Throwables other than alchemist fire, acid, and oil?

[Mr Adventurer]

Slightly inspired by the Witcher games I'm looking for things you can usefully throw at enemies with one hand. Here's what I've got so far:

Net
Thrown weapons
Dart
Alchemist fire
Acid
Oil

It's a pretty short list. Is there anything else out there? Magical items are also good to know about. Is there anything in the Eberron books?

[TigerT20]

Holy water can be thrown. Vials of poison that only need contact with the skin would work too.
Technically, Produce Flame is thrown if you choose to use it to attack.

[Mr Adventurer]

Ooh, holy water, of course, good catch.

Contact poison is a good one, but I suspect you'd need to agree with the DM the ability to use it this way? I'm under the impression that poison typically comes in a smaller vial than the flasks of oil etc. that have the heft to throw and break on impact.

EDIT: assuming contact and inhaled poisons both could be put into a thrown delivery mechanism, the list would include:

Burnt othur fumes (inhaled)
Crawler mucus (contact)
Essence of ether (inhaled)
Malice (inhaled - 24-hour poison condition and blinded, no repeat saves, yikes)
Oil of taggit (contact)

[elyktsorb]

Contact poison is a good one, but I suspect you'd need to agree with the DM the ability to use it this way? I'm under the impression that poison typically comes in a smaller vial than the flasks of oil etc. that have the heft to throw and break on impact.


There are literally only 2 poisons in 5th edition that are Contact Poisons, and neither of them can be purchased normally by the player. One is Carrion Crawler Mucus, which you'd either have to harvest yourself or find someone who sells it (and the going price is 200g in the dmg) Or Oil of Tagget, which to my knowledge can only be sold by certain vendors (this one is 400g in the dmg) The others are either, Injury, Ingested, or Inhalent (none of these Inhalents can be purchased normally either). The only poison a player can buy normally is basic poison, which only works on being hurt by the poisoned weapon.

Most poisons aren't worth trying to get, and of all the ones you could throw, they cost rediculous amounts, deal relatively low damage and have low Con Save DC's that pretty much negate the poisons effect or make using it worthless.

Edit: Malice lasts an hour, not 24 btw.

[Mr Adventurer]

There are literally only 2 poisons in 5th edition that are Contact Poisons, and neither of them can be purchased normally by the player. One is Carrion Crawler Mucus, which you'd either have to harvest yourself or find someone who sells it (and the going price is 200g in the dmg) Or Oil of Tagget, which to my knowledge can only be sold by certain vendors (this one is 400g in the dmg) The others are either, Injury, Ingested, or Inhalent (none of these Inhalents can be purchased normally either). The only poison a player can buy normally is basic poison, which only works on being hurt by the poisoned weapon.

Most poisons aren't worth trying to get, and of all the ones you could throw, they cost rediculous amounts, deal relatively low damage and have low Con Save DC's that pretty much negate the poisons effect or make using it worthless.

Edit: Malice lasts an hour, not 24 btw.

:smallconfused:

What do you mean, "can't be purchased normally by a player"? I'm genuinely not sure what that even means. The DM decides what's available to a player to purchase based on what's in the game world and what the character does.

I'm even more confused by "can only be sold by certain vendors". What does this mean? It's up to the DM to determine who will be able to supply anything that's for sale. Is there a passage in the DMG that specifies this?

That aside, I'm not looking for debate on how useful these things might be, that's a separate issue.

Good catch on the duration of Malice though, I got mixed up with Oil of taggit.

[elyktsorb]

:smallconfused:

What do you mean, "can't be purchased normally by a player"? I'm genuinely not sure what that even means. The DM decides what's available to a player to purchase based on what's in the game world and what the character does.

I'm even more confused by "can only be sold by certain vendors". What does this mean? It's up to the DM to determine who will be able to supply anything that's for sale. Is there a passage in the DMG that specifies this?

That aside, I'm not looking for debate on how useful these things might be, that's a separate issue.

Good catch on the duration of Malice though, I got mixed up with Oil of taggit.

