Throwing coins at werewolves

[stewstew5]

I have a monk in my Dragonheist game who caught a gunslingers bullet and threw it back, killing him.

DND rules don't follow traditional logic. If a shard of glass is enough to count as an improvised weapon, lumping a handful of silver coins together is probably sufficient.

I like this man

[The Jack]

I have a monk in my Dragonheist game who caught a gunslingers bullet and threw it back, killing him.

DND rules don't follow traditional logic. If a shard of glass is enough to count as an improvised weapon, lumping a handful of silver coins together is probably sufficient.

1: That's a monks special ability that only a awesome ki-enhanced monk could pull off. IIRC he redirects it, he doesn't just catch and throw

2: A lead ball is a very different story from some silver coins.

[Tanarii]

DND rules don't follow traditional logic. If a shard of glass is enough to count as an improvised weapon, lumping a handful of silver coins together is probably sufficient.

But a a shard of glass CAN kill someone ...

Unless by not following traditional logic, you mean because A, also C, with no relationship between the two?

[JackPhoenix]

I have a monk in my Dragonheist game who caught a gunslingers bullet and threw it back, killing him.

DND rules don't follow traditional logic. If a shard of glass is enough to count as an improvised weapon, lumping a handful of silver coins together is probably sufficient.

See this. Also, Deflect Missiles explicitly uses magic, the monk can't just grab a bullet from a pocket and throw it with the same power or accuracy outside using that ability.

[stoutstien]

How about silver coin brass knuckles? Few wrap of cloth, some pitching tar, maybe some scrapes of leather

[Dr. Cliché]

It's general werewolf lore.

I don't think there's even such a thing as 'general werewolf lore'. If anything, werewolf lore is extremely variable and inconsistent.

This shouldn't matter though, because whatever reason there is for silver hurting a werewolf more than other weapons could be a similar basis for a silver coin to do damage and a non-silver coin not to

But bypassing a werewolf's normal immunity isn't the same as burning ts flesh on contact. It seems more likely that a silver weapon still needs to be able to pierce the werewolf's thick hide in order to actually injure it.

[ProsecutorGodot]

But a a shard of glass CAN kill someone ...

Unless by not following traditional logic, you mean because A, also C, with no relationship between the two?

I mean in the sense that a shard of glass is similar enough to a lump of coins that I would count both as improvised weapons, and in the event that those are silver coins, they should be treated as such. Saying that a lump of coins can't be deadly in DND just because it's "unrealistic" doesn't mesh with the game.

[stewstew5]

I don't think there's even such a thing as 'general werewolf lore'. If anything, werewolf lore is extremely variable and inconsistent.



But bypassing a werewolf's normal immunity isn't the same as burning ts flesh on contact. It seems more likely that a silver weapon still needs to be able to pierce the werewolf's thick hide in order to actually injure it.

general werewolf lore was poor wording but I, as a monster nerd, have found this to be a common thread in all attempted compilations of werewolf lore.

That's a very numbers only way of looking at it wouldn't you say?

[Dr. Cliché]

general werewolf lore was poor wording but I, as a monster nerd, have found this to be a common thread in all attempted compilations of werewolf lore.

That's a very numbers only way of looking at it wouldn't you say?

I don't know if I've read as many accounts as you, but I'll confess that silver burning werewolves on contact is something that came up relatively infrequently (it certainly didn't seem to be a common factor in all or even many of the accounts or tales).

To be clear, I don't disagree with your idea of taking common threads, I'm just saying that I didn't find this to be a common thread when I last looked into werewolf lore.

[KorvinStarmast]

My ruling: you've a Tavern Brawler, so I'd allow it. You're a low-grade Bullseye. It still only does d4 damage, but basically there's nobody better than you at killing people (and werewolves) with random objects.

I like that in a RAF approach.

So yeah, it'd take masterwork steel nails or adamantium

Do you consider case hardening to be masterwork? Oh, wait, masterwork isn't a category in 5e, is it? Any hardened steel should do the trick. Also, a small drill with a diamond tipped bit will allow a "starter hole" to be scored into the center of the silver piece.

Simpler Solution
Melt down 10-20 silver pieces, and for each 10-20 you melt down and shape into a ball, attack the werewolf with them using a sling; 1d4 silver, +dex ... and so on. See also the "silver bullet" idea. This was a common way to do this in AD&D 1e at the tables where I played.

