Throwing Weapons
| THROWING WEAPONS | ACCURACY | DAMAGE | AP | AVAIL | COST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harpoon/Javelin | Physical | (STR+3)P | -1 | 6 | 125Y |
| Net | Physical-2 | - | - | 6 | 350Y |
| Throwing Knife / Shuriken | Physical | (STR+1)P | -1 | 4R | 25Y |
| Ubran Tribe Tomahawk | Physical+1 | (STR+2)P | -1 | 4 | 200Y |
Boomerang: This is not the cute toy of your youth that you throw and try to get to come right back to you. This is the Aboriginal hunting stick that can snap the neck of an emu. Made of a wide variety of materials the modern hunting boomerang is either a heavy wood with a dull edge or a lighter composite with a sharp edge. Both are deadly in the right hands.
Throwing and catching a returning boomerang requires two tests spread over two Combat Turns—a Throwing Weapons + Agility [Physical] (2) Test to throw it properly and an Agility + Reaction (4) Test to catch it on the return. A boomerang that hits a target does not return.
Boomerangs use the ranges of Aerodynamic Grenades.
Horizon BoomerEye: This is a cheap surveillance tool created
by some bored engineers out in the desert. The BoomerEye is a
video camera attached to a boomerang that can be tossed out and
get a bird’s-eye view of an area. The device can be downloaded
with a Complex Action on return to the thrower.
Wireless Bonus: The device can provide live-feed video
while in flight.
Harpoon/Javelin: There’s a reason why the javelin was part of the original Olympics, which was a militaristic sporting competition. Metahumans have been using sharpened sticks to kill prey, and each other, for millennia. Improvements to materials technology have just allowed them to throw further, faster, and more accurately.
Harpoons use the Throwing Weapons skill, but they may also be used as melee weapon, using the Blades skill and doing the same damage as the thrown weapon with a Reach of 2.
Net: There always seemed to be no more embarrassing gladiatorial death than to be trapped in a net and then poked to death. I think the fact that the gladiators who fought with nets were the lowliest of the low makes it even worse. But these days it doesn’t matter. If it works, use it. The net makes a great way to slow an opponent and provide an advantage, and isn’t that what life is always about—getting the advantage?
With a successful attack using rules for a Grazing Hit (p. 173, CRB), the net lands over an opponent and they are considered to be in subduing combat (p. 195, CRB). An attacker must move to the target in order to engage in any of the Subduing actions.
To break free of the net, the subdued character rolls Agility + Unarmed Combat (rather than Strength + Unarmed Combat) or Agility + Escape Artist as a Complex Action, against a threshold equal to the attacker’s net hits.
Nets use half the range of throwing knives (round up) and employ the Exotic Ranged Weapons (Net) skill.
Throwing knives/shuriken: A wide variety of
shapes and sizes of aerodynamically balanced, specially
weighted, muscle-powered throwing weapons are available,
from throwing spikes to darts to kunai and shuriken.
A character can ready (Agility ÷ 2) of these knives
with one Ready Weapon action.
Wireless: If all the throwing knives or shuriken you
throw in a single Combat Turn are wireless and you have
a smartlink system, each knife you throw receives a +1
dice pool bonus per knife thrown that Combat Turn at
your current target, as the knives inform and adjust for
wind and other atmospheric conditions. So you’d get
no bonus on the first throw, a +1 bonus on the second
throw, a +2 bonus on the third throw, etc. (assuming you
aimed all three knives at the same target).
Cavalier Arms Urban Tribe Tomahawk: This is not your grandfather’s tomahawk. Made from modern composites and balanced for throwing, this modern take on the classic Native American weapon gives as much respect to its predecessors as it can while moving into the 21st century. Popular among the urban tribal street gangs, especially the First Nations in Seattle, these finely crafted killing tools can also be found on the belts of Salish Rangers and Sioux Wildcats.