Best class for a thrower build

[Dankus Memakus]

Okay so i want to build a character based on throwing but I'm not sure what class to do that with. Here are my options.
Bard (has access to ranger spells)
Fighter
Rogue
Ranger
Barbarian (I realize I forfeit rage bonuses)

Not sure which is best but id like some solid damage output

[Easy_Lee]

Okay so i want to build a character based on throwing but I'm not sure what class to do that with. Here are my options.
Bard (has access to ranger spells)
Fighter
Rogue
Ranger
Barbarian (I realize I forfeit rage bonuses)

Not sure which is best but id like some solid damage output

Rogue. The two major limitations of throwers are drawing your weapons and weapon die. Rogues don't care about their weapon damage die, only make one or two attacks per round, and get most of their damage from sneak attack. You can draw and throw a dagger or dart while still holding a rapier or short sword. Thus, you can qualify for opportunity attacks even when using your action for ranged attacks.

Ask your DM if he'll allow you to apply Sharpshooter to thrown weapons. It technically works by RAW, but isn't intended [citation needed], so you should ask to be sure. If allowed, Sharpshooter can turn your thrower rogue into a competent damage dealer. Combine with Dual Wielder to throw two daggers and draw two more in the same round, dealing up to 2D4+20+Dex+SA damage on a turn (comparable to Sharpshooter+Crossbow Expert while still able to make opportunity attacks).

[wilhelmdubdub]

It's good to get rogue to 3 and take thief when you get an extra attack you can draw another throwing weapon. Probably take battlemaster levels for extra damage die and being able to trip and disarm.

[Easy_Lee]

It's good to get rogue to 3 and take thief when you get an extra attack you can draw another throwing weapon. Probably take battlemaster levels for extra damage die and being able to trip and disarm.

With extra attack and TWF, a Battlemaster can make three attacks per round. Even with Dual Wielder, you can't draw more than two. I'd stick to pure rogue unless your DM handwaves weapon drawing.

[Dankus Memakus]

With extra attack and TWF, a Battlemaster can make three attacks per round. Even with Dual Wielder, you can't draw more than two. I'd stick to pure rogue unless your DM handwaves weapon drawing.

Gotcha, I dont think he does

[Kane0]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

[Dankus Memakus]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

I believe dueling is what works with throwing

[SharkForce]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

currently, dueling applies to (most?) one-handed thrown weapons (provided you don't have a weapon in the other hand) and ranged applies to darts, actually.

personally, i think a battlemaster dip doesn't sound bad for it, but agree in general that mostly rogue is the way to go, unless your DM ignores weapon drawing restrictions as noted.

[bronzemountain]

Okay so i want to build a character based on throwing but I'm not sure what class to do that with. Here are my options.
Bard (has access to ranger spells)
Fighter
Rogue
Ranger
Barbarian (I realize I forfeit rage bonuses)

Not sure which is best but id like some solid damage output

Monk! DEX based javelins, d10 damage daggers. Take a few levels of rogue or ranger to boost via sneak attack / favored enemy (revised ranger) / duelist. Take mobile. Impale people from range, run up, punch them in the face, and take your javelin out of their bleeding flesh before running off again. OPTIONAL: Cackle maniacally.

[Dankus Memakus]

Monk! DEX based javelins, d10 damage daggers. Take a few levels of rogue or ranger to boost via sneak attack / favored enemy (revised ranger) / duelist. Take mobile. Impale people from range, run up, punch them in the face, and take your javelin out of their bleeding flesh before running off again. OPTIONAL: Cackle maniacally.

I didn't even think of monk

[Mortis_Elrod]

I didn't even think of monk

Nobody ever does.

Another option is warlock. Hexblade.
Edit: HOLY CRAP CHARISMA BASED THROWN WEAPONS!

GG the answer is always Hexblade. Cha X2 + Proff + Eldrich smite. And its perfectly viable melee at the same time.

[bid]

Ask your DM if he'll allow you to apply Sharpshooter to thrown weapons. It technically works by RAW, but isn't intended [citation needed], so you should ask to be sure.
RAW is "ranged weapon". So dart only for the +10 damage, as you used in your example.
Rogue is the best Dex thrower but you need extra attack and DW. TWF needs a melee weapon.


