Rules for dart throwing

[Entessa]

Planning to take a dart thrower. My issue is that I'm not able to find in the player handbook any informations about how dart fighting works. I asked my DM and he says that I can only throw 1 dart per attack, but I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

According to my DM, if I was a fighter level 2, I could in my turn:
- attack, throw one dart
- action surge, throw another dart

Then I'm done.

I know that I have to take the thrown weapon style to have a semi-functional dart thrower, but I need details on how many darts I can throw in a single attack (meaning how many darts can I launch per attack? How many per turn?). Am I missing a section of the player handbook I should be aware of ? If you could tell me where I should look, I would be glad.

[Trafalgar]

I feel like the "Dart Thrower" build is an AD&D 2e because with specialization you could throw 3 or 4 darts per round. Combine that with strength and specialization damage bonuses and the dart becomes deadlier than a long sword. I am not sure it was a decent build in any other edition.

[OldTrees1]

- action surge, throw another dart
I assume this is D&D 5E.

5E darts work like all other throwing weapons. You can throw 1 per attack.

However you might want to consider daggers instead or ask your GM if you could dual wield darts. Then you could use two weapon fighting to throw a dagger as a bonus action after you threw one as your action. (For some reason 5E limits dual wielding to melee/ranged attacks with light melee weapons.)

[MrStabby]

Yeah, in 5th edition its the object interaction to draw a weapon that is the problem (and given the example of fighter getting action surge at level 2, I am inclined to think this is 5th edition). You can throw one per attack but you need to get it into your hand. Most martial characters get two attacks early on so suffer when they only draw one. The thrown weapon fighting style does help with that a lot, but honestly, it isn't always needed - depending on the style of game.

If you can draw weapons before combat you can on turn 1 throw both and draw another. On turn two you throw that, draw another and throw it. Only now, well into combat, is this disrupted. nd now you can draw a greatsword and go to town in melee instead. A level of warlock and Fey touched also does wonders for this - with spells like bless always being a nice opening move for combat you can intersperse your attack actions with some spellcasting giving you a bit more space to get weapons out.

That said, I think that there might be some confusion between the loading property and the rules for thrown weapons given the comments about action surge.

[Firest Kathon]

Remember that a modern sports dart is much smaller than the weapon called dart (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dart_(missile)). Try an image search for "medieval dart" to see some pictures. A quick search (I'm by no means an expert on this) gave me sizes between 30 cm (12 inches) up to 70 cm (27 in) or more.

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Ogre: Moved to 5e, because this is really edition dependent.

As a DM, however, I'd say that the lack of the loading property means that, unless your darts are stored poorly, you can get full advantage of the Attack action and Action Surge abilities. After all, no one is making archers use the Object Interaction rule on every arrow... that's what the loading property is FOR.

[ender241]

The bigger issue with a thrown weapon build is going to be overcoming resistance to non-magical B/P/S. While other martials can get around this with a single magic weapon of their choice, you will need a handful (at least) of magical darts or a homebrew returning dart or something (or an Artificer with returning weapon infusion). There are some neat perks to using darts though:

- They are ranged weapons, so can fully benefit from the Sharpshooter feat including the -5/+10 damage boost. You can take archery fighting style to offset the -5 somewhat like other SS builds would.
- They have the finesse property so you can use Dex or Str for the attack/damage rolls. If you think you can get your hands on a Str-boosting magic item you can further offset (or maybe completely negate) the SS penalties as well as having a good baseline ranged damage even without SS.

So, even though it's only a d4 damage die, the DPR potential is still high in the right campaign / situation. Best option is probably to go Battlemaster to pick up the quick toss maneuver and you can attack 3 times per round at level 5 (5 with action surge). That's assuming your DM let's you draw darts as a free action or that you also pick up the thrown weapon fighting style.

[Psyren]

This is check with your DM territory I'm afraid.

The first sentence in the Thrown Weapon fighting style from Tasha's seems to indicate that without it, you have to draw a thrown weapon as an object interaction, ergo you only get one extra dart per turn. Quick Toss includes similar language. Note too that for most characters this is probably fine as they're only getting two attacks anyway. But there are situations where this might matter, e.g. Haste.