Edit #815: This revelation also makes all those pirate movies where the daring captain promises his crew a coin and nails it to a mast for all to see a load of bovine waste.

Gold can be done that way. (But fair point on few pure silver pieces in the Pirate era; in the medieval era, watering down the currency depended a lot upon time and location .,..)

Easy solution, party restrains warewolf and tavern brawler just punches a silver coin into his face repeatedly.

Just wear a silver ring, or "brass knuckles" made out of silver.

Or, take a standard silver spoon, sharpen it like a shank like they make in prisons, and use as a weapon. (improvised ...)

[Inscrutable]

Agreed. There's too much Guy At The Gym and not enough Rule of Cool in this thread. Bonking a werewolf with a projectile quarter is both creative and absolutely in line with fantasy genre tropes, and Tavern Brawler is a big chunk of the player's build resources and should be allowed to be useful when possible. If y'all are absolutely set on making it impotent, call it 1+Str instead of 1d4, but this is a fun idea. Let it be fun.

This. Realistically, the strongest human alive couldn't hurl a coin to do anything more than barely break the skin. The drag from air would slow the coin too much. And I find it adorable how many times "sharpening" the coin came up in this thread, as if that would make a difference! 😂 I would love to hear the thought process of the hardened fighter who thought filing down tiny disc edges was the best strategy they could come up with to defeat a werewolf.

But the game isn't about science, it is about fun, right? In my opinion, that is an amusing and unorthodox tactic that should be appreciated and acknowledged. I wish my players were that creative.

[Malifice]

I was saying it to emphasize that things that we see a relatively harmless in the real world can become somewhat more deadly in the dnd world. Yes real people can be killed by cats, but it usually takes more than 4 hits. Hitting somebody with a blowgun is another similar example. You can kill somebody in dnd with a blowgun. Not with poisoned darts, just regular ones. You can even make it a Kensei Weapon and deal 1d4+1d4(kensei's shot) and one shot a commoner easily. I get your point but I don't think your getting mine.

Edit: It's also my signature so I'm not technically repeating it, it just keeps popping up.

If its getting used with Kensais shot, then it's getting used by a 3rd level Zen weapon master Monk who has dedicated his life to mastering the weapon, and is imbued with supernatural fighting ability (Ki).

He's no Commoner. He's some Wudan practitioner dude from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Those darts are 4 inch long razor sharp spikes getting blown at you with supernatural force and accuracy.

[Malifice]

This. Realistically, the strongest human alive couldn't hurl a coin to do anything more than barely break the skin. The drag from air would slow the coin too much. And I find it adorable how many times "sharpening" the coin came up in this thread, as if that would make a difference! 😂 I would love to hear the thought process of the hardened fighter who thought filing down tiny disc edges was the best strategy they could come up with to defeat a werewolf.

But the game isn't about science, it is about fun, right? In my opinion, that is an amusing and unorthodox tactic that should be appreciated and acknowledged. I wish my players were that creative.

Back in 3E I was playing the Worlds Largest dungeon, and the 1st level BBEG is a Wererat.

My Gish PC overcame this by timming and sharpening silver coins, and then using them as arrowheads. DM (rightly IMO) called for a Craft check (DC 15 from memory) to craft silver tipped arrows (1d8-1 damage base) which was how silver weapons worked in 3E.

Took around 5 minutes per coin/ arrow.

[Mr.Spastic]

If its getting used with Kensais shot, then it's getting used by a 3rd level Zen weapon master Monk who has dedicated his life to mastering the weapon, and is imbued with supernatural fighting ability (Ki).

He's no Commoner. He's some Wudan practitioner dude from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Those darts are 4 inch long razor sharp spikes getting blown at you with supernatural force and accuracy.

Dude, their blowdarts. Like 2 inch, tiny pointed, only go an 1/4 an inch blowdarts.By any realistic standard you can't kill somebody with a blowdart. Even with some Wudan Mystical BS. Might point was that D&D is kinda like that. 1 damage isn't that well defined in D&D and seems to just be anything the pentrates the skin or leaves a bruise. By that logic, almost anything can be used to deal 1 damage in a dnd game.

[Malifice]

Dude, their blowdarts. Like 2 inch, tiny pointed, only go an 1/4 an inch blowdarts.

Yeah, nah.

