
One thing that has come up a couple of times in my Starfinder games, and I’m sure others as well, is that by the rules there is no way for a character to throw a survival knife without it becoming an improvised weapon. Now basic melee throwing weapons have been added with the addition of the Handaxe in the Armory, but that still leaves your level one operative wanting to risk it all on a throw with a weapon no better than a brick in his hand.
So I propose the following house rule: add the thrown property to the whole basic melee knife line (Survival Knife, Tactical Knife, Ultrathin Dagger, Zero-Edge Dagger, and Molecular Rift Dagger), with the range increment of 10ft, and allow operative weapons with the thrown property to use the character’s Dex Mod instead of Str Mod on the thrown weapon attack, though still Str Mod on damage. I don’t think you’ll find your game particularly unbalanced by the change.
But what of the operative that wants to specialize in thrown daggers? Admittedly an odd niche for a Sci-Fantasy game, but you know someone out there wants to do it. To fill that need, use Kunai.

Kunai are a special weapon (like shuriken and bows, they take a specific feat to become proficient ) with the quick reload, thrown, and operative properties. Like the knives above, they should use Dex Mod instead of Str Mod on thrown attacks, and Str Mod on damage
NAME | CATEGORY | LEVEL | PRICE | DAMAGE | RANGE | CRIT | CAPACITY | BULK | SPECIAL |
Carbon Forged Kunai (10) | — | 1 | 125 | 1d4 P | 10 ft. | bleed 1d2 | drawn | — | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Sintered Kunai (10) | — | 6 | 4,500 | 2d4 P | 20 ft. | bleed 1d4 | drawn | L | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Ultrathin Kunai (10) | — | 9 | 12,500 | 4d4 F | 20 ft. | bleed 1d6 | drawn | L | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Molecular Rift Kunai (10) | — | 12 | 32,800 | 6d6 So | 40 ft. | bleed 1d8 | drawn | L | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Zero-Edge Kunai (10) | — | 14 | 64,400 | 6d4 P | 40 ft. | bleed 1d10 | drawn | L | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Void Forged Kunai (10) | — | 17 | 275,000 | 10d4 P | 60 ft. | bleed 1d12 | drawn | L | analog, operative, quick reload, thrown |
Jeremy Corff
Artist and Writer