Evidently, they were meant to be used with poisons or tranquilizers.
That’s the crux of my question too. They look very difficult to handle, difficult to throw well, and frankly not that dangerous. What a silly thing to ban.
2 Likes
Allegedly, in feudal Japan, they were throwaway weapons that were feared as they were sharp and rusty, and tetanus was a concern. The ways of the Ninja are surrounded in m̶y̶s̶t̶e̶r̶y̶ hyperbole and bullshit to sell merch to mall ninjas.
3 Likes
They’re actually easy to throw, probably easier than throwing a frisbee. Precise targeting is hard. We would sometimes manage to hit a tree. IRL, it’d be difficult to incapacitate a charging opponent with one, kind of like throwing the dart and hoping to hit the bullseye on a moving target. If you hit most other places, other than an eye, you would likely have merely pissed off a person that you have just gifted a pointy thing, so not ideal for self-defense.
ETA: most likely racism had a role in their ban, fear of gangs, especially of non-white gangs, was big at the time, movies portrayed them as a deadly street weapon, so, yes, a silly thing to ban for imaginary vs. practical ressons.
1 Like
Same reason no one outside of an action movie uses throwing knives as weapons.
1 Like
Hence why I said, “difficult to throw well”. You can throw just about anything. That doesn’t make it dangerous.
2 Likes
And just as was going to post a movie clip.
There’s always death by throwing cards.
1 Like
Valid point, my meaning is that they’re easier to hit something, with no training, than a dart, arrow, throwing axe, or throwing knife. Effectively damage someone, no.
ETA: if you throw a dart like you throw a baseball, it doesn’t really work. A throwing star will.
Not in modern times that I know of. And historically they were used more of a weapon of distraction or harassment. Throwing them at someone’s face will cause them to instinctively block them, leaving them open to another attack.
The original types were more like darts/spikes or simple 4 pronged spikes. The star kinds came a little later and could be used as a small slashing weapon when held, harassing when thrown, or put in to the ground as a caltrop.
I’ve heard of poisons being used, but I am not 100% sure that happened, or if it’s one of those things that occasionally happened and made into legend. It was likely they used animal feces or dirt to infect wounds.
But most thrown weapons don’t have enough weight behind them to do a lot of damage when thrown. They lack enough energy for penetration to be lethal. (Though with knives, it an occasionally happen, but its never like the movies where you throw a survival knife and pin a guy against a hut wall.)
Why were they banned? Like a lot of weapons laws, they looked scary and exotic. Foreign weapons often get banned, and thus I think there is a level of xenophobia. I am thinking of ninja stars, nunchucks, butterfly knives (Philippines), and Italian switchblades. Plus the 80s made the threat of ninjas seem greater than it really was.
2 Likes
So that’s why Inigo Montoya was able to just shake off that knife wound and complete his quest for revenge, and not because of his motivational mantra? Definitely less dramatic.
6 Likes
At a whole 1d2 (1 measly point for Small), it’s going to take a lot of them to take down even a 1st level character. With a list cost of 1 gp each, I think you’re almost better off throwing the coins at your target, although that does change damage type from P to B, I guess.
4 Likes
Plus, my saving throw vs 1980s White Nerd Power Fantasies is really good.
Come at me, bros.
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