I mean that they can't be purchased in the Players Handbook, which are items you will generally be able to find for sale in most locations. Items in the dmg will likely have to be sought out from specific vendors, which means that plot (setting, background of an area, legality of the substances) might dictate that you can't get a hold of these things. That aside, if you just want things to throw at people, you have a few options in poison, but most of them are too expensive for what little they do to actually buy.

[Mr Adventurer]

Sure, but I guess I just don't see that much of a difference, in either case the DM makes the determination on what's available. It will vary by table. But I'm just looking for a list, at the moment. C'est la vie.

[GlenSmash!]

Rocks
Goblin
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes

[loki_ragnarock]

Rocks
Goblin
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes

Well.

Someone took Tavern Brawler.


I came here to say that the feat really expands the list of things you can throw.

[N810]

Some common items lend them selves to being thrown for a good effect.
Lamp oil
Torches
ball bearings
caltrops
bags of flour
Grappling hooks
black pepper/pocket sand

[micahaphone]

ball bearings to slip up enemies in an area

broken glass for a pseduo spike growth

pocket sand for blinding, but that's melee-range.

[Onos]

Rocks
Goblin
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes

*Kobolds


...anyway, it might seem like a bit of a small list at first, but the key is to spruce up what's already there. And no, I don't mean put fancy hats on the goblins.


Nets could be barbed, and the barbs could be poisoned. Bolas are similar enough to tweak the saving throw or duration but keep the basics of nets (plus damage).

Thrown weapons and darts are reasonably varied, but consider adding a "poison" which deals fire damage, or carrying a low level spell (tiny dart enchanted with Suggestion? A rock with an illusion bound to it?)

Go elemental with the alchemists "fire" and throw some frost or lightning. Hire the local necromancer to craft you necrotic bombs. Mix and match between burst damage and damage over time. "Prepare" targets with a concoction which inflicts "vulnerability to (X)", then get your buddies to hit them with (X).

Magical acid? It only dissolves (X), making it perfectly safe if you're not a Stone Golem/Ooze/enchanted materials.

Instead of plain old flammable oil, why not grease, or glue? A rapidly expanding foam which hardens, requiring a Str check to flex out of?

More than just holy water, infernal water, fae water, chaos water (if you guys use alignment much). And go ahead and make it only affect or not affect the named type. Throw in some compelled fleeing or paralysis too.

All manner of different liquid or gaseous poisons, you can literally tailor whatever effect you fancy. Just make the ones which are equivalent to high-level spells require unicorn dust or something.

Biological weapons? Inflict a magical disease on a lone goblin and let it escape back to its tribe. Spell grenades? Alchemical flashbangs?

Healing potions?

EDIT: little bit of formatting

[HPisBS]

Snip
All fun -

...Biological weapons? Inflict a magical disease on a lone goblin and let it escape back to its tribe.


- Uh, ummmmm............................................ ...
...
... Too soon?



-

- but I think the OP was looking for a RAW list, or at most a minor tweak to existing RAW that typical mundane characters could reasonably do. Homebrew magic items / materials seems tangential.

[Onos]

Fair, if something less time consuming is desired I'd really just stick with retyping damage on basic "explosives" repurpose a few spells of no higher than 3rd level as purchasable supplies and go for the barbed nets/bolas/etc for small changes to saves and damage while keeping the existing mechanic. Oh and some very basic poisons, like straight HP or stat damage. Barring possibly the spells that should all be doable even in a low magic setting.

[GlenSmash!]

Well.

Someone took Tavern Brawler.


I came here to say that the feat really expands the list of things you can throw.

I did recently make an Eldritch knight with Tavern Brawler. The idea being he would throw his bonded weapon, punch and grapple, then next turn summon his weapon back and wail on the grapple creature.

[sambojin]

Flask full of Rot Grubs. Problem solved.

[JackPhoenix]

Goblin
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes

When they live, they are creatures, not object, and thus not valid improvised weapons. Of course, that's easily solvable problem....

There are bombs and dynamite in DMG, if your GM allows them to exist in the world.

[Quoz]

I like the idea of casting what are generally utility spells on thrown weapons for interesting effects.

Cast invisibility on your javelins, make them much harder to dodge (and really confuse the poor goblins when their leader gets impaled to a wall for no visible reason)

Cast continual flame on a bunch of darts, use as targeting flares. The effect would be similar to fairy fire.

