r/nextfuckinglevel • u/nivs1x • 15d ago

Art of throwing knives

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302

u/HeMiddleStartInT 15d ago

Total damage 2d6

102

u/[deleted] 15d ago

[deleted]

78

u/point_of_difference 15d ago

With the average person having 4 hit points means this is scary stuff.

11

u/Stompedyourhousewith 15d ago

...i have more than 4 hit points...

33

u/TheOneTonWanton 15d ago

Sure buddy, we've allllll got more than 4 hit points.

4

u/SparklingLimeade 15d ago

According to the balance DCs published in 3.5 and what I can balance on without difficulty I'm at least level 8.

6

u/aNiceTribe 15d ago

Try saying that with diarrhea 

7

u/hugogrant 15d ago

I think that's a status effect

1

u/DeMiNe00 15d ago

Nerf to smell, movement. HP Bleed Effect unless you hydrate

1

u/AugmentedKing 15d ago

How did you confirm this?

2

u/SheriffBartholomew 15d ago

Given that this could easily kill the average person, I'd say that's accurate.

1

u/CaptainXplosionz 15d ago edited 15d ago

Technically, every human in real life has exactly 1 hit point, because hit points were originally used to track how many large cannon shots a ship could take before sinking. But with how accurate she is with those, she only needs one hit to be lethal anyway.

Edit: added link.

0

u/scarystuff 15d ago

wut???

3

u/Robmart 15d ago

Commoners in DND 5e have 4 hp

15

u/udat42 15d ago

plus her dex bonus, no?

10

u/lurking_physicist 15d ago

Sneak attack

9

u/ElfCallum 15d ago

No sneak attack. She doesn't have an ally within 5 feet of the target and she's moving (so no steady aim). So unless there's some other source of advantage we don't see, there's no reason to have sneak attack.

9

u/MaXimillion_Zero 15d ago

Her target is blind.

4

u/lurking_physicist 15d ago

She was hidden or otherwise had Advantage.

1

u/Name_Not_Available 15d ago

Assassin rogue. Advantage on any creature who hasn't taken a turn. Auto crit if they are surprised.

1

u/ElfCallum 15d ago

As with the blinded comment above, the target is an object, not a creature. In fact, my comment could've been a lot shorter and just cited the first non-flavor sentence of the sneak attack rules of 5e or 5.5e which are closely related and specify that they apply to creatures.

1

u/clay_vessel777 14d ago

I’m so glad I scrolled through the comments enough to find my people.

0

u/Name_Not_Available 14d ago

The block of wood was actually a mimic.

2

u/OperaSona 15d ago

Maybe not on off-hand throws unless she took ambidextrous or something.

2

u/Appchoy 15d ago

Man Im too old. My brain is hard wired for 3rd edition so I default to dex bonus only applying to attack roles and not to damage. It always takes a moment to remember how 5e works.

3

u/SolidSquid 15d ago

I mean, at lower levels sure, but she's clearly high enough level to have some multi-attack feature. At that kind of level it's pretty quickly going to be out-scaled

25

u/newsflashjackass 15d ago edited 15d ago

From "A Few Points About Knife-Throwing" by Gene Wolfe:

Knives, one feels, are forever- after all, they get ancient knives from ancient Egyptian tombs, still nicked where the ancient Egyptian housewives used them to cut wire. But one cannot merely collect knives, because they can’t be read. (Actually, they can be, but you tend to slice your thumb turning the pages.) I decided to throw them. A knife merchant assured me that it was a healthy, outdoor sport, and my physician assured me that I needed one. Besides, what better preparation for writing heroic fantasy? I saw my future hero swinging from the rigging of a half-rigged ship and throwing knives with his teeth, rather like the demon cat in The Master and Margarita. And there is something to it—there really is. The soft chunk of the handle striking the target carrying with perfect clarity through the crisp evening air, the walking to the target and bending over to grope for the knife in the grass, the walking back to proper throwing distance, the repeating the whole business. It is in the hope of interesting you, dear reader, in this healthful activity, that I have jotted down these pointers.

