Throwing weapon build?

[that_one_kobold]

5e seems to have very little support for thrown weapons, so I'm thinking of some cool builds for using them. Maybe I could go paladin sunlight javelins using smite, or rogue sneak attack throwing daggers. Possibly monk?

[Rebonack]

5e seems to have very little support for thrown weapons, so I'm thinking of some cool builds for using them. Maybe I could go paladin sunlight javelins using smite, or rogue sneak attack throwing daggers. Possibly monk?

Sadly the thrown weapon Smite doesn't work if you're willing to believe the Sage Advice folks. According to them the Smite feature should be read as "When you make a melee attack with a weapon." as opposed to "When you make an attack with a melee weapon."

It's another in the long list of reasons why thrown weapons are gimped without extensive homebrew and house-rule content. The last time I played a Paladin the DM house-ruled it to work since a) the plain-text meaning of the smite feature and b) because it's friggin' awesome.

The Dual Weapon Fighting style and the Duelist style are your best bet for improving thrown weapon DPR, but it isn't going to be anything spectacular.

OR!

You could play a Bladesinger Wizard and pick up Animate Objects at level 9. Keep a rug full of daggers on your person and unfurl it dramatically at people before casting Animate Objects and savaging them with a swarm of daggers.

[Cap'm Bubbles]

Had a party once with several rogues, one of which was a mastermind (ranged help action to give advantage) and one took Sharpshooter and carried a bunch of darts around, one in each hand. The permanent advantage from one source or another removed much of the problem of -5/+10. As a result, the average dart at level 5, without sneak attack, was 17 (1d4+10+4), and with sneak attack was 27. With two attacks per round, 44 damage per turn was pretty consistent. Sure, it could have been pushed higher as an Assassin, but that was Rogue #3's job.
Although this was performed at 5th level, the tactic can be achieved from 1st level with Vhuman, and 4th level with any other race.

As for Paladin, only Branding Smite (2nd level) and Banishing Smite (5th level) can apply to non-melee attacks. Considering resources available, this is just not going anywhere.

Monk has it a little better, utilizing Deflect Missiles to get a reaction as an attack. At level 5 (extra attack) and an offhand dagger (or thrown weapon of preference), that's 3-4 attacks per round (assuming some minion fires at you) while averaging 16 (10+3+1d4) damage each for a max DPR of 64.

The problem is that, once you reach level 5, there's almost no scaling for this type of build, at least not with a single class. Rogue will add an average of 4 more damage every 2 levels, and everyone else will eventually add+1 or +2 to damage for each hit with ASI's.

There is the battlemaster, which will eventually have 3, then 4 main attacks, and can add an extra damage die worth of damage or utility on every attack. While short rest dependent, this would average at 20 damage per hit going by the above listed damage, with a max of 4 main and 1 offhand attacks at level 20. The Archery fighting style gives +2 to hit early on to help with consistency and Sharpshooter, but a DM may require the Duel Wielder feat to use the offhand throw and item interaction to grab another throwing weapon.

Others on this forum can certainly give you an analysis for multiclass, but this is what I could piece together for a purist.

[FabulousFizban]

its not very powerful, but i made a trevor belmont build who keeps enemies away with a whip while throwing daggers

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?530793-Trevor-Belmont-Build-Level-3

[Desteplo]

At least Eldritch knight 3 lets you rebound 1 weapon a turn
-you want to be strength and holding a shield. Otherwise (cross)bow is way better
-you don't want more than 2 attacks because otherwise action economy doesn't stack well
-ranger has spells that provide AOE options

OR

Rogue throwing darts/daggers for sneak attack