I just wanted to get the general opinion of people who know about this class. Currently as the barbarian features work they make it so that they can only gain pretty much all of their class features on melee weapons that use strength
A) When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
B) When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
While i can normally get behind this in the general sense (i feel like it could benefit from being a choice upon gaining the feature between dex or strength but that neither here nor their rn) it makes absolutely no sense that this doesn't apply to thrown weapons. Thrown weapons use your can use your strength mod and it just feels so irritated that every single barbarian ends up playing almost exactly the same in combat because all they get to do it rage, run up and then just wail on an enemy as much as possible. It just gets dry.
Also my dm just gave my Totem Barb i (9th level) a buff to a weapon he uses that has been passed down through his people (very lore specific) and part of it is that my Maul now gains the thrown property and I can return it to me as a bonus action (a part of combat that 50 percent of barbarians cant really do much with anyway other than rage). I think that she over looked this detail but i wanted to get other peoples opinions on it before i went to her to talk about house ruling it for my character.
I have a barb in one of my campaigns who uses a dwarven thrower and after many sessions I agreed to grant him his rage benefits when throwing it. Didn't break anything and thematically it made sense, plus the player appreciated it too.
It should be noted that thrown weapons aren't ranged weapons, with the exception of darts and nets. There is some wiggle room in there depending on the interpretation of melee weapon attack vs attack with a melee weapon. Most thrown weapons should be able to benefit from rage damage as a result. See the PHB definition of the thrown property:
Thrown. If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.
Throwing a weapon like a handaxe is technically “making a ranged weapon attack with a melee weapon.” So strictly speaking it does not benefit from Rage RAW. However, I personally allow it and see no problem with it.
Throwing a weapon like a handaxe is technically “making a ranged weapon attack with a melee weapon.” So strictly speaking it does not benefit from Rage RAW. However, I personally allow it and see no problem with it.
That's the wiggle room that I was talking about. Depending on how the DM rules on it determines the applicability. Several people have already said that they don't think it causes problems (including myself now). Many barbarians will still want to be up in the mix attacking and will only occasionally use the thrown weapon. Further, thrown weapons outside of the dwarven thrower and similar weapons (such as the homebrew that the OP mentioned) aren't usually carried in high enough numbers to make it practical. Many creatures will rush a barbarian, and ranged attacks will be made at disadvantage without something like Crossbow Expert when hostile creatures are within 5 ft of the barbarian. There is plenty arrayed against the "ranged" barbarian to make an extra 2 damage on a thrown attack a big deal, particularly when much of the support for that style would be limited by range, suboptimal feats, limited weapons, and competing priorities.
Not to mention that, since they are “weapons,” not “ammunition,” it takes your free item interaction to draw one and then a full action to grab another.
I just wanted to get the general opinion of people who know about this class. Currently as the barbarian features work they make it so that they can only gain pretty much all of their class features on melee weapons that use strength
A) When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
B) When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
While i can normally get behind this in the general sense (i feel like it could benefit from being a choice upon gaining the feature between dex or strength but that neither here nor their rn) it makes absolutely no sense that this doesn't apply to thrown weapons. Thrown weapons use your can use your strength mod and it just feels so irritated that every single barbarian ends up playing almost exactly the same in combat because all they get to do it rage, run up and then just wail on an enemy as much as possible. It just gets dry.
Also my dm just gave my Totem Barb i (9th level) a buff to a weapon he uses that has been passed down through his people (very lore specific) and part of it is that my Maul now gains the thrown property and I can return it to me as a bonus action (a part of combat that 50 percent of barbarians cant really do much with anyway other than rage). I think that she over looked this detail but i wanted to get other peoples opinions on it before i went to her to talk about house ruling it for my character.
I have a barb in one of my campaigns who uses a dwarven thrower and after many sessions I agreed to grant him his rage benefits when throwing it. Didn't break anything and thematically it made sense, plus the player appreciated it too.
It should be noted that thrown weapons aren't ranged weapons, with the exception of darts and nets. There is some wiggle room in there depending on the interpretation of melee weapon attack vs attack with a melee weapon. Most thrown weapons should be able to benefit from rage damage as a result. See the PHB definition of the thrown property:
Thrown. If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.
Throwing a weapon like a handaxe is technically “making a ranged weapon attack with a melee weapon.” So strictly speaking it does not benefit from Rage RAW. However, I personally allow it and see no problem with it.
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That's the wiggle room that I was talking about. Depending on how the DM rules on it determines the applicability. Several people have already said that they don't think it causes problems (including myself now). Many barbarians will still want to be up in the mix attacking and will only occasionally use the thrown weapon. Further, thrown weapons outside of the dwarven thrower and similar weapons (such as the homebrew that the OP mentioned) aren't usually carried in high enough numbers to make it practical. Many creatures will rush a barbarian, and ranged attacks will be made at disadvantage without something like Crossbow Expert when hostile creatures are within 5 ft of the barbarian. There is plenty arrayed against the "ranged" barbarian to make an extra 2 damage on a thrown attack a big deal, particularly when much of the support for that style would be limited by range, suboptimal feats, limited weapons, and competing priorities.
Not to mention that, since they are “weapons,” not “ammunition,” it takes your free item interaction to draw one and then a full action to grab another.
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Yeah idk. Sometimes it feels like no one proof read the PHB :/