Is Dart Specialization Overpowered?

[Beelzebub1111]

Exactly what it says in the title. A halfling that specializes in or masters darts that gets gauntlets of ogre power seems very strong compared to any other weapon since you are getting 4+ attacks per round with that strength bonus to damage for each of those attacks.

This seems like a very strong option without any drawbacks that I can think of, does it need a nerf or is it fine compared to other fighter options? Is there some major flaw with this that I am overlooking?

[awa]

Their is a rule in one of the books (combat and tactics I think) that suggests a dm not allow a character like that to get his strength bonus when using darts. But yes if you use RAW dart specialization is broken, but second edition did not run on raw the way latter editions did.

[Corvus]

Just wait until you run across a Dark Sun half-giant dart specialist :)

Yes, they were a little broken, especially given how fast they were. Great for interrupting spell casters with. Magic ones were fairly limited though and prepared enemies could negate ranged attacks.

[Lord Torath]

I've also heard of a rule (possibly a house rule) where your strength bonus to damage cannot exceed the base damage of the weapon. Since a dart does 1d3 damage, you get no damage benefit for a strength score over 18/01 when throwing darts.

Personally, I've never had an interest in playing a dart specialist, but I could see it for a halfling.

[LibraryOgre]

Dart Specialists can get pretty wild. Their main limitation is always going to be ammo. While dart's aren't listed with an effective weight in the PH (I think they were thinking pub darts, not plumbata), at 5sp a pop, early on, you're going to run into problems carrying a lot. At higher levels, the limitation becomes magic ammo... a dart specialist is completely shut down by a 3rd level spell.

Interestingly, the PH doesn't really cover thrown weapon specialists. There's melee weapons, and there's bows and crossbows, but thrown weapons? Nothing specific is said, except for their rate of fire.

[Corvus]

Rules as written doesn't give the hit/damage bonus from specialisation to darts - you take the specialisation for the extra attacks. Unless you dip into player options and end up with a grandmaster dart thrower.

The weight of darts was 1/2 lb, so you could carry 8 of them for a single longsword. For encumbrance, size wasn't an issue unless your DM house-ruled it.

What they were was very fast (speed 2), the equal fastest weapon in game. And while they didn't get bonuses from specialisation, they stacked the bonuses from dex (for being a missile/thrown weapon) and str (for hit and damage). So the broken book of elves with its +str/dex elf could be nasty. Or the 24 str/20 dex half giant from dark sun if you want ludicrously broken (and lucky on rolls).

Magic darts were rarish, and limited to only +3 (but more likely only +1), but didn't break unlike arrows. So you wouldn't need a lot.

And yes, protection from normal arrows would shut down darts - unless they had a handful of magic ones, because mages in 2e were very flimsy and could be turned to paste by a handful of darts in a turn. Chances were they would be hit before they could get any spells off.

[LibraryOgre]

The weight of darts was 1/2 lb, so you could carry 8 of them for a single longsword. For encumbrance, size wasn't an issue unless your DM house-ruled it.

Are you talking 1e? 2e, Darts are zero weight.

[Lord Shark]

Also, stoneskin was a really popular defensive spell in 2E because it made you completely invulnerable to most physical attacks for 1d4+2/level attacks. A dart specialist, with their high rate of fire, could knock the stoneskin off an enemy caster quicker than anyone else.

(The sheer OPness and widespread abuse of stoneskin was why it got toned down to just damage resistance in 3E, rather than total invulnerability.)

[Lord Torath]

*snip*
Or the 24 str/20 dex half giant from dark sun if you want ludicrously broken (and lucky on rolls).
*snip*

Just FYI, half-giants have a maximum dexterity of 17. Not that you couldn't improve it with magic...

[JadedDM]

Are you talking 1e? 2e, Darts are zero weight.

I'm looking at my 2E PHB right now, and it says darts weigh 1/2 lb each.

[Lord Torath]

I can confirm. Throwing darts are a half-pound each. Not as bad as throwing axes, but it still adds up quickly.

Blowgun darts are 10 to the pound. But blowgun darts only have a rate of fire of 2/round, rather than 3. I'd also argue that blowguns do not add strength bonuses to hit and damage.