However, your DM might be okay with your character getting 3+ throws without needing this style too.

[kazaryu]

The Mod Ogre: Moved to 5e, because this is really edition dependent.

As a DM, however, I'd say that the lack of the loading property means that, unless your darts are stored poorly, you can get full advantage of the Attack action and Action Surge abilities. After all, no one is making archers use the Object Interaction rule on every arrow... that's what the loading property is FOR.

bows use the ammunition property. which specifically allows you to draw the ammunition as part of the attack. the loading property limits you to 1 attack per bit of action economy used to fire. the loading property is exclusive to crossbows. so...noone is forcing archers to use the object interaction rules because the rules themselves make bows exemptions

Now, i think this is really dumb, to be sure. i see no reasons darts, specifically, shouldn't have the ammunition property, they're meant to be sued as ranged weapons. But even then, i see no reason why the ammunition property couldn't have been integrated into the thrown property. thrown weapons deal, at best, as much damage as a longbow anyway, and longbows have WAY better range. so its not like a spear build was gonna do better than an archer build. idk...was an odd choice.


Planning to take a dart thrower. My issue is that I'm not able to find in the player handbook any informations about how dart fighting works. I asked my DM and he says that I can only throw 1 dart per attack, but I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

According to my DM, if I was a fighter level 2, I could in my turn:
- attack, throw one dart
- action surge, throw another dart

Then I'm done.

I know that I have to take the thrown weapon style to have a semi-functional dart thrower, but I need details on how many darts I can throw in a single attack (meaning how many darts can I launch per attack? How many per turn?). Am I missing a section of the player handbook I should be aware of ? If you could tell me where I should look, I would be glad. you can only throw 1 dart per attack. not necessarily per attack ACTION, but only 1 dart per attack. the way 5e 'balanced' weapons is that...essentially everything starts off with the highest damage die in its category (darts are simple weapons, so d8). Then as they add features that make the weapon more flexible, they reduce the size of the die. darts have finesse and thrown properties. so damage was reduced to 'compensate'. But just like every other weapon, you only make 1 attack...per attack. So if the reason for your confusion is that darts don't do much damage...well the reason is that, for some reason, they're simple weapons in this edition, and also have a ton of extra properties and as a result deal even less damage. Javalins would be the martial equivalent, and are slightly better in terms of damage (but lack the finesse property).

and due to the object interaction rules you have 3 ways to draw multiple weapons per round (without using your action).
-be a third level rogue (thief). this lets you interact with an object a second time per round, as a BA, but obviously rogues don't ordinarily get extra attack, so to get the most benefit from this you'd need to multiclass.
-get the thrown weapon fighting style
-get the dual wielder feat: allows you to draw 2 weapons at a time, while also expanding the list of possible dual wielded weapons to include darts. of course this implies that you're using TWF, which means if you have extra attack, you're still unable to make that extra attack without the thrown weapon fighting style.

if you think this is kinda dumb, i agree. but it is how the rules work.

[sithlordnergal]

So, without the Thrown Weapon Fighting Style you're only be able to throw a single dart, even if you Action Surge. The reason for this is that you can only draw one weapon as your free action on your turn, after that you have to use the Object Interaction Action to draw more, which you can't do if you've used your Action to attack. Its in the section under Actions in Combat in the PHB, I think.

Now, you get to ignore that with the Thrown Weapon Fighting Style due to this "You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon". So once you have Thrown Weapon Fighting you get to ignore that limitation, kind of like how having the Dual Wielder Feat lets you draw two weapons on your turn instead of one.

[LibraryOgre]

bows use the ammunition property. which specifically allows you to draw the ammunition as part of the attack. the loading property limits you to 1 attack per bit of action economy used to fire. the loading property is exclusive to crossbows. so...noone is forcing archers to use the object interaction rules because the rules themselves make bows exemptions

Now, i think this is really dumb, to be sure. i see no reasons darts, specifically, shouldn't have the ammunition property, they're meant to be sued as ranged weapons. But even then, i see no reason why the ammunition property couldn't have been integrated into the thrown property. thrown weapons deal, at best, as much damage as a longbow anyway, and longbows have WAY better range. so its not like a spear build was gonna do better than an archer build. idk...was an odd choice.


