Spear Thrower
 

Greetings Again,

I recently made some figures for my continued experiments with the Death Test and created a hero who had Thrown Weapons, Pole Arms, and Spear Thrower for talents. The theory was that he'd be a javelineer. He was very effective and that made me ask some questions.

In Advanced Combat, it states that the spear thrower, "is considered a missile weapon for computing adjDex." Adding two hits to the damage of the spear or javelin is straightforward and clear. As is its usefulness as a club. Why bring missile weapons into this?

1) What does, "is considered a missile weapon for computing adjDex," mean?

2) Does the spear thrower change the javelin or spear into a missile weapon?

3) If this is the case, and my hero picked up the Missile Weapons feat, would Thrown Weapons stack with it, giving him adjDex +5?

Thanks once again for your thoughtful answers.

-Carl

Re: Spear Thrower
 

It means you use the range rules for missile weapons when computing to-hit penalties for a spear thrower. That's it. I don't think there is any reasonable case to be made that it lets you stack the bonuses for thrown weapons and missile weapons talents.

Re: Spear Thrower
 

1) What larsdangly said
2) No, it only uses the Missile Weapon range adjustments (like the boomerang)
3) You can make a case that if you have Thrown Weapons you get the +2DX when throwing a spear or javelin. But, definitely Missile Weapon Talents do not stack. (They never stack with Thrown Weapons).

I would suggest you test the various options and see which makes your contests more playable and which make them less fun/more overpowered.

Re: Spear Thrower
 

Here's a tiny related question if anyone knows the answer...

When adding +2 damage to a spear flung with a spear thrower, are we to add the +2 to the spear's one-handed damage (1d) or two-handed damage (1d+1)?

Re: Spear Thrower
 

I would say all thrown spears should use the one-handed damage, as I don't know of a way (in reality) to use two hands to throw a spear harder.

(Though on the other hand... a person can involve their other hand/arm in giving more thrust to the throwing hand, by moving that arm and shoulder/torso in the opposite direction during the throw. But I don't know how much having a shield on the left arm/hand would or would not interfere with that - maybe it wouldn't, so back to my first answer.)

Re: Spear Thrower
 

I agree with Skarg:

Spear thrown by Spear thrower is always a one handed spear. And I agree it only makes sense that the spear without the spear thrower is also thrown with one hand.

But I do find it odd that the "Spear (2 hands)" listing in the weapons table has an * asterisks indicating it may be thrown. If a player with no other weapon/shield in hand insisted on getting 1+1 damage with his thrown spear I would allow it. I would not allow it with a Spear Thrower.

Re: Spear Thrower
 

https://neulioncs.hs.llnwd.net/pics3...0318212040.jpg

That's a link to a defensive lacrosse stick, which would be the position I'd expect to see with a two-handed spear thrower.

That being said, despite no small amount of looking, I can find zero images of a spear-thrower actually being used with two hands, though quite a lot of one-handed ones. Hmm. That's not what I'd have thought, but there we go.

Re: Spear Thrower
 

It takes two hands to ready a spear or javelin onto a spear thrower and throw it.
The mechanical advantage gives it additional damage, the second hand gives it additional range, thats how I always envisioned it.

As for the comment about 2 handed spear, I never actually considered it a "different" weapon, a stick with a dagger on the end is pretty much face value, it's just a regular single handed spear that can be thrown for 1 d6, OR used as a melee weapon in two hands for additional damage.

I realize there is that little comment in the weapon notes about being 2.5 meters or sometimes longer, but look at the weight, it's the same, so it's really not a bigger or larger weapon, just used differently for additional damage, much like a bastard sword, one handed vs: two handed.

Not only is this a COOL video, if you watch it all the way you will See he does need two hands to use it properly, but it's pretty damn impressive.


http://youtu.be/rrlr02YDr5A

Re: Spear Thrower
 

I think it helps if you have a Spear Thrower reduce the effective range, to a minimum of 1, rather than give a +4, because while it makes sense to me it would help you hit at long range, I don't see it making you more accurate at very short range, which IME is a very effective way to use a Spear Thrower in TFT, especially if you have friends keeping enemies from rushing you. Double-especially if you are playing with the optional Aimed Shots rules, in which case you can get some extremely high adjDX, triply-so if the GM is letting you stack the Thrown Weapons bonus.

e.g. ST 11 DX 13 Thrown Weapons, Spear Thrower calculated as DX 13 +2 + 4 = 19 !?!? 17 also seems excessive. I prefer 13 or maybe 15 with a -4 adjustment to effective range.

Re: Spear Thrower
 

I'm in agreement with Skarg.

but, I think I missed something... a Spear Thrower adds to damage, and increases effective range.

Where did this +4 To Hit modifier come from?

Re: Spear Thrower
 

Oh... LOL!

Yeah you're right. It changed from original TFT. The original version was +4 DX. The new version is Legacy ITL replaced the +4 with saying it uses missile weapon range modifiers instead of thrown.

So my point above doesn't even apply to Legacy, since there is no more +DX modifier in the new rules.