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I can't find an answer to this in any of the books. I am playing a Halfling Monk. I have a half-orc barbarian on my team. He picks me up and throws me at an enemy. He gets a 21 because of strength bonus. I get a punch lined up and get 16.

Do I get a bonus on damage because of air speed? How does this work?

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The simplest way to resolve this attack by your team

Your half orc used you as an improvised weapon, so when you hit you do 1d4 damage (rolled by the half orc player).

  • A comment asked for clarification: Is that damage to you or the target? Or Both? (@NautArch) To the target that the half orc threw the halfling at.

    • For an analogy to real life, the player doing the tackling lays the hit on the one being tackled (in American football, or in rugby, both of which I have played).
  • Your Halfling is less massive than a dead goblin (cf. below), so it approximates the effects of a dead goblin sufficiently for the purposes of this attempt.

Improvised Weapon rule should apply

While the general rule is that an improvised weapon is an object, there is sufficient room to rule that this thrown-halfling attack by the half-orc fits the rule well enough.

  • Is it RAW? No. RAI? Maybe. RAF? Yes.
  • Discuss this with your DM on that basis to see if the DM objects. I doubt many DM's would.

    Improvised Weapons
    ... An improvised weapon includes any object you can wield in one or two hands, such as broken glass, a table leg, a frying pan, a wagon wheel, or a dead goblin. {snip}
    An object that bears no resemblance to a weapon deals 1d4 damage (the DM assigns a damage type appropriate to the object). If a character uses a ranged weapon to make a melee attack, or throws a melee weapon that does not have the thrown property, it also deals 1d4 damage.
    An improvised thrown weapon has a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet. (From Basic Rules; p. 47)

    If you were thrown more than 20 feet at the target, the attack is made with disadvantage. (Roll 2 d20's, take the lowest result).

Now resolve the monk's attack

You do your monk attack upon arrival, as you see fit and as initiative order allows. Your DM may want to limit you to a single attack (like a Ready action) based on how you described "lining up" your punch. A generous DM may allow you to do a full monk attack routine upon arrival. That's within DM discretion to decide.


RAF. Regardless of what’s on the page or what the designers intended, D&D is meant to be fun, and the DM is the ringmaster at each game table. The best DMs shape the game on the fly to bring the most delight to his or her players. Such DMs aim for RAF, “rules as fun.” We expect DMs to depart from the rules when running a particular campaign or when seeking the greatest happiness for a certain group of players.


For more insights on using and abusing small-sized humanoids, or even enemies, as improvised weapons, we have Q&A for how to "drop kick a gnome" and how to "use an enemy as a weapon."

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    \$\begingroup\$ Is that damage to you or the target? Or Both? \$\endgroup\$
    – NautArch
    Apr 11, 2018 at 20:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ The Monk appears to have a readied action, as per raw. @NautArch As per RAW, an improvised thrown weapon is not damaged when used. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Rubiksmoose See my point about a dead goblin \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NautArch Damage to the target. I added the point about a tackling analogy. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:51
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You're in home brew territory.

While popular in fiction like comic books and anime, there are no published rules for one character throwing another.

A Note From the Real World

While D&D is not a physics simulator, effective thrown weapons are some combination of small, light, and designed to purpose (i.e. to be thrown). A humanoid body is none of these. It's a lumpy, asymmetrical, jointed bag of mostly water, and has no decent aerodynamic properties.

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    \$\begingroup\$ We don't know the anatomy of a Halfling, so be careful assuming it is mostly water. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:09
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DavidCoffron True, I'm fairly sure most halflings are at least 51% pure hate \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ @T.J.L. In re your note from the real world; that's as may be, but a flying body during an Ultimate Frisbee game cracked three of my ribs. :p It needed no aerodynamic properties to do that. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 21:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ I do not feel like your "real-world" discussion helps your answer at all. There is plenty of stuff in D&D that works but breaks physics drastically IRL. Also plenty that does not work in D&D that is quite easy to achieve IRL. I feel like if we are discussing rules, physics should probably be best left out. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 11, 2018 at 22:10
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For a Monk, Martial Arts and Unarmed strike lets you use any body part as a weapon, thus you can kick instead of punch.

RAF

I would allow this and the following is how I see it.

Action

The orc expends 5 ft movement to make a spin/discus style throw. You convert your flight into a flying/jump kick and strike the target in the chest/head; using your legs to absorb impact and convert momentum into added damage. You possibly knock the target prone and land on your feet in front of the target.

Die Rolls

The orc rolls to hit using STR bonus; 20 Ft normal, 40 FT long range. A failure means you land in a random square next to the target. If that square is occupied by an enemy, you may switch target to that enemy and proceed as if the roll was a success. If the orc rolls a natural 20, then you get +2 on your Athletics(DEX) check.

You roll an Athleltics(DEX) check to see if you successfully convert your flight into a kick. A fail means you take 1d4 impact damage. If the orc succeeded in his attack roll, the target also takes 1d4 damage. If the throw is 20 ft or less add the orc's STR bonus to the damage. If you roll a natural 20 on your check, consider your attack to be a critical hit (double damage).

If both rolls succeed, then you roll normal damage for unarmed strike (1d4+DEX or STR). If the throw is 20 Ft or less, add the orc's STR bonus to damage and the target needs to make a STR save or be knocked prone. You can add Ki Empowered Strike or Stunning strike to the attack for the cost of 1 Ki.
Note: A flying kick only allows one hit if you wish to land on your feet, so Flurry of Blows cannot be added to the attack.

Costs

Since you are making an attack outside your turn, I'd rule that the orc has used an action, and you have used a reaction.

flying kick

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I've fixed the headers. See our FAQ about real vs. fake headers. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 12, 2018 at 17:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SevenSidedDie -- Noted, I had used the fake headers to indicate that it was all under RAF. but if this is preferred then ok \$\endgroup\$
    – ravery
    Apr 12, 2018 at 17:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, just use the next level down of header to make them part of a section with a higher-level header. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 12, 2018 at 18:09

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