D&D 5E Darts - Originally melee, or ranged originally strength?

[Cap'n Kobold]

Darts can also be used with the Sharpshooter feat.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Finesse.
When making an attack with a finesse weapon, you use
your choice of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls.
You must use the same modifier for both rolls.

the thrown property means "If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack."

As much as they went on about natural language through the playtest, the use of jargon keywords really works out quite neatly, there.

Nicely done.

 

[Caliban]

My monk uses shuriken (i.e. darts) all the time.

 

[raleel]

I feel obligated to point out that historical darts are not small like dart board darts. They are Smaller than javelins a little, have fletching, and are too big for bows

But please don't let me stop you with the bar fighter specialist with dart expertise

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Darts are a great concealable ranged weapon.

9th level Assassin walks toward guard at door while Disguised as another guard. At ten feet they throw two darts hidden in their palms (Sleight of Hand), surprising the guard, that does 10d6 Sneak Attack + 4d4 Weapon Damage + 10 (Dex) + 20 (Sneak Attack).

What's the second Sneak Attack bonus for?

And how is this assassin getting two ranged attacks anyway? Is this occurring over the course of two rounds? If so, why isn't it 15d6 sneak attack? (10d6 the first round because Assassinate, 5d6 the second, if he wins initiative.)

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

But please don't let me stop you with the bar fighter specialist with dart expertise

I saw fighter, specialist, and dart in the same sentence and immediately starting having AD&D flashbacks of "muscle-powered-machine-gun" fighters.

 

[Hussar]

I saw fighter, specialist, and dart in the same sentence and immediately starting having AD&D flashbacks of "muscle-powered-machine-gun" fighters.

Do you remember the Aspis from the Slave lords modules? They had four arms and could make independent attacks with all of them. Darts in 1e had a rate of fire of 3/round. I made anti-aircraft bugs to throw at my PC's. 12 dart attacks per round. Sure, they only did a d3 each, but, man, was it fun.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Do you remember the Aspis from the Slave lords modules?

Vaguely, yes. When I ran those modules, my players achieved extreme levels of off-book action, so I don't think they even saw any Aspis. I remember them brokering a deal for a dragon to attack the city, and sea battles, but not any dungeon-crawling, to give a hint at exactly how off-book things got.

Sure, they only did a d3 each, but, man, was it fun.

There is definitely no "only" to 12-36 potential damage per round with AD&D quantities of hit points.

 

[raleel]

Do you remember the Aspis from the Slave lords modules? They had four arms and could make independent attacks with all of them. Darts in 1e had a rate of fire of 3/round. I made anti-aircraft bugs to throw at my PC's. 12 dart attacks per round. Sure, they only did a d3 each, but, man, was it fun.

as i remember, there were several builds that exploited that abnormal 3/1 rate of fire. a most excellent set of builds, when rules were guidelines and limits were stupid.

 

[Hriston]

as i remember, there were several builds that exploited that abnormal 3/1 rate of fire. a most excellent set of builds, when rules were guidelines and limits were stupid.

You can do it in 5e too. Here's part of a rules variant I wrote to give ranged attacks different rates of fire:

When you take the Attack action and attack with a dart that you’re holding in one hand and move up to one half your speed on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different dart that you’re holding in the other hand.

Additionally, when you take no movement on your turn, you can use your reaction to make one additional attack with a different dart that you’re holding at your initiative minus 10. You can’t use this reaction if a hostile creature that can see you and isn’t incapacitated is within 5 feet of you.​