Scion Throwing Rules

Helpful stuff I wrote at the Scion Forums. I'm duplicating it here so when it inevitably comes up again, I can cut and paste.

Scion Forum FAQ wrote:
Q: How far can I throw things? Where are the throwing rules?

A: The throwing rules are most clearly stated in Demigod, page 54.

Other information relevant to throwing can be found in Hero, pages 126-127, page 181, and page 203.

Here's a more specific question:

PapillonV wrote:
So, a Scion has Strength 4, Epic Strength 2, and Athletics 2. He's throwing a baseball across a field. He doesn't have anything like Hurl to the Horizon yet.

Ignoring Str+Athletics rolls and the like, what's the base distance he can chuck it, and how's it calculated?

IMHO, the furthest he can throw the baseball is 160 yards.

Here's how I arrived at that number:

A baseball is something just about any mortal can throw with one hand, so definitely this Scion can, too. That means it's normal range will be modified by his Epic Strength. Per page 126 of Hero, it's normal range is quadrupled.

But what is it's normal range? That's not clearly spelled out anywhere. We can compare it to thrown weapons, to get a place to start. All the thrown weapons have a range increment of 10 or 15 yards. I'd suggest going with 10, but that's really up to the GM.

But that 10 isn't it's maximum range. According to page 203 of Hero, even a mortal can throw it (or any 10-yard range weapon) up to 20 yards at +2 to difficulty, or 40 yards at +4 difficulty.

So the scion, with his Epic Strength, can throw the baseball 40 yards at normal difficulty, up to 80 yards at +2 difficulty, up to 160 yards at +4 difficulty.

Quote:
Say the same Scion then wants to throw the oft-cited manhole cover (he stole one on the way to the field just to practice). How's it calculated then?

He probably throws the manhole cover about the same distance, but it's technically up to the GM. Here's what makes the area somewhat grey...

Well, first we need to know if its a "normal throw" or a "feat of strength" throw. Demigod page 54 indicates he can the former category is things he could hold in one hand without his epic strength, the later category is things he needs his epic strength to hold.

He's got Str 4, Ath 2, so that totals to 6. We look up 6 on the chart on page 181 to see that this lets him lift 550 pounds, presumably using both hands. Sadly, no where do the rules exactly state how much one hand can hold. But since the manhole cover weighs around 1/3 his lift capacity, we can probably assume it's a one-hand item for him.

Since it's a one-hand item, we use the same math as a baseball. Therefore, "officially" it's the same 40/80/160 yards.

Ultimately though, it's the GMs call. I'd be tempted to trim it's range a bit, just 'cause it weighs more and really isn't designed for throwing. In fact, I'd give it a range of 5 yards, which he quadruples to 20 due to epic strength. He can toss it to 40 at +2 diff, or 80 at +4 difficulty.

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But, I'm not sure that's enough of an answer, so here's the extra credit. Let's talk about something he can't throw with one hand, something a bit bigger, like a motorcycle.

He can throw a motorcycle 8 yards.

Demigod says he can throw "as a feat of strength" anything he can lift if his Mundane Strength + Athletics total were 5 lower, or if his Epic Strength total were 1 lower. Most of the time, you can just forget the first part. The Epic is what's going to matter, unless the PC has 1 or 0 dots of Epic, or has just frankly tons of Arete: Athletics.

For example, by the Mundane system, he can throw (as a feat of strength) things of up to 40 pounds (since Str+Ath-5=1), but by the Epic system, he can throw things of up to 500 lbs (the amount of bonus that 1 dot of Epic strength adds to your lift total). Epic's just a heck of a lot better.

So, we decide he can throw the motorcycle. But how far?

The answer is on Demigod page 54, but the formula is never stated explicitly. From the example, we can conclude the formula is Mundane Strength + Athletics + Epic Strength Successes in yards.
In his case, that's 4+2+2=8

There's no range "increments" for feat of strength throwing. There's no penalty at up to 8 yards, and he just can't throw it further than 8 yards. (Unless he stunts. Stunt dice and other bonus dice add to the formula, so a 3-die stunt would let him throw a motorcycle 11 yards. There's still no range penalty for that.)