Throwing characters

[Knight Otu]

Unless the character is already hurt, it isn't immediately fatal, and only wizard and rogue types are likely to be reduced below 0 this way.
That said, a willingly thrown character should have the same options to reduce the damage as a willingly jumping character. Might be already the case, I'm not sure...

 

[Dalamar]

Hmm... Hadn't thought about the equality between jumping and being thrown. Currently as written, a willingly thrown character can make a DC 15 Tumble or Jump check to take nonlethal damage instead of lethal, while a character jumping down from a height (long jumps don't deal damage to the jumper) can make a DC 15 Jump check to treat the fall as 10ft shorter, and/or a DC 15 Tumble check to turn the first 1d6 of falling damage to nonlethal instead of lethal.

So, following that logic, a willingly thrown character should be able to make a DC 15 Jump check to only take the thrower's Str mod in damage, and a DC 15 Tumble check to turn whatever damage they take to nonlethal, I guess.
Not ending up prone could probably be tied to succeeding on said Jump check, then, with the normal addition that untrained jumpers must beat a DC by 5 or more to not end up prone.

 

[Patlin]

For comparison purposes:

Awesome Blow [General, Fighter]
Prerequisites
Str 25, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, size Large or larger.

Benefit
As a standard action, the creature may choose to subtract 4 from its melee attack roll and deliver an awesome blow. If the creature hits a corporeal opponent smaller than itself with an awesome blow, its opponent must succeed on a Reflex save (DC = damage dealt) or be knocked flying 10 feet in a direction of the attacking creature’s choice and fall prone. The attacking creature can only push the opponent in a straight line, and the opponent can’t move closer to the attacking creature than the square it started in. If an obstacle prevents the completion of the opponent’s move, the opponent and the obstacle each take 1d6 points of damage, and the opponent stops in the space adjacent to the obstacle.

For further comparison, I'd suggest looking at the "Great Throw" feat, which isn't OGC. I think it can be found in the Oriental Adventurers errata, as they omitted it from the book accidentally.

These require you to take a feat up front. Awesome Blow also requires you to be larger than the target. While I'm not opposed to the idea of throwing a character of the same size, I would make it much more difficult (-20 on the grapple check, the penalty for grappling a creature without being grappled oneself seems apropriate to me), and I would require a feat.

I vote No.

 

[Dalamar]

Ah, that's why I couldn't find Great Throw in my OA.

The main point of this post was, however, to mention that I'll be doing a more detailed analysis between Awesome Blow and the rules I've currently fabricated, as well as between Great Throw and the same as soon as I get back to my own comp and books.

 

[Dalamar]

Great Throw to Throwing Charactes comparison:
- Great Throw is a feat that requires 4 feats (for most characters this is actually 5 since getting Improved Trip without Combat Expertise and not being a monk is rather difficult) instead of being a general maneouver. A monk gains or has the option to gain all but one of these requirement feats as a bonus feat.
- Great Throw does not differentiate between the fighting ability of the contestants, only physical differences and some training (ability scores, stability bonuses, Improved Trip).
- Great Throw does not impose penalties on the performing character's check(s), nor does it deprive him of Dex bonus to AC, draw AoO (as its requirement is Improved Trip), or take multiple actions to perform.
- Great Throw does not allow the throwing of a character beyond your reach.
- Great Throw allows monks to benefit fully from their increased unarmed damage.

Condensed: Great Throw is harder to acquire, and throwing is only an over-shoulder fling instead of the possibility to propel one's enemy far through the air. In exchange, it gains 'speed' (one attack instead of two at the bare minimum) and greater damage potential, along with not inconveniencing the performing character in any shape or form

 

[IcyCool]

I have a suggestion for a "Throwing People" mechanic.

Use Opponent as a Weapon: You may treat a pinned opponent that you are grappling as an improvised weapon. In addition to the improvised weapon penalty (-4), a pinned opponent always counts as an 'inappropriately sized weapon' (-2, for a total of -6).

If used as an improvised ranged weapon, the opponent has a range increment equal to the thrower's reach, with a maximum of two range increments. If the attack misses, then the thrown character has managed to prevent his/her thrower from successfully completing the throw and is still grappled and pinned in the thrower's square. The character may be thrown at an empty square. An empty square has an AC of 5 (10 base, -5 for no dex), modified for range.

A character used as an improvised weapon takes an equal amount of damage as they deal. If a thrown character is thrown into an empty square, that character takes damage as if they had dealt damage. If thrown into an empty square, the character may make a Tumble check DC 15. If successful, they take no damage from the throw and land nimbly on their feet.

 

[Dalamar]

That's.... a lot simpler than my proposal

 

[IcyCool]

That's.... a lot simpler than my proposal

Thanks! I tried to work in a "Use Opponent as a Shield" somewhere, but you effectively get that against ranged attacks already (randomly determine who is hit in a grapple from a ranged attack).

 

[GnomeWorks]

If this proposal is still being considered, I would approve the greatly simplified version.

 

[Knight Otu]

Ditto to what GW said. Do you want to rework the feats for this?