...wow. That is certainly a choice, but, sweet monkey, that's not a good choice.

I would houserule something like a bandolier that gave throwing weapons the ammuntion property, simply because that was a bad choice.

[sithlordnergal]

...wow. That is certainly a choice, but, sweet monkey, that's not a good choice.

I would houserule something like a bandolier that gave throwing weapons the ammuntion property, simply because that was a bad choice.

There's a reason why most Monks go for Slings and Shortbows for their ranged attacks. TT-TT They may be able to use a Dart, but why use a Dart when you can only make one attack?

[Psyren]

To be fair, you can make two attacks if you have a dart in your hand at the start of the turn :smallbiggrin:

I would rule that darts and javelins are easy to draw and don't need this style, it seems more aimed at things like axes and knives.

[greenstone]

I would rule that darts and javelins are easy to draw and don't need this style, it seems more aimed at things like axes and knives.

I houserule this as well. If you have some easy way to get darts and javelins, you can use extra attack with them.

What's an easy way to get them at hand? Stick a bunch of javelins in the ground in front of you. Have a bandoleer on your chest. Have a spear-carrier hand them to you (*gasp* a reason to have a hireling, how amazing!).

I do require the player to have done some sort of preperation. They can't just say, "oh i draw them". A D&D dart is not the same as a modern throwing knife - they are heavy, long items. The closest in modern life is probably a lawn dart (a dangerous 70's toy that killed people) with a stone stuck on the end to make it even heavier. As posted above, a D&D dart is *nothing* like a modern pub dart.

[kazaryu]

...wow. That is certainly a choice, but, sweet monkey, that's not a good choice.

I would houserule something like a bandolier that gave throwing weapons the ammuntion property, simply because that was a bad choice. yeah..and then they decided to 'fix' it by adding the thrown weapon fighting style. so now you need a fighting style in order to be an inferior archer. seriously, there's literally no (Mechanical) reason to go thrown weapons over archery as a a ranged primary option. of course, you can do something like spear wielder with thrown fighting style. so that you can go ranged if you want to, but you fight melee as your primary style....but then you're strictly worse at being melee AND at being ranged. its really dumb.


I houserule this as well. If you have some easy way to get darts and javelins, you can use extra attack with them.

What's an easy way to get them at hand? Stick a bunch of javelins in the ground in front of you. Have a bandoleer on your chest. Have a spear-carrier hand them to you (*gasp* a reason to have a hireling, how amazing!).

I do require the player to have done some sort of preperation. They can't just say, "oh i draw them". A D&D dart is not the same as a modern throwing knife - they are heavy, long items. The closest in modern life is probably a lawn dart (a dangerous 70's toy that killed people) with a stone stuck on the end to make it even heavier. As posted above, a D&D dart is *nothing* like a modern pub dart.

i mean, quivers that hang at your side do exist. some archers even use them. even with that said, the darts can be stored in a quiver on your back too. darts may be slightly bigger, but not by enough that it should be a problem. but still, even what you have is a better approach than what we're given in the book.

[Dork_Forge]

yeah..and then they decided to 'fix' it by adding the thrown weapon fighting style. so now you need a fighting style in order to be an inferior archer. seriously, there's literally no (Mechanical) reason to go thrown weapons over archery as a a ranged primary option. of course, you can do something like spear wielder with thrown fighting style. so that you can go ranged if you want to, but you fight melee as your primary style....but then you're strictly worse at being melee AND at being ranged. its really dumb.


Besides thematics, it's really easy to stack damage modifiers onto thrown weapons in a way that isn't true for ranged weapons:

- Stack Dueling and Thrown Weapon styles for +4 damage and use d6 hand axes. You can even add Artificer Returning Weapon here, and if you really want to be MAD, Kensei's bonus damage.

- Alternatively, you can stack Thrown Weapon and TWF, more fiddly but bonus action attack at least once a combat with modifier

Otherwise, using thrown weapons let's you switch hit seamlessly which has it's own merits. Archery has a higher ceiling, but you don't need feats to pump throwing.

[No brains]

This might hurt the idea of using a shield or two weapon fighting while throwing weapons, but you could hold a bunch of thrown weapons in your other hand. Carry a fistful of darts in your left hand and throw with your right in combat. Changing your grip on a weapon is a non-action, so that's one way to throw many weapons at once.