For Str thrower, both barbarian and paladin are "neutered" by the ranged attack from "thrown". Monk shoes don't count as "unarmed", and fighter gets 4 attacks... Maybe ranger has some spells beyond colossus slayer.

[AvatarVecna]

Nobody ever does.

Another option is warlock. Hexblade.
Edit: HOLY CRAP CHARISMA BASED THROWN WEAPONS!

A quick look at the wording on features makes it seem to me that a Hexblade Warlock is gonna fall into the "cleverly disarming yourself" camp of thrown weapon wielders.

[Talionis]

Devotion Paladin and to a lesser extent Vengeance Paladins can make decent Throwers. Devotion can channel to give +Charisma bonus to attack ratin g completely accounting for Sharpshooter - to accuracy. Some of the Smite Spells work on ranged attacks. Devotion. PALADIN. is the best accuracy increase g ability in the game.

[Slipperychicken]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

My group always just made an exception to let archery style and sharpshooter apply to thrown attacks. Thrown weapons already have enough problems, being one of more neglected weapon categories in D&D. They badly need that kind of leniency.

[GlenSmash!]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

Allowing drawing weapons with the thrown property to ignore the the object interaction rules would be a good start.

[Citan]

Okay so i want to build a character based on throwing but I'm not sure what class to do that with. Here are my options.
Bard (has access to ranger spells)
Fighter
Rogue
Ranger
Barbarian (I realize I forfeit rage bonuses)

Not sure which is best but id like some solid damage output



With extra attack and TWF, a Battlemaster can make three attacks per round. Even with Dual Wielder, you can't draw more than two. I'd stick to pure rogue unless your DM handwaves weapon drawing.
True, but when you mix Thief into that, it becomes possible. ;)

Enter: Fighter 11+ / Thief 3+
Start with 2 throwable weapons.

Turn 1
a) Extra Attack throw two weapons.
b) Dual Wielder draw two more weapons "as free interaction".
c) Throw one with remaining attack from Extra Attack
d) Throw the other with bonus action attack from RAW dual-wielding
Malus point: you are unarmed in case of OA chance, but for a thrower (aka "I usually don't have anyone close enough to me for OA) that shouldn't be a problem usually.

Turn 2
a) Bonus action draw two weapons (combining Thief benefit's "Use an Item" -which drawing weapons fall into- and Dual Wielder's benefit "draw two weapons at once").
b) Extra Attack 1&2: throw those two weapons,
c) "Free draw" two more weapons.
d) Throw one as the remaining attack of Extra Attack.
Malus point: only 3 thrown attacks.
Bonus point: you are armed for OA/Parry/Riposte/Defensive Duelist/Warcaster.

Works best as a STR based Fighter 12 / Thief 8 with Dual Wielder and Sharpshooter, possibly Defensive Duelist if you want a defensive reaction by wielding a rapier/dagger/whip at times, and Healer feat to take advantage of "use an item as bonus action".
You can now shoot 3 or 4 javelins per turn up to 120 feet consistently. You get some of the best defensive features of all classes (Uncanny Dodge, Evasion), great AC (heavy armor + Dual Wielder = 19 AC) and aforementioned feats to complement that.

Of course, there are many ways to adapt it...
- Picking instead Eldricht Knight up to 14 for Shield and Haste.
- Dipping into another class for added utility/defense to use on reaction...
- Stopping Fighter to 12 and Thief to 3 to instead multiclass into a caster to have real spellcasting options (great ideas if you go Eldricht Knight)...
Haste in particular could be used to enforce either 3 or 4 attacks per turn consistently, thus alleviating the juggling constraint.

Alternative: Monk with or without multiclass (multiclass optional but I love it ;))
You could instead stick with only "plain Extra Attack" and consider that you will always use bonus action on something else...
Then one of the best deal would be Monk with dual wielder, with as little as Rogue 2 (just because Cunning Action makes you spare much ki) or 3 (AT for Shield and bonus action Mage Hand, or Thief for objects) and just one level of Fighter for TWF or a few levels of Cleric for bonus action spells (Healing Words, Shield of Faith, Sanctuary).