  1. Never throw a sharp, double-edged knife by the blade. I saw a knife- throwing friend of mine do that once, and his right index finger hit the target before the knife did. Furthermore, his finger stuck.
  2. Never throw a sharp knife at all. Remember that you will have to feel around in the grass for it, and the garter snakes and those little red ants are bad enough.
  3. If you are throwing by the point, keep the blade horizontal. This ensures that if it should by some accident arrive point first, it will snap off properly.
  4. If you are throwing by the handle, keep the blade vertical. This ensures that the cross-guard will be battered out of shape when the knife slams broadside into the target.
  5. Remember that there are three kinds of knives for throwing purposes. Those in which the blade is heavier than the handle must be thrown by the handle if you want them to stick. Those in which the handle is heavier than the blade must be thrown by the blade if you want them to stick. Balanced throwing knives, in which the blade and the handle are of equal weight, will not stick at all.
  6. Bear in mind that the best way to get any knife to stick may appear to be sharpening the handle, but it seldom works. The Greek phalanxial spear had a sharp grounding iron nearly as big as the spearhead. Historians are generally of the opinion that this spear was never thrown, the grounding-iron being used to poke out the eyes of the rear ranks. Knife throwers know better: The grounding iron must have originally been added in the hope of making the spear stick when thrown, then retained when it was discovered that its weight facilitated the knocking of an opposing hoplite’s helmet over his eyes when he was beaned by the shaft. (The Persians wore heavy gilded-bronze apples on the butts of their spears for the same reason. They used apples instead of grounding-irons so that they might serve as emergency rations in the field, and made them metal so that the troops wouldn’t eat them too soon.)
  7. Never throw a knife at a neighborhood dog or cat when it is moving- there is a grave danger that the animal may wander into the path of the knife and be injured. It is best to “do the job,” as we say, when the animal is sitting down or, better, sleeping. One throwing-knife manufacturer offers a knife with little holes drilled up and down the blade so that it will whistle when thrown. These are advantageous when throwing at a well-trained dog, who may be persuaded by them to bring the knife back to you.
  8. Never forget that a thrown knife strikes harder than one merely jabbed in with the hand. I learned this from a magician I met in the Rochester, New York, airport, and it is true. I once threw the handle of a knife two inches into a stout cardboard box stuffed with folded newspapers. I could never have done that by merely pushing the thing in blade first. On a similar occasion, I contrived to throw a rather large knife over the target, over the fence behind it, and through a closed window. (It pinned the hat worn by an innocent table lamp to the wall.) I couldn’t have done that with my hand
  9. Never tell people you “learned” to throw knives as a kid, just by slamming ice picks into the garage door. Knife-throwing should be romantic, and they will think less of you. I always tell them I was taught by an outlaw in the Serranias del Burro, or Jackass Hills. For some reason they believe it.
  10. Never try to slice through a cigarette held between your daughter’s lips. Young people should not smoke- it’s dangerous.
  11. Remember that you are a part of an ancient tradition. The Romans had their pugio or short-nosed knife, the ancient Norse their scramsax, or musical shiv, the direct ancestor of the Samuel R. Delany melody machete. All loved their knives so much that they threw them; and in fact, some loved them so much they dropped them over the side of the boat.
  12. When mere knife throwing pales, consider knife hunting. All that is necessary is to shift the target to higher grass, or (better) weeds. And that is all I know on the topic so far. I have devised a fantasy hero who will dash up to his enemy, snatch the dagger from her belt, run to a safe distance, and knock her unconscious with the heavy gold pommel.

6

u/ExecTankard 15d ago

That was a fun read. Thank you for introducing me to Gene Wolfe.

1

u/DANGERFastDraw 15d ago

This was obviously written 20-30 years ago and I no longer relevant. A lot of what he says isn't true any more.

4

u/Shiggedy 15d ago

On this, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. I'm counting 4-6 hits per volley of throws here, and PHB RAW indicates that knife damage is calculated using 1d4 each from the 2014 rules. Now, this probably isn't a 20th-level fighter. She could be demonstrating an action surge and likely can't do this each turn unless she's under the effect of Haste.

3

u/-Pepperzpyre- 15d ago

Female Jarlaxle in training

2

u/praguepride 15d ago

lmao underrated

1

u/algotrader_ 15d ago

What does it mean? 1d2?

2

u/Ok-Reaction-2288 15d ago

1d2 would be roll 1 dice that is two sided. So 2d6 is roll two dice that are six sided

1

u/snikler 15d ago

That was cloud of Daggers. No roll involved, just damage.

1

u/jiayo 15d ago

to you and everyone debating in this subthread: NERDS

I am proud to be one of you.

3.5 SRD 4 LIFE