'The fukiya (吹き矢) is the Japanese blowgun, as well as the term for the associated sport. It consists of a 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) long tube, with darts approximately 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in length.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukiya

As for other variants:

Cherokee – made of river cane[6], 2 to 3 m (6 to 9 ft). Dart is 15 to 56 cm (6 to 22 in) long and made of locustwood or other available hardwoods such as oak, ash, maple, walnut, etc., fletched with bull thistle down or rabbit fur, that provides an air seal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowgun

Even 4 inches is conservative. Those examples of darts above range from 6-22 inches in length. Certainly during my time in South America, they were using darts at least 6 inches long, and probably a fair bit longer.

Apologies to the duck here, but they hit with a fair bit of force:

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/1v...a73f5fbb174224

Enought to penetrate light bone.

You or I would be hard pressed to kill a human with one barring a freak shot (nick an artery or similar) but then again, we're not 3rd level Monks straight of a Wushu film either.

[JackPhoenix]

Yeah, nah.

But they are tiny in movies where the victim think it's just some annoying insect before they drop down from the magically fast-acting poison!

[MadBear]

should a coin normally hurt anyone? no.

should a pencil normally be super fatal? no.

But watching John Wick murder people with a pencil is hilarious fun, and so is watching a person do so with a coin. The person took the feat Tavern Brawler, so we are already aware they're capable of turning normally, unusable terrain into weapons, this is just a clever way of doing so.

This option will almost always be worse then if they go and buy a silvered weapon or use magic. So this is the kinda thing a player does when they're out of options. In that scenario, I'd rather reward ingenuity then just tell my players "sorry, you can't do squat". With that said, I'm gonna take what they're doing into account. If it was my game, I'd probably just scale damage according to how well they convince me they're using these coins.

1. "I throw them"- ok, it'll be 1 damage
2. "I put them between my fingers and make improvised brass knuckles" 1+ strength
3. "During some prep time, I sharpen the coins to prepare for fighting the wolf" 1d4 + strength

[Mikal]

I'd disallow it. I wouldn't allow normal coins to be thrown for normal damage just due to someone having tavern brawler, and werewolves take damage from silver weapons, not just silver, so allowing it for werewolves doesn't make sense. They can hold a silver bar for example, as much as they want, so it isn't just something silver touching the skin which causes the damage, but the silver enhanced weapon itself.

[Rebonack]

Someone picked a really sub-optimal feat because they probably thought it would be fun to beat monsters up with random objects.

I would strongly discourage telling the player, 'no, you can't use Tavern Brawler to beat up this monster with random objects.' Especially since that's explicitly what the feat does. Let them have their fun.

Is it 'unrealistic'? Of course it is. So is Marvel's Bullseye. But it's fun, which is the part that matters.

It'll make a great story afterward. The players will laugh about it.

[Mikal]

Someone picked a really sub-optimal feat because they probably thought it would be fun to beat monsters up with random objects.

I would strongly discourage telling the player, 'no, you can't use Tavern Brawler to beat up this monster with random objects.' Especially since that's explicitly what the feat does. Let them have their fun.

Is it 'unrealistic'? Of course it is. So is Marvel's Bullseye. But it's fun, which is the part that matters.

It'll make a great story afterward. The players will laugh about it.

Maybe the player should check before taking the feat whether or not it could do what he thinks it does.

My job as a DM isn't to bend the rules of my game just because a single player thinks something is cool. In my game throwing coins doesn't do damage, so throwing silver coins won't do damage just because it's silver.

DM doesn't stand for Door Mat, and just because one person thinks something is fun means it fits in my game.

[AHF]

In my game throwing coins doesn't do damage, so throwing silver coins won't do damage just because it's silver.

This is very reasonable and logical. By the same token, of throwing rocks can do damage than the bundling or fusing of 10 coins together should do similar damage as proposed earlier in the thread.

[Mikal]

This is very reasonable and logical. By the same token, of throwing rocks can do damage than the bundling or fusing of 10 coins together should do similar damage as proposed earlier in the thread.

Yeah, I’d allow that (partially), if someone wanted to spend the time and/or effort to fuse the coins to do so. I’d also allow silver ore since it’s infused with silver.

If you can show me how to bundle x amount of coins so that the silver actually connects i might allow that too, for a single or multiple hits depending on how it’s bound. Most coin collection methods I know of usually wrap the coins in something like a pouch or coin roll, so i would rule that no silver is making contact with the werewolf in those situations and thus the silver isn’t actually assiting the attack except as mass.