The Fantasy Armory · Chapter 12
Thrown Weapons
A thrown weapon lets a character act before the enemy is close enough to act back. That opening exchange is what the family sells.
Limited Ammo 1 is on nearly every entry: the weapon leaves your hand and stays where it lands. Recovering it after a fight is routine; recovering it during one costs a maneuver and puts you where the enemy is. The Boomerang is the single exception, and that exception is the whole reason it is here.
Concealable appears more often here than anywhere except the knives, since a weapon small enough to throw is usually small enough to carry past a gate guard.
Skill: Light Ranged throughout.
Boomerang
Kylie, Hunting Stick, Throwing Wing, War Boomerang
3 4 Short 1
Light Ranged 20 Common Crushing Knockdown, Inaccurate 1
A flat curved throwing stick weighted at the elbow, thrown level so that it carries much further than an arm has any business sending it. The heavy war form does not return. The lighter hunting form does, and that is the version statted here.
The boomerang carries no Limited Ammo. On a missed attack it returns to the wielder's hand at the end of the turn and may be thrown again next round. On a hit it drops beside the target like anything else.
That one line is the whole weapon. Every other thrown entry in this book is partly a decision about how many you can carry.
Throwing Knife
Shuriken, Kunai, Throwing Dagger, Balanced Knife
3 3 Short 0
Light Ranged 70 Common Thrusting Accurate 1, Concealable 2, Limited Ammo 1
Balanced for the throw rather than the grip, usually carried in a set of three or more. It is the most accurate thing in the family and does the least damage, and it goes places other weapons do not.
Bolas
Boleadoras, Throwing Weights, Ankle Snare
2 — Short 1
Light Ranged 45 Restricted Crushing Ensnare 2, Knockdown, Limited Ammo 1
Three weights on joined cords, thrown to wrap a running thing's legs. It does no meaningful damage and cannot inflict a Critical Injury. What it does is stop something that was going somewhere, which against a fleeing target or a charging animal is worth more than a wound.
Javelin
Pilum, Angon, Throwing Spear, Dart
4 3 Medium 1
Light Ranged 40 Common Thrusting Pierce 1, Limited Ammo 1
A light throwing spear. The longest reach in the family and the only entry that threatens an armoured target, carried in bundles of two or three by anyone expecting to open a fight at distance.
Francisca
Throwing Axe, Hurlbat, Frankish Axe
5 3 Short 1
Light Ranged 110 Common Cutting Vicious 1, Sunder, Limited Ammo 1
A throwing axe with a curved head, thrown at a shield wall immediately before contact. Sunder is the point of it: even a poor throw that only splits a shield rim has done its job, because the man behind it now has to fight without one.
Chakram
War Quoit, Chakkar, Throwing Ring
4 2 Short 0
Light Ranged 105 Rare Cutting Vicious 1, Concealable 1, Limited Ammo 1
A flat steel ring, sharpened along the outer edge, thrown with a flick of the wrist or spun off a finger. Crit 2 with Vicious 1 gives it the highest critical potential of any thrown weapon, and it can be worn openly as a bracelet or a collar ornament.
Harpoon
Whaling Harpoon, Barbed Spear, Toggle Harpoon, Line Spear
5 3 Short 3
Light Ranged 135 Common Thrusting Ensnare 1, Bleed 1, Limited Ammo 1, Cumbersome 3
A heavy barbed head on a short shaft with a line made fast behind it. The barb is built not to come out, and the line is the other half of the weapon.
Ensnare 1 lasts exactly as long as the wielder keeps hold of the rope. Bleed 1 is the barb working against anything that pulls away from it. This is the most expensive thrown weapon here and the only one that does not leave your hand and become somebody else's problem.
While a target is held on the line, the wielder is holding it too. Letting go frees the target and costs nothing else.