[Mad_Saulot]

A dart is a supplementary weapon for dedicated melee specialists, they are used while closing distance in battle, to inflict some damage before you engage with main weapons, darts and other thrown weapons arent meant to be main weapons.

A warrior would usually have some distance to cover before engaging, usually well over 30ft.

In the rare circumstance you might get dedicated throwers they were usually assassins using a dark or knife or other small and fast concealable weapon to deliver a venom, followed by an immediate retreat.

Although for the sake of a fantasy game I'd let a player go for it, I mean why not, as a theme its different, and it isnt overpowered at all to let a player draw a dart as a free action.

[kazaryu]

A dart is a supplementary weapon for dedicated melee specialists, they are used while closing distance in battle, to inflict some damage before you engage with main weapons, darts and other thrown weapons arent meant to be main weapons.

A warrior would usually have some distance to cover before engaging, usually well over 30ft.

In the rare circumstance you might get dedicated throwers they were usually assassins using a dark or knife or other small and fast concealable weapon to deliver a venom, followed by an immediate retreat.

Although for the sake of a fantasy game I'd let a player go for it, I mean why not, as a theme its different, and it isnt overpowered at all to let a player draw a dart as a free action.


Besides thematics, it's really easy to stack damage modifiers onto thrown weapons in a way that isn't true for ranged weapons:

- Stack Dueling and Thrown Weapon styles for +4 damage and use d6 hand axes. You can even add Artificer Returning Weapon here, and if you really want to be MAD, Kensei's bonus damage.

- Alternatively, you can stack Thrown Weapon and TWF, more fiddly but bonus action attack at least once a combat with modifier

Otherwise, using thrown weapons let's you switch hit seamlessly which has it's own merits. Archery has a higher ceiling, but you don't need feats to pump throwing.
you know...i'd somehow completely overlooked the damage bonus on thrown weapon fighting style. that actually goes a long way to ease my annoyance (although now im annoyed at myself for missing the second bullet point). the first bullet point really is just a ribbon feature. i mean, its a little bland, the benefit of thrown a thrown weapon being basically the same as dueling. but at least its fairly mechanically balanced.

that being said, technically, when the damage is done you're not wielding a thrown weapon in 1 hand. i mean...i'd probably let it slide as a DM. i mean a dart thrower can stack archery and thrown weapons. may as well let others stack the damage. although i do not that darts are literally the only weapon that can do that...all other thrown weapons are melee....

[Kane0]

Planning to take a dart thrower. My issue is that I'm not able to find in the player handbook any informations about how dart fighting works. I asked my DM and he says that I can only throw 1 dart per attack, but I'm pretty sure this isn't true.

According to my DM, if I was a fighter level 2, I could in my turn:
- attack, throw one dart
- action surge, throw another dart

Then I'm done.

I know that I have to take the thrown weapon style to have a semi-functional dart thrower, but I need details on how many darts I can throw in a single attack (meaning how many darts can I launch per attack? How many per turn?). Am I missing a section of the player handbook I should be aware of ? If you could tell me where I should look, I would be glad.

Your DM is right. When you take the attack action you make one attack with a weapon you are wielding, unless you have something like Extra Attack that allows a second attack (and isn't stopped by something like the loading quality, lack of ammunition or having no melee weapon at hand because you just threw it, which comes up a lot for thrown melee weapons but not necessarily darts).
A fighter's action surge lets you take the attack action again. Other things that let you make more attacks would be the Haste spell, Quick Toss combat maneuver (available via the Battlemaster fighter archetype at level 3 or the martial adept feat) or the special feature of a level 3 gloomstalker ranger to make an extra attack on the first turn of combat.

Darts aren't inherently faster in 5e like they were in older D&D. All weapons and even unarmed/natural attacks basically operate at the same 'speed', loading quality notwithstanding.

To make a basic dart thrower, a battlemaster fighter that takes the Thrown Fighting Style and Quick Toss maneuver is perfectly fine. From there you might be interested in multiclassing for at least 2 levels into Artificer to get the returning weapon infusion, but it's not necessary.