Attacking with a Thrown Monk Weapon

I'm just about to play my first game of 2024/5.5 and I'm not quite sure how a couple of rules interact

"Thrown
If a weapon has the Thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack, and you can draw that weapon as part of the attack. If the weapon is a Melee weapon, use the same ability modifier for the attack and damage rolls that you use for a melee attack with that weapon."

So the typical person would use str to attack and damage when they throw a hand-axe, ok

But how does that interact with the Monk's Dextrous Attacks?
"Dexterous Attacks. You can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls of your Unarmed Strikes and Monk weapons."

If a Monk throws a spear (which is a simple weapon so they attack and damage with dex in melee) do they still use dex if they throw it?

Quote from Mad_Hamish >>

If a Monk throws a spear (which is a simple weapon so they attack and damage with dex in melee) do they still use dex if they throw it?

Yes.

As stated in the rule you quoted, when you throw a melee weapon, you use the same ability you'd use when making a melee attack with it. Monks would use Dexterity when making a melee attack with a spear, so they also use Dexterity when throwing it.

This works exactly the same in both 5e and 5.5e.

I’ll add that when you use a monk weapon, even thrown, you use your martial arts die for damage. So your monk at level 1 is throwing daggers for a d6 damage, and at level 5, those thrown daggers do a d8, etc.

Quote from Xalthu >>

I’ll add that when you use a monk weapon, even thrown, you use your martial arts die for damage. So your monk at level 1 is throwing daggers for a d6 damage, and at level 5, those thrown daggers do a d8, etc.

You can use the weapon's normal damage die if it's better, though, which it may be at low levels (there are a couple of monk weapons that can do d8 damage with two-handed attacks).

You can't use your martial arts die with thrown weapons.
RAW it says

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use your Unarmed Strike and Monk weapons, which are the following:

• Simple Melee weapons
• Martial Melee weapons that have the Light property

Once you throw a weapon it stops being a melee weapon.
Also you can see it, if you build a character with the character builder, then the martial arts die isn't applied  to thrown weapons.
It applies to daggers, as the are also melee weapons, and I guess it can't show 2 damage numbers, but not to Darts, which are ONLY a thrown weapon.

Quote from Bazromark >>

You can't use your martial arts die with thrown weapons.
RAW it says

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use your Unarmed Strike and Monk weapons, which are the following:

• Simple Melee weapons
• Martial Melee weapons that have the Light property

Once you throw a weapon it stops being a melee weapon.
Also you can see it, if you build a character with the character builder, then the martial arts die isn't applied  to thrown weapons.
It applies to daggers, as the are also melee weapons, and I guess it can't show 2 damage numbers, but not to Darts, which are ONLY a thrown weapon.

Melee weapons do not suddenly stop being melee weapons when you throw them. Melee weapons are melee weapons even if you're making a ranged attack with them.

The Martial Arts die doesn't apply to Darts because they're a Ranged weapon, and the "Monk weapons" category (as you quoted above) doesn't include any Ranged weapons.

Quote from Bazromark>>

You can't use your martial arts die with thrown weapons.
RAW it says

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use your Unarmed Strike and Monk weapons, which are the following:

• Simple Melee weapons
• Martial Melee weapons that have the Light property

Once you throw a weapon it stops being a melee weapon.

Also you can see it, if you build a character with the character builder, then the martial arts die isn't applied  to thrown weapons.
It applies to daggers, as the are also melee weapons, and I guess it can't show 2 damage numbers, but not to Darts, which are ONLY a thrown weapon.

 Yes, darts are not a melee weapon, so they don't qualify for the martial arts die.

That in no way means that daggers, which are a melee weapon, lose that qualification if you throw them.

Alright, I can see you points, although i don't agree :)
RAW/RAI or whatever, I think, that if I was the DM and this was my table, then I'd rule that once you throw a weapon, it stops being a melee weapon and should be treated as a ranged weapon.

I dunno, I find it strange somehow, and wrong.

That's what the GM is for.

But consider this: as written, monks basically have no ranged attack capabilities at all. They're completely ineffective against a flying enemy. Thrown weapons give them something.

Also, they're maneuverable enough that it's almost never going to matter in any other situation, because they can just get to the enemy.

Quote from Bazromark >>

Alright, I can see you points, although i don't agree :)
RAW/RAI or whatever, I think, that if I was the DM and this was my table, then I'd rule that once you throw a weapon, it stops being a melee weapon and should be treated as a ranged weapon. 

Just to be clear: when you throw a melee weapon like that, it's a ranged attack, and all the other rules that apply to ranged attacks apply to it. It's just not a ranged weapon.

An analogy would be that if you were to take a computer keyboard and use it to bash a nail into a piece of wood, it hasn't suddenly stopped being a keyboard and started being a hammer. You're using it like a hammer, but it's still a keyboard.

There is a lot of stuff in the D&D rules that treats melee and ranged weapons differently, and all of it has been written under the assumption that weapons do not suddenly change which category they're in when they're used in a different way. Ruling it that way at your table is fine, but I encourage you to think carefully about all the consequences it'll have for game balance before you do that.