Cast darkness on the cork of your bottle of alchemist fire, because screw that guy and everyone in 5 feet of him.

... really makes me wish you could cast silence on an object for cheap anti-caster arrows.

[Democratus]

Thunderstones?

[CorporateSlave]

Don't forget meat, or coins!

They're distractions rather than weapons, but could well prove useful in certain situations, for example:

Meat: Hungry predator animals
Coins: in a crowd of peasants to cover your escape

[Vogie]

Personally, I think all martials should have a pocket sand option.

[Mr Adventurer]

Some common items lend them selves to being thrown for a good effect.
Torches
ball bearings
caltrops
bags of flour
Grappling hooks
black pepper/pocket sand


ball bearings to slip up enemies in an area

broken glass for a pseduo spike growth

pocket sand for blinding, but that's melee-range.


Flask full of Rot Grubs. Problem solved.


Thunderstones?

Interesting! Where would I find the rules for these things, or for throwing them if they are already in the PHB? (e.g. AFAIK you can't throw caltrops or ball bearings to useful effect since those items specify how they are deployed)


I think the OP was looking for a RAW list, or at most a minor tweak to existing RAW that typical mundane characters could reasonably do. Homebrew magic items / materials seems tangential.

I remember 3.5e had a fair list of alchemical throwables, and it was that sort of thing (plus magic items that behave in a similar way) from any sourcebooks that I was originally looking for. Non RAW stuff is interesting to think about and possibly write up for a mini project, though.

[sambojin]

Improvised weapons. I forget where/what page. Basically you get disadvantage to your attack. But since there's lots of ways of getting advantage to cancel it out, it's not really that much of a problem.
There's also the Tavern Brawler feat, but it's not that necessary.

[AdAstra]

Strong spices and irritants are always a decent option if your DM allows for it to have the sorts of effects it ought to. An eyeful of pepper dust mixed with ground glass will rarely disappoint.

[JackPhoenix]

Improvised weapons. I forget where/what page. Basically you get disadvantage to your attack. But since there's lots of ways of getting advantage to cancel it out, it's not really that much of a problem.
There's also the Barroom Brawler feat, but it's not that necessary.

You don't get disadvantage (unless it's at long range, which is 20/60 for improvised thrown weapons), you just don't add your proficiency bonus to hit.

[N810]

Interesting! Where would I find the rules for these things, or for throwing them if they are already in the PHB? (e.g. AFAIK you can't throw caltrops or ball bearings to useful effect since those items specify how they are deployed)



I remember 3.5e had a fair list of alchemical throwables, and it was that sort of thing (plus magic items that behave in a similar way) from any sourcebooks that I was originally looking for. Non RAW stuff is interesting to think about and possibly write up for a mini project, though.

I'm not implying that you should use those items as improvised thrown weapons,
I only meant that you could throw them in your enemy's general direction as in indirect attack or a distraction.

[jjordan]

If you're willing to step outside the manuals and into the realm of simple chemistry:

-Jellyfish toxin (extractable in alcohol and causes severe pain)
-Pepper spray (another alcohol infusion)
-Smoke bomb (sugar and saltpetre, the trick is knowing how to make the bomb so it produces a lot of smoke all at once)
-Poison smoke (pretty much the same as a smoke bomb but takes a long time to do damage, most combats would be over by the time this started to have a significant effect on people)
-Blinding powder (this was an actual medieval thing that worked under specific circumstances but could be very effective)
-Flares (chemical torches that are very bright and annoy the hell out of those that live in darkness)

[DrKerosene]

Rocks

Magic Stone should be throwable by anyone, if an ally shares them.

Shadow Blades aren’t really sharable, but you can throw them too.

If you can cast Magic Mouth on something, you could set the trigger to something like “when thrown against wall/the ground/a creature/while airborne and travelling faster than an unladen swallow”. Then you could make your own shrieker stones.

[AttilatheYeon]

A tantrum,
your voice,
up

[Mr Adventurer]

Are there any in the Eberron book/s? I remember they had new alchemical items in 3.5 edition.