would be SUPER overpowered as it is that at that point you're just making stuff up (though that IS higher base damage than any weapon in the game, even a greatsword). Attacking with more weapons is modeled by making more attacks (as with two weapon fighting), not by stacking weapon damage.

On a tangential note, I'm not really sure Genji's a Monk, or at least not a Shadow Monk. He doesn't make any unarmed attacks, does tons of damage with the longsword (Dragonblade), and doesn't have any overtly magical abilities. I'll give you that Monk has the deflect, though.

Rangers can knock and draw arrows, I don't see a difference with a monk drawing shurikens or holding several at a time for flavor. The only major change, which isnt even that big of a deal, is being able to flurry and use the bonus attack with shurikens. Even allowing that, I can't imagine it being over powered. I'd definitely allow it.

[Stan]

SCAG has the Sun Soul monk who has frickin' laser beams. They can do martial arts attack at a distance starting at level 3. You could refluff the light beams as shuriken that do martials arts damage. You'd have to totally redo the level 6+ abilities for the subclass though.

[GlenSmash!]

SCAG has the Sun Soul monk who has frickin' laser beams. They can do martial arts attack at a distance starting at level 3. You could refluff the light beams as shuriken that do martials arts damage. You'd have to totally redo the level 6+ abilities for the subclass though.

I second this. Sun soul munk is already balanced around using ranged attacks even with the bonus action. Refluff them to radiant shuriken and you're fine.

[poolio]

SCAG has the Sun Soul monk who has frickin' laser beams. They can do martial arts attack at a distance starting at level 3. You could refluff the light beams as shuriken that do martials arts damage. You'd have to totally redo the level 6+ abilities for the subclass though.

Is the SCAG an expansion book? If so i really need to get one lol:smalltongue:

[Stan]

SCAG is Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. It's mostly fluff info on northern Forgotten Realms but it has 10-20 pages of new rules.

[RickAllison]

SCAG has the Sun Soul monk who has frickin' laser beams. They can do martial arts attack at a distance starting at level 3. You could refluff the light beams as shuriken that do martials arts damage. You'd have to totally redo the level 6+ abilities for the subclass though.

Let's think of the other abilities then:

Level 6: Burning Hands. A 1st-level spell that can be scaled up with ki... How about Magic Missile! Fluff it as concentrating your ki through the shuriken to never miss.

Level 11: Medium-long-range, at-will explosive. Seems like an explosive shuriken to me!

Level 17: Light aura and reaction damage to melee attacks. Insert some fluff ability for the aura (maybe blind sense?) and keep the counter. You could probably even buff the aura.

Comments, questions, concerns?

[Foxhound438]

you can kind of do it with daggers, as two weapon fighting does work with thrown weapons, but due to the nit-pickiness of the object interaction rules, you could only ever draw one per turn, so for the most part you would not be using shurikens to attack.