IIRC, in Treantmonk's Guide to Monks, he had a section in there about shuriken, and advised bumping Strength rather than Dexterity when using them. I'd look for that Guide and see what it says.
seems ninjas with shuriken flurry+extra ki attack, poisoned shurikens, and crippling strike talent can shut down would-be threats if they're sneak attacking.
it's useless against constructs, sure. but then so are paladins.
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A shuriken is designed to be an utility knife, as I understand it. Only in D&D type fantasy is the shuriken restricted to the Ninja. A samurai would use a shuriken for a variety of uses. Like cutting rope.
This is from Sword of Might (good for martial artists and scholars, hopefully):
Shuriken ( literally "hand hidden blade") is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing. They are small, sharpened, hand-held blades made from a variety of everyday items, such as needles, nails, and knives, as well as coins, washers, and other flat plates of metal. Shuriken were mainly a supplemental weapon to the more commonly used katana (sword) or yari (spear) in a warrior's arsenal, though they often played a pivotal tactical role in battle. The art of wielding the shuriken is known as shuriken-jutsu, and was mainly taught as a minor, or more correctly, a secret part of the martial arts curriculum of many famous schools, such as Yagyu Ryu, Katori Shinto Ryu, Itto Ryu, Kukishin Ryu, and Togakure Ryu.
Shuriken are commonly known in the west as "throwing stars" or "ninja stars". This term hardly does justice to the weapon, however, as the pointed "star" shaped form is but one of many different designs the blades took over the centuries in which they were used.
I'd suggest using the Two Weapon Fighting feats instead of or in addition to Rapid Shot. With TWF and ITWF you'd get two extra attacks instead of one for the same -2 penalty to hit.
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, TWF, ITWF, Weapon Finesse
You could sub out Weapon Finesse for Rapid Shot, but that might exacerbate your low attack bonus problems, and Weapon Finesse gives you the option to engage in melee if needed.
Either way you go on feats, it does seem like you might benefit from some way to boost your underwhelming attack bonuses. One answer for that might be to max out Use Magic Device and buy a caster level 9 wand of Divine Favor. This would give you a +3 to attacks and damage for 10 rounds. Taking a round off to buff seems a little weak, but with the short range on your shuriken you might need to spend a move action to getting into position anyhow. The Flame Arrow spell could help boost your damage by +1d6 fire, but you'd really have to weigh the cost vs the benefit unless you have a friendly spellcaster who can hook you up.
oh, to amend my earlier post: said shurikens can also explode.
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Well, you could go Crusader Cleric of Graffiacane, or Yaezhing, nab the Guided Hand feat, and use Wisdom for attack rolls with Shuriken.
This will also give you access to the Abundant Ammunition, and Greater Magic Weapon spells, which you can use on Shuriken.
With this, you can go full armor, pump strength, which means melee is not an issue.
If you want you can use a Belt of Mighty Hurling to use STR with thrown weapons.
Barbarian (urban?) hurler for more range and damage, fighter weapon master, and then ninja the rest for flurry of stars etc. The biggest problem to my mind is the gp cost; literally throwing money away every round.
So, instead consider arcane duelist or dervish dancer bard for abundant ammo. Urban barbarian hurler and ninja 2, and bard the rest. Stardancing halfling.
Monk. Apparently they can Flurry with Shuriken.
I went with monk+ranger for my RotRL char, and used Shuriken when moving into combat would put me without backup, or when I killed everything within Lunge range early. Favored Enemy bonuses helped, though I would have loved the belt of mighty hurling had it been out at the time.
You can get flame arrow cast upon them as ammunition, weapon blanch them for DR cutting, and if you run into a regular species of opponent, invest in some +1-bane shuriken to toss on primary throws.
I am planning on converting my Monk into a shuriken turret for when he can't (or doesn't want to) get into melee.
A Monk or Ninja who focuses on Shuriken can be pretty powerful.
Shuriken Only.
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Okay! With the belt of mighty hurling discovery, shuriken suddenly get a lot better on both the attack and damage front.
Human Ninja 10
Abilities(post racial) 18, 10, 14, 8, 12, 14
Ninja Tricks: Vanish, Flurry of Stars, Weapon Training (WF shuriken), Shadow Clone, Vanishing Blade
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Two Weapon Fighting, ITWF, Deadly Aim.
KEY Equipment: Belt of Mighty hurling, sniper's goggles, and +1 shurikens.
Now all of a sudden things are looking much, much better.
Attack (7 BAB, +6 str, +1 WF, +1 PBS, +1 magic -2 FoS, -2 TWF -2 DA). So that gives +10/10/10/10/5/5 for 1d3+ 10(+6 str +1 magic + 4 DA) + 5d6. So that's 6 attacks at around 28 damage apiece, and thanks to hidden blade I'll be targeting flat footed AC. Hrm.
Actually, I am pretty sure Sneak Attack will only count for the first attack to connect, so that first one will average 28. The rest would average at about 6.5.
I definately recommend using the poison. "You hit him three times and only did three points of damage?!" "No, I'm making the wizard make three fortitude saves, every round."
I definately recommend using the poison. "You hit him three times and only did three points of damage?!" "No, I'm making the wizard make three fortitude saves, every round."
Seconded.