[RPG] How many actions or attacks are involved in picking up and throwing a creature

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Let's say my Minotaur ally decided during a brawl to grapple with the nearest brigand, pick him up over his head (or maybe just throw him from a standing position), and chuck him as far as his beefy (pun intended) arms can deliver him through the air.

To do this, I would assume you'd have to make a grapple, which would be an action or at least PART of a fighter with multiple attacks' action. Then, would it take a further action to lift the enemy (or ally) above your head, and another to throw them, or would it be part of the lift action?

How would you determine the distance you could toss this creature?

Best Answer

A throw only takes one attack

Shove, is all you have to do mechanically. Jeremy Crawford supports this:

Want to shove someone off a cliff? Use the shove option in the D&D combat rules. You're free to describe it in various ways: a shove, a throw, slamming into the person, and so on.

Throwing (shoving) is a contest. The thrower rolls an athletics check vs the thrown creature's athletics or acrobatics roll. They can be thrown up to 5 feet. Here's the details on shoving from the basic rules:

The target must be no more than one size larger than you and must be within your reach. Instead of making an attack roll, you make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the target's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (the target chooses the ability to use). You succeed automatically if the target is incapacitated. If you succeed, you either knock the target prone or push it 5 feet away from you.

To sum up: it takes one attack (shove) and you can throw up to 5 feet by RAW.