Thrown Weapons

[Painted Lady]

I have a question about Thrown Weapons. They are the only class I haven't used in my various play-throughs because they are expensive and they are heavy. I'm thinking the best way to utilize them is with a character who uses Piercing Weapons (not heavy) plus Thrown Weapons.

When I look at how difficult the javelin carrying Taurax are, I can see possibilities there. Has anyone had success using Thrown for their ranged attacks?

[Dragonlady]

I've tried it a bit, mostly to be able to throw oil flasks. Get 'um while they are bunched and burn them to charcoal. I might try that next time, if I can wean myself from alchemal/magic use.

[Randomizer]

I tried, but the feat is designed for burning oil flasks and not other thrown weapons. It didn't work well enough against that chest up north.

[MyGameCompany]

I've used it in conjunction with Unarmed Combat. If you build up Unarmed Combat high enough, the feat gives you 4X damage. Pump points in strength and strike in Power mode, and you can decimate most enemies with one blow. So you don't need armor. With all the extra strength and no armor, you've got all kinds of carrying capacity for thrown weapons. I use thrown weapons to soften up tougher enemies like the Taurax before I punch 'em (so I can take them down with one punch), and to tackle nasty enemies like the super sentinel stalks in Fathamurk.

I don't usually have to spend much money on thrown weapons either, as I seem to find plenty of them lying around...

[Dragonlady]

I've been trying to play with just thrown weapons. L3 at the moment. I had to spend a week in bed to get new stuff in the shops so I could get a waterskin. The one you find in the drawer doesn't work in my version. Also, finding things to throw is difficult. Finding lots of food I didn't take Unarmed combat at start, should have. Found book on light armor right off the bat. It's too bad you can't throw arrows, they are plentiful when you don't want them. Hope to get alchemy so I'm saving herbs that I find. Not using any magic is kinda hard for me at this point, I always go for that in most games.

[Painted Lady]

Okay, I just finished a play-through with a character who had Piercing and Thrown Weapons plus Divination. I would say it was a pretty awkward build. A Mithril Harpoon launched against a Taurax only does about 13 points of damage or so.

Another problem is that I couldn't carry enough javelins and harpoons to use the Volley feature. Blowing multiple harpoons on one throw was not cost or weight effective.

My problems got really serious when I attacked Talushorn. That was pretty much impossible. I wound up using a lot of Sunder Flesh, and eventually blew through a pile of Invisibility Potions so I could finish the game.

Thrown weapons still seem to me to be a difficult class to use.......

[BasiliskWrangler]

Remember, Thrown Weapons use a different skill set than other weapons. If you are going to make a Thrown Weapon specialist, max out the proper Attributes...

Thrown Weapons = STR + DEX (Strong arm, Steady arm)
Bows = DEX + CON (Steady arm, Steady mind)
Piercing weapons = DEX + SPD (Steady arm, Fast arm)
All other weapons = STR + SPD (Strong arm, Fast arm)

I once calculated (halfway through Book II development) that a properly built Thrown Weapons expert, with the right projectiles, could produce potentially the highest physical damage of any build. I don't know if that is still legit as minor tweaks here and there may have changed those numbers.

[Painted Lady]

My stats at the end were:
Strength = 36, Dexterity = 28, Speed = 26, Piercing = 31 and Throwing = 19. Maybe I needed to pump more into Throwing..........

[Dragonlady]

I've been playing a Thrown Weapon character with a bit of Merchant thrown it to keep prices down. Am putting almost all points, so far, into Dex & St. Just throwing rocks is fun now instead of using magic. Only thing I don't like about it is having to save-scum to get thrown weapons in the shops. Only 5th level at the moment. Just arrived in the Port and will be getting training in Alchemy. Have Foraging, Thrown Weapon, Unarmed Combat, Pick Lock, Light Armor (from book) Shield of course and a few others I got from reading books. Only gone after bandits and 'blobs' for the most part. Haven't done the spiders yet and only a few wolves (to get the paper).

[Necromis]

DragonLady I am interested to know if you played all the way thru on this build and if so how did you end up feeling about the overall game play of the build?

[Dragonlady]

DragonLady I am interested to know if you played all the way thru on this build and if so how did you end up feeling about the overall game play of the build?

No, I didn't. Got too dang bored trying to get throwing weapons in loot stashes. As I recall I didn't even make it to the port city to get alchemy and use that. I think I still have the character saved and might go back to it sometime. I'm just too used to magic to save my butt!

[Necromis]

Yeah I am thinking of picking back up and re going thru I & II, thought I might try to stay with the same *build* in both and for my first build in III. That way it is like playing the same guy the whole time thru. Though I am wondering what *story magic* BW will come up with to make your skills drop from their high levels at the end of II to the begining of III if it is immediatly after waking in the jungle.

[Necromis]

Yeah that could work. Though if I remember the end of II right it didn't indicate any missing memory. Though the intro to III could tweak that.

[lochaber]

I noticed that in Book I, I couldn't seem to imbue stacks of thrown weapons/arrows, and I couldn't figure out how to split them (I've noticed I can split them in Book II), which would seem to be a major limiting factor.

I can see not wanting to imbue arrows, since it gives archery a double bonus (for the bow, and for the projectile).

Also, thrown weapons recoverable at all? that's another major reason I'm hesitating investing skill points/money in them. I thought I remembered reading a post in Book I saying that some of them may be recoverable.

It's a nice skill for shield bearers (or torch bearers) who want a ranged option, and it fits with a lot of historical military outfits.

Also, any chance of adding slings? I feel they got a bad rap from the old D&D tabletop rpg, but they can be pretty fearsome weapons with a bit of practice. (plus, they are 1-handed )