Rangers and dual throwing weapons

[Gradine]

Specific beats general doesn't necessarily help here: the texts for the power and for the weapon are both very specific cases.

My hunch is that the power adjusts the weapon, and so supersedes the base weapon reading. But I've got nothing to back that up.

The equipment section in the PHB does in fact state that the power you're using supersedes the basic weapon attack.

Which means your brother is in luck- not only is his concept awesome, but it's fairly well supported by the RAW as well

 

[Ravingdork]

He's not trying to use them with melee only exploits.

Many exploits say "Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons or a [single] ranged weapon." I want to know how that interacts with TWO throwing weapons (such as handaxes or shuriken).

See where the confusion is coming in? The text assumes you only have one ranged weapon (such as a bow).

 

[Gradine]

Hmm... the following text is given under the description of Light Thrown: "...but some powers let you hurl several of them at once in rapid succession"

That this text isn't under Heavy Thrown suggests that the same isn't true for them, in which case your brother would only be able to hurl one handaxe per turn regardless of the power.

 

[mrrodgers]

Hmm... the following text is given under the description of Light Thrown: "...but some powers let you hurl several of them at once in rapid succession"

That this text isn't under Heavy Thrown suggests that the same isn't true for them, in which case your brother would only be able to hurl one handaxe per turn regardless of the power.

this seems to be the most logical explanation, which I was about to say, but you beat mah to it.

 

[kclark]

As long as he is holding at least one handaxe, he has a ranged weapon. If he is holding two handaxes, he is still wielding a ranged weapon.
Thus he can indeed use thrown handaxes for powers that require a ranged weapon.
Note that if you ever use a power that attacks multiple targets, then you need to throw a handaxe for each target you attack. That could be a bit cumbersome.

 

[Pabloj]

So the questions remaining are:

When using 2 handaxes, a ranger...

Uses Dex or Str for ranged attacks and damages?
How many axes can he throw?

Am I missing something?

 

[Ravingdork]

As long as he is holding at least one handaxe, he has a ranged weapon. If he is holding two handaxes, he is still wielding a ranged weapon.
Thus he can indeed use thrown handaxes for powers that require a ranged weapon.
Note that if you ever use a power that attacks multiple targets, then you need to throw a handaxe for each target you attack. That could be a bit cumbersome.

But can he throw both handaxes as part of the same attack?

So the questions remaining are:

When using 2 handaxes, a ranger...

Uses Dex or Str for attacks and damages?
How many axes can he throw?

Am I missing something?

I'm pretty certain he uses the attribute shown in the power description.

 

[Gradine]

a possible solution that would fix this is to house-rule in some light throwing axes that are mechanically identical to daggers (that is, you'd only do 1d4 on a normal throw or 1d4+Str on a normal swing but allow him to toss multiple daggers per turn.) This might upset some balance issues as far as feats go (tossing multiple high crit weapons per turn doesn't seem to be intended by the rules) but that can be solved by making them considered light blades as well. That way at least gives your brother the choices of how he wants to play mechanically while still being an axe-tossing pirate either way.

 

[Zurai]

It works. I keep toying with the idea of an Eladrin Ranger using the Eladrin Soldier feat and throwing javelins, but honestly it's kind of a weak concept mechanically.

 

[On Puget Sound]

Should work fine until level 9 "spray of arrows" - close blast 3. Even if you assume a quick draw-like effect, I'm not sure how you'd wear up to 9 hand axes for easy grabbing and throwing. At that point I'd allow cinematic license and say you are only throwing maybe 3 axes into the crowd, and they are bouncing around in trick shots to whack everyone.