Thrown Weapon Character Help


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


I’ve been looking at building a character that is mainly a melee character with the ability to disrupt combat by throwing his weapon(s). I’ve looked at several ideas and have my mind set on a:

Dwarf Divine Hunter/Fighter

I’m stuck on a few things:

1)How many levels of Divine Hunter to take. I’m looking at as few as 5 levels to get the divine bond so I can add seeking, distance, or returning to my weapon. More levels (like to level 8) will allow me to add more options from the divine bond list to my weapon, but I feel it might hamper on possible feats that could optimize my ideas for the character.

2)What archetype of fighter to take (if any at all). Right now I’m looking at either the Two-Weapon Fighter (duel-wield warhammers or similar) or Weapon Master (specialize on just the warhammer or similar).

Just wanting some help on what I could do with the character idea. Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Thanks!


Just a note: once you hit iterative attacks (at least, once you get a third iterative attack) Quick Draw is a must-have for thrown weapons.

I have to admit I haven't really looked at the archetypes... because the bits I did look at were unappealing: typically, you lose too much with them, imo.

You might find Throw Anything to be useful (for when you run out of weapons, or if you decide to use splash weaponry much).


Returning is supbar since it only allows you to make one attack per round with that weapon. The feat Quickdraw combined with a Blinkback Belt is superior to the returning property.

Note: If playing PFS you will be unable to combine the Blinkback Belt with a Belt of <insert physical attribute here>. Even outside of PFS make sure your GM is not overruling the rule regarding placing additional powers (such as the Blinkback Belt) on an existing item (such as a Belt of Incredible Dexterity).

- Gauss


Alitan wrote:

Just a note: once you hit iterative attacks (at least, once you get a third iterative attack) Quick Draw is a must-have for thrown weapons.

I have to admit I haven't really looked at the archetypes... because the bits I did look at were unappealing: typically, you lose too much with them, imo.

You might find Throw Anything to be useful (for when you run out of weapons, or if you decide to use splash weaponry much).

I've never heard the term iterative attacks before. All the campaigns I've been in have been pretty cut and dry campaigns and characters. This is the first character that I've had/seen with thrown weapons(besides daggers or bombs).


Iterative attacks: when your Base Attack Bonus rises, you start getting multiple attacks in a round when you use the Full Attack Action; these are, generally, referred to as 'iterative attacks.' [Example, at 6th level, a Fighter's BAB is "+6/+1," meaning with a Full Attack, you get one attack at +6 on the die and one attack at +1.]

In order to utilize all of your attacks for a high BAB, with thrown weapons, you need the Quick Draw Feat. Or some (magical) method of getting weapons in-hand quickly enough.


The Returning quality to a thrown weapon brings it back at the end of your turn so you only get one "throw" of the weapon...no iterative attacks.
You need Quickdraw and multiple thrown weapons to be able to throw more than one attack per round.
I would not bother with dipping into Divine Hunter for just throwing a weapon
I would just go straight Fighter...Dual Wield Throwing Axes...put returning on one of them.
have a high Strength and if this is a home game sweet talk your DM into allowing the 3.5 Brutal Throw Feat where you use your Strength instead of Dex for hurled weapons attack bonus...not broken as it is a feat tax and you already use strength for damage, just don't need to have an uber dex then


If you weren't a Dwarf I would suggest Fighter (no-archetype). Might still be worth it if you are going TWF as it is Dex intensive and armor training is awesome.

There is a magic item, I can't recall the name, that lets you use Strength for thrown attacks (no need dig into 3.5 feats).


The Bald Man wrote:
There is a magic item, I can't recall the name, that lets you use Strength for thrown attacks (no need dig into 3.5 feats).

You're thinking of the Belt of Mighty Hurling

It also gives you a +2 bonus to Strength (+4 greater) and gives a +10 ft bonus to range (and Returning with greater) but it takes the same slot as the Blinkback belt which hurts.


You could always take Vital Strike instead of Quick Draw and forgo iterative attacks in favor of dealing more damage with a single attack. With this feat, at most you could have two attacks (throwing two throwing axes, one in each hand, using two weapon fighting) and then have them return to you via Returning.

