Typically, one. There are feats that can speed that up, like Two Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot (not sure which is applicable to shuriken in 3e)
(4e)
Typically, one. If you are using a power that has multiple targets, and you're using non-magical shuriken, you'll need one for each target; for example, if you're catching 5 targets in your Blinding Barrage, you'll throw 5 shuriken. A magical shuriken, however, will return between each attack, so you only need the one.
(3e)
Typically, one. There are feats that can speed that up, like Two Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot (not sure which is applicable to shuriken in 3e)
(4e)
Typically, one. If you are using a power that has multiple targets, and you're using non-magical shuriken, you'll need one for each target; for example, if you're catching 5 targets in your Blinding Barrage, you'll throw 5 shuriken. A magical shuriken, however, will return between each attack, so you only need the one.
I thought the 4e ruling was that you could only use the magical shuriken for one of the attacks (usually the first) and needed more for the rest. Did the change at some point?
(3e)
Typically, one. There are feats that can speed that up, like Two Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot (not sure which is applicable to shuriken in 3e)
(4e)
Typically, one. If you are using a power that has multiple targets, and you're using non-magical shuriken, you'll need one for each target; for example, if you're catching 5 targets in your Blinding Barrage, you'll throw 5 shuriken. A magical shuriken, however, will return between each attack, so you only need the one.
I thought the 4e ruling was that you could only use the magical shuriken for one of the attacks (usually the first) and needed more for the rest. Did the change at some point?
No. Magical thrown weapons return after each attack. That would completely break the magic item economy if that were the case. Imagine Blinding Barrage vs. 9 enemies. You'd need 9 magic weapons, as non magic weapons aren't gonna hit anything after a few levels.
I once had a player similar to you he wanted to throw daggers all the time (wannabe circus act, or somesuch) and describing the attack as throwing one dagger, and as soon as the first made contact another came out of the blue and struck him somewhere else. Or, he would throw the dagger, and as soon as it made contact and threw the enemy off balance, if another party member is nearby, they would quickly jab at the enemy or punch him in the gut. Just to spice up the description.
The only trouble I had initially was him whining about his ammo count, describing throwing two daggers etc. I fixed all of this by having him roll a d6 if he wanted to recover his thrown weapons. 1-3 it was fine. 4-6 it was broken, lost and so on.
The power of description changed it, and made (In character) the whole act very entertaining and he earnt a bit of respect from the party due to his precise skill. He even used his dagger throwing ability to win over a few NPCs and get a small bit of cash.
Remember, just because something says it is one "attack" does not mean you are necessarily throwing only one shuriken.
Exactly. Fighters aren't standing around making only one attack every six seconds. They are making lots of exciting jabs and thrusts, but these are being dodged and deflected (or maybe they're hitting for negligible HP damage), but usually only one (or some certain number) of these counts for the purposes of the fighter's attack power. Similarly, I don't see why anyone would have a problem with you describing a ninja as throwing more than one shuriken in a round but having only certain ones count for the actual attack. Just keep it in the realm of description, though, and don't try to gain an undue mechanical benefit.
Remember, just because something says it is one "attack" does not mean you are necessarily throwing only one shuriken.
Exactly. Fighters aren't standing around making only one attack every six seconds. They are making lots of exciting jabs and thrusts, but these are being dodged and deflected (or maybe they're hitting for negligible HP damage), but usually only one (or some certain number) of these counts for the purposes of the fighter's attack power. Similarly, I don't see why anyone would have a problem with you describing a ninja as throwing more than one shuriken in a round but having only certain ones count for the actual attack. Just keep it in the realm of description, though, and don't try to gain an undue mechanical benefit.
I also agree. And for 4e powers that deal 2[W] or more damage, who's to say that extra damage isn't just more hits landing at once? For thrown weapons, you can say that extra damage is from more shuriken striking home. For fighters (slightly off-topic), that extra damage could be a rapid series of strikes associated with one attack roll, instead of one massive strike for extra damage.
I mean, seriously. By the time your PCs are about 3rd level they'll have +1s on their primaries anyway, meaning that throwns snap back to their hand if you want to get nitpicky about it, but that seems needlessly pedantic to me.
I'm 13 levels into a campaign closing on the two year mark and I've never once made my PCs track ammo. Less bookkeeping and headache for themmeans happier players, means happier DM, means better game. For the same reason, I assume that recovering any recoverable ammo is part of the normal Short Rest process, etc.
So in my opinion, the answer to the OP's main question should be "as many as you want." It's flavor text, and nothing more.
Who the heck even tracks ammo anymore?
Shuriken aren't ammunition, they're thrown weapons. A slight difference in that ammunition is always destroyed on use, but thrown weapons aren't.
My point stands.Admirably pedantic of you, though.
I have a ninja-flavoured rogue who uses shuriken, but only throwing one at a time doesn't seem very ninja-like. How many shuriken are you actually able to throw at once?
As many as you like, I expect. The number of them that have a chance of hitting your target is written in the power description. Mind, if the DM is open to the idea, you could say that one successful attack roll that hits for 8 damage is 8 shuriken hitting for 1 DMG each.
Bear in mind also that throwing just one could be very much in keeping with the ninja theme. Are you a surgeon or a butcher? Iron was rare in Japan, and that shaped the tools and techniques of combat. Spraying the room with sharp steel would be impractical and wasteful when a more competent killer could have accomplished a similar effect by throwing one knife with greater accuracy.