This can end as a very potent build too: as a Monk, you are very competent unarmed, so you can manage OA. Just use Extra Attack on dual javelins while using bonus action on Dodge/Dash/Hide/Disengage/spells. Use Monk Ki on bonus action or archetype features (hence recommending 4E or Shadow).

I would see very well a Cleric 1 / Shadow Monk 14 / Thief Rogue 5 (for Uncanny Dodge), never bumping starting WIS to instead focus on DEX and feats (Sharpshooter, Dual Wielder, maybe Healer).

Or a 4E Monk 18 / Rogue 2, that would combine Empty Body and Fly make javelins "rain from thin air", sometimes afterwhile going down to grapple someone and fly him up in the air using his bonus action to make them fall prone and take some damage, or instead laughing away as he Dodges enemy arrows, maybe Deflecting one back to sender.

[Requilac]

I have actually discussed this very concept before in a thread asking about how extra attack interacts with thrown weapons, and it seemed like a ranger (with dual wielder) was the best choice. Several of their spells (ensnaring strike, hail of thorns, conjure barrage, lightning arrow (despite the name), conjure volley) can be applied to thrown weapons just as well as they can effect ranged weapons. This ranger would take the dueling fighting style and fight with a shield and javelins.

Paladin and barbarian suffer some heavy drawbacks from using ranged weapons, and fighter can't use their third or fourth extra attack, so they are all bad decisions. Monks are not as effective either because they can't really use their bonus action unarmed strike or flurry of blows if they are not in melee so I would not have them focus on throwing weapons. it could be beneficial to occasionally soften enemies up at a distance before you go into melee, but it seems inefficient to constantly throw weapons and as a last resort punch.

A rogue Is always a good choice though. If you were looking for something that was a little more dramatic, I would go with ranger.

[Citan]

I have actually discussed this very concept before in a thread asking about how extra attack interacts with thrown weapons, and it seemed like a ranger (with dual wielder) was the best choice. Several of their spells (ensnaring strike, hail of thorns, conjure barrage, lightning arrow (despite the name), conjure volley) can be applied to thrown weapons just as well as they can effect ranged weapons. This ranger would take the dueling fighting style and fight with a shield and javelins.

Paladin and barbarian suffer some heavy drawbacks from using ranged weapons, and fighter can't use their third or fourth extra attack, so they are all bad decisions. Monks are not as effective either because they can't really use their bonus action unarmed strike or flurry of blows if they are not in melee so I would not have them focus on throwing weapons. it could be beneficial to occasionally soften enemies up at a distance before you go into melee, but it seems inefficient to constantly throw weapons and as a last resort punch.

A rogue Is always a good choice though. If you were looking for something that was a little more dramatic, I would go with ranger.
Hey, you are totally right, forgot about Ranger spells.
Hunter's Mark, Lightning Arrows etc are all bonus action spells, so they could very well fill the niche pretty nicely.

However, some of their high-level features would be somewhat wasted (Volley impossible, Whirlwind situationally better -especially for somone who stays at range), and even the classic Horde Breaker would be a bit unconvenient to use...
So I'd either go up to Ranger 9, Rogue 2, then fill in remaining with Rogue/Cleric/Druid/Fighter...
Or just stack Ranger 2 (TWF, Ensnaring Strike, Hunter's Mark, Goodberry) on a Monk with heavy multiclass build. ;)

[Mortis_Elrod]

I believe Joe the Rat has it as a signature, but yes the answer to everything IS warlock.

Better with rogue/ranger MC.

Hexblade curse works on pretty much anything, pact weapon can turn into any melee thrown weapon you want, you get extra attack and Charisma as attack stat (and later again to damage with lifedrinker) plus you can Hex and use Eldritch smite, and are just as effective as melee.

[Deleted]

Unrelated, but I wonder what a Fighting Style for throwing would be like.

Dual Weapon or Dueling works for this as is.

But if you want to play a thrower, you really just need to play 3.5, Tome of Battle was good for throwing creatures around... :p