You know I might make this character myself...


The VS tree is a trap tree for the most part. Unless you manage to get very large damage dice the lack of bonus damage really hinders most characters.

- Gauss


Thanks for the input so far. My DM, so far in the campaign we're in now, allows us to add multiple abilities to various slots so I could combine the blinkbelt and belt of mighty hurling abilities as long as I pay the appropriate costs.

I'll have to think on how I want to build him. The Vital Strike to help on damage is an intriguing idea that I might like. That kind of fits how I was thinking of making him (Wield 2 weapons and throw occasionally to disrupt/engage).

Looking through other archetypes there is the Hurler Barbarian that could also be help (increased Str, range increment, plus rage powers for throwing). Looking at it I thought taking 6 lvls of Barbarian Hurler to be able to get the Hurling Charge, Deadly Accuracy, and Surprise Accuracy Rage Powers. Hurling Charge is the rage power I'd really want, but the other 2 could be switched possibly for Powerful Blow or something else.


Thinking about it, how would the Ricochet Hammer be in this build? Looks like I could take the Vital Strike idea and still be able to utilize the iterative attacks from gaining levels.


Vital Strike cannot be combined with multiple attacks so it is not really helpful for wielding two weapons and throwing occasionally. It is a standard action on its own which means it cannot be combined with many other options. I dont think it can be combined with a Ricochet hammer's multiple attacks.

- Gauss


Blink Back Belt of Belt of Mighty Hurling (21,500 gold):
+2 strength.
Use strength rather than dexterity for thrown weapon attack rolls.
+10' range increment for thrown weapons.
Your thrown weapons teleport back to your belt immediately after each attack is rolled.

Combined with the feat Quick Draw, this would make pretty potent thrown-weapon attacks. Assuming normal character wealth, it would use up about half the wealth of a 9th level character.

Since you only want to throw a weapon occasionally to disrupt combat, I'd just carry a couple of javelins (or chakram) on you belt, possibly taking the Quick Draw feat when you get a chance. You can always upgrade the javelins later. (+1 weapons are pretty cheap when you're the right level to have a +3 main weapon.) Also, you'd want your primary weapon to be two-handed, so you can free a hand to throw without dropping it, then go right back to melee.


Blueluck wrote:

Blink Back Belt of Belt of Mighty Hurling (21,500 gold):

+2 strength.
Use strength rather than dexterity for thrown weapon attack rolls.
+10' range increment for thrown weapons.
Your thrown weapons teleport back to your belt immediately after each attack is rolled.

Combined with the feat Quick Draw, this would make pretty potent thrown-weapon attacks. Assuming normal character wealth, it would use up about half the wealth of a 9th level character.

Would the Belt's increased distance ability stack with the ability from the barbarian hurler ability?

Lucky for me we have an item creation wizard that helps us make items so the cost is drastically reduced. :)


Unklbuck wrote:

The Returning quality to a thrown weapon brings it back at the end of your turn so you only get one "throw" of the weapon...no iterative attacks.

You need Quickdraw and multiple thrown weapons to be able to throw more than one attack per round.
I would not bother with dipping into Divine Hunter for just throwing a weapon
I would just go straight Fighter...Dual Wield Throwing Axes...put returning on one of them.
have a high Strength and if this is a home game sweet talk your DM into allowing the 3.5 Brutal Throw Feat where you use your Strength instead of Dex for hurled weapons attack bonus...not broken as it is a feat tax and you already use strength for damage, just don't need to have an uber dex then

I've looked at multiple ways of doing this (levels in barbarian and straight fighter). Right now I'm really liking this set up:

Superstitious and Urban Barbarian 6/Fighter 3 (since we're level 9 in the current campaign).

With this setup I get to initiate first, attack twice while charging in, gain a strength while raging (without losing AC), and can add elemental damage to attacks (we fight some weird custom elementals). I've also been pretty set on duel wielding warhammers. I'm debating whether to take straight fighter, two-weapon warrior, or weapon master. The two-weapon fighter can decrease the penalties from duel wielding while being able to wield a one handed weapon.

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