There is really no benefit to throwing weapons. They get a range bonus and that's it. Bows get 2 arrows at expert and Guns are just good altogether.

Would there be any reason to use throwing weapons in the game? Strength doesn't affect their damage and unless it does that's a rude awakening.

It depends on your playing style.

Fair warning: some of the following contain minor spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

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From my perspective, the benefits of throwing include:

1) Ranged attack, especially in turn-based. This means little or no armor damage from rock and fire monsters; metal chakrams (and of course Azram's Star — more on that in a bit) rarely if ever take damage either.

2) Throwing is IMO the best ranged attack style. Guns need bullets. Bows need arrows. Throwing needs neither. (And as an added bonus, allows you to toss grenades with accuracy as well.)

3) Throwing is itself tech-neutral; though admittedly, the best weapons (mystical chakrams and Azram's Star) are on the magical side.

4) Not having to put points in Strength is an advantage; it means I can put more points in Dexterity sooner, and vastly pump up my attacks per turn. The only thing I need ST for is to avoid encumbrance penalties.

5) The Professional Knife Tosser background. Almost a full rank in Throwing means that I qualify for expertise with 9 DX, and mastery with just 15. (On top of everything else, this means that if I'm planning to pursue the Old Gods' Quest, as any good min-maxer should, I can hold my DX at 16 and not feel that I've "wasted" any points in the pursuit of Throwing mastery.)

6) Azram's Star. The best ranged weapon in the game. There are others which are more powerful, both ranged and melee; but none combine its power, speed and range into a single weapon. Unlike 100-MA arcane weapons, the Star maxes out its attack with a MA of only 75. And it has one of the coolest graphics in the game, especially if you've seen the move Krull. (And if you haven't, shame on you!)

I have taken down the final boss with nothing but this weapon. It's not as efficient as 20 ST plus the best melee weapons available, but it still easily gets the job done. And for anything less than that final boss, it mows through them like a hot knife through butter.

My two cents; a penny after taxes.

There's something I didn't get when just looking at ranged damage weapon stats.
My expert thrower did a lot more damage than I expected, especially with the star.

Just by numbers, seemed the star should do less damage than... was it mystic chackram.. but seems to do more.

Actually the same thing applies to most weapons, I can't really tell what is actually going to be how effective.

Yeah, the numbers themselves are a bit confusing. In the case of the Star, part of its effectiveness is its huge critical hit chance; something like half the shots (or even a bit more) get a crit-hit bonus.

In general, however, magical weapons have a base damage range, along with a bonus tied directly to how magical its wielder is. If your (or a follower's) MA equals or exceeds that of the weapon (which isn't specifically mentioned in-game, but can be found via experimentation or by consulting the strategy guide) then you get the full bonus; otherwise you get a proportion (which goes down to zero if your TA exceeds the weapon's MA). Magic armor uses a similar scheme for determining armor class, damage and resistances.

As a rule of thumb, Arcane = 100 MA, Mystic = 75 MA, Magick = 50 MA, and Charmed = 25 MA.

Tech weapons and armor don't usually have that kind of bonus; instead, they're less likely to blow up in your face the more technical you are. Bottom line: sometimes the best way to tell how well something actually works is not to read the numbers, but to try it for yourself.

If a weapon shows damage as 1-10 (+10), that means the more magical you are the more damage it will do, up to +10 bonus damage.

Go to options and set floaters to verbose.

FAQ for new players here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/914155-arcanum-of-steamworks-and-magick-obscura/faqs/63974

I assure you this is totally wrong. In fact, the opposite is true. Throwing is, if anything, an overpowered skill, and much, much better than Firearms.

Throwing weapons are small, light, fast, don't use ammo, have long range, and as a class have some of the most powerful artifacts in the game. Firearms are expensive, underpowered, use lots of ammo, and become more and more insufficient as the game progresses because the resistances of the monsters you'll encounter. They also take way more C-points assuming you want to build the best ones, and there are lots of firearms weapons that are effectively worthless, like the Acid Gun.

I tried making a build to use the Mechanized Gun once, and it was great...until it used up 2000 rounds of ammo before I cleared a third of the Tarant sewers. Even making my own bullets and clearing out the inventory of every store in the city I couldn't keep it in ammo. Eventually I ran out of money.

A Throwing Master with Azram's Star or The Decapitator will absolutely breeze through the entire game, even solo.

Just to clarify, you still need at least one rank in Throwing to use them (or any other grenade) effectively — two is better — otherwise they have an annoying tendency to NOT land where you've tossed 'em. My ears are burning. Is someone talking about me behind my back again? ;)

i dont bother with any points in it, theres no splash damage from your own bombs, so if you shoot at enemies until they close in on you, you can then throw a molotov point blank and knock them back. if they are right in your face, you dont need any points in throwing to hit.

The items you can make in the grenades line can be sold for obscene profit. Shopkeepers will pay you 500-1200 gold for a single explosive grenade, depending on your haggle skill, and you can make three of them from one metal can and a horn of black powder. Stun grenades (saltpetre and stearic acid) go for about 300, and smoke grenades go for about 100 each. If you want to be filthy rich, learn grenades up to explosive grenades.

If only throwing grenades, you can actually click on the ground near an enemy, not on the enemy itself, and have a decent chance of the explosion hitting even with no points in Throwing.

Glad I saw this thread, as the next character I'm planning will be a throwing expert. I have a couple questions:

1. From everything I've read, its seems going the magical route is best for this as opposed to technical. If I go for magical aptitude, will I still be able to make grenades, or will that be a technical class thereby lowering my magic aptitude?

2. I don't want to focus on any other battle skill, so what could go well with this? I'm thinking maybe haggle, but what else? I've already had 2 playthroughs, once as a "good" gunslinger/thief, and one as an "evil" necromancer with 5 magic classes mastered (teleportation, black magic (harm), white magic, the "time" one, and one I'm forgetting atm ...).
I don't want to repeat anything I've already done.

Thanks for any input on this

^ also, seeing as I wont need strength, what main attributes should I focus on?

To take your questions in order:

1. You can always make grenades, and skill in Throwing will help you aim them. One rank in a technical skill lowers your MA by an average of 5.5 points, or a little more than the MA boost provided by one spell.

2. Dodge is a good companion to any battle skill. I personally like Persuasion for all the extra quests it offers, and Haggle expertise for the ability to sell anything to any merchant (which helps keep encumbrance in check, when not focusing on Strength).

3. Dexterity, Dexterity, Dexterity. Buy enchanted war boots. Invest in the Haste spell, along with Agility of Fire. And did I remember to mention Dexterity?

Perception, BTW, is a dump stat; you're never going to aim at anything offscreen. Constitution helps with spell maintenance (Haste is expensive) which reduces or eliminates the Fatigue potions you need to use. You need Willpower for higher-level spells; how high you go is up to you.

I'd also recommend you consider playing as a Gnome; you'll only need to invest 2 points into Haggle to qualify for expertise, and Gnomish Chainmail is IMO one of the best-value armors in the game, combining decent strength with a reasonably light weight.

And a protip: Completing the Throwing mastery quest involves returning the best thrown weapon in the game to the Throwing master. (MINOR SPOILER)

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If you then fight her for it, most of the town turns against you. Instead, burn a Fate point on a critical success in Pick Pocket, and grab that sucker back; she'll never miss it.