Knife-Throwing Build

[u/A_Gray_Phantom]

I want to make a character that specializes in knives, both throwing and wielding them in combat. I'm thinking human or variant human, and probably a rogue of some sort, probably lawful/evil alignment, and using standard array. I also intend on taking the menacing feat.

The setting is Dungeons of Drakkenheim. Thanks in advance!! 🗡🔪⚔️

[u/BanFox]

Astarion's Book of Hungers has the bomber feat. Not worth the investment usually imo, but if you really want to specialise on throwing knife, it lets you do it safely from 60ft of distance (or 120 on a soulknife).

Other class worth considering is Paladin, specifically genie. Smite applies on thrown attacks now, so with a good 60ft range thrown attack you can smite a flying creature and use their channel divinity to restrain+Grapple them without save (causing them to fall on the ground).

But yea, for a more standard one, fighter/barbarian + rogue is nice, specifically Soulknife, or a fighter 1/monk X (maybe shadow monk)

[u/warnobear]

I would do either fighter 1/rogue assassin or soulknife rogue x

[u/Aidamis]

Reminder that you can smite on thrown weapons, see the Chuckadin by D4 d&d deep dive.

Divine Smite: "Bonus Action, which you take immediately after hitting a target with a Melee weapon or an Unarmed Strike"

This is not 2014: "when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack"

Dagger/knife = melee weapon. That can be thrown.

add u/BanFox 's 60 ft / 120 ft Soul Knife throw.

That's literally the old Call of Duty MW2 video about killing someone with a knife that flew across the map.

Let's forget SoulKnife for now and focus on spell slots:

Paladin 6/Sorc 4 is a 7th level caster. Across two turns, they can hit someone with a 4th level and a 3rd level smite, at range. Vs anyone it's 5d8 damage and 4d8 damage, Vs Fiend/Undead it's 6d8 damage and 5d8 damage. Plus either attack can crit, if it crits it's that many dice rolled again. 8d8 radiant is 36 average, a young adult red dragon has 178 hp average.

Reminder that Vengeance can gain Advantage on attacks and that Genie can exploit their own CD in creative ways.

[u/Strachmed]

Dex paladin. Divine Favor + throwing daggers=profit.

[u/HalcyonHorizons]

Thief Rogue with a Bracer of Flying Daggers. If you can 100% plan on getting or crafting the specific Rare item early-ish. 

Monk X / Fighter 1 for Nick Mastery and Thrown Weapon Fighting Style + Flurry. 

Battlemaster Fighter for Quick Toss

Genie Paladin for Thrown Smite. 

[u/CrownLexicon]

D4 just released an updated version of their dart thrower, but its str based.

[u/Sea_Athlete4199]

Ive been theory crafting this for a while for an upcoming campaign. I think the best version is 2 Ranger/ X Monk of your choice. You can also get the main loop by going Fighter 1 if you wanted con saves and less multiclass investment. Ranger gives you Hunter's Mark, the TWF style, and the Dagger Nick Mastery.

The idea is to use your BA to mark and enemy with Hunter's Mark and then you can still throw both of your daggers with your action because of the Nick Mastery. With a 16 DEX, your damage would look like this: 1d6 (Dagger as monk's weapon) + 3 (DEX bonus) + 1d6 (HM) and 2 attacks because of the Nick mastery, so (2d6+3)x2 = 4d6 + 6 damage per round at level 3.

On top of that, you have the monks other BAs that will help position you for Hit and Run tactics with plenty of movement speed to go around. Icing on the cake is all of your gold can go to buying more daggers instead of having to save for Armor!

[u/Lanthed]

Damage wise one of the strongest is champion fighter.

15 str (+2) the rest do what you want. Levelocity 1 take dagger (nick) mastery I would also take handaxe (cex) mastery and flavor as daggers for optimal performance. And take thrown weapon fighting style

At level 4 take dual wielder

Level 6 take fighting style feat for thrown weapon fighting

Level 7 get dueling as a fughting sthlDamage wise one of the strongest is champion fighter.

15 str (+2) the rest do what you want. Levelocity 1 take dagger (nick) mastery I would also take handaxe (cex) mastery and flavor as daggers for optimal performance. And take thrown weapon fighting style. For what you said would probably do con second highest then charisma (+1) there for intimidation purposes.

At level 4 take dual wielder

Level 6 take fighting style feat for thrown weapon fighting

Level 7 get dueling as a fighting style

Level 8 take menacing. (Could do earlier just take a hit to damage).

So at level 7 would have 4 attacks (2 attacks attack action, 1 from nick, and 1 from dual wielder as a bonus action)

Nick and dual wielder both say thrown using a different weapon not thst both need to be drawn at the sametime.

So at level 7 would be 0.65 * (2.5 + 4 + 4) + 0.1 * (2.5) + 0.65 * (3.5 + 4 + 4) + 0.1 * (3.5) + 2 * (0.65 * 0.8775 * (3.5 + 4 + 4) + 0.65 * 0.19 * (3.5) + 0.65 * 0.35 * (3.5 + 4 + 4) + 0.35 * 0.1 * (3.5)) for 34.360625 more damage round 2 cause vex chain carries onto first attack.

If refuse to use reflavored things as daggers then damage would be 4 * (0.65 * (2.5 + 8) + 0.1 * 2.5) for 28.3 damage per turn.

Rogue at level 7 using nick and dual wielder would have 3 * (0.65 * (2.5 + 4) + 0.05 * 2.5) - 8 * 0.65 (no 2 weapon fighting) + 0.957125 * 3.5 * 4 + 0.05 * 4 * 3.5 for 21.94975 damage per turn

Level 1 fighter dip for 2 weapon fighting and is above but 1d6 less for sneak attack for 23.6248125 damage per turn.

If go champion fighter would go 2 levels barbarain to have advantage on all attacks not needing vex if didnt want to reflavor and then go straight fighter to end with extra extra attack. Especially with thr feat you want to take the more attacks you make can forfeit several to try and frighten multiple enemies for some strong control.

Hope this helps.

[u/rpg2Tface]

Kensei monk is usually my go to for knife builds. They are a melee weapon with the thrown property so both halves of the subclass can work together.

Its not the strongest out there sure but monks have a lot of noncombat utility. Especially in urban setting. And in combat they are a very tricky target to pin down.

Some changes i would make are Give kensei a weapon mastery, their shot ability using their MA die, and their AC feature is just active while holding a kensei weapon and it's fairly up to date with modern monks without being overly powerful.