Melee vs. Ranged Weapon Powers

[zag01]

I’m contemplating a houserule and was wondering what the minds here at EN World think about it. Mainly I’m looking for unexpected side-effects and possible consequences I haven’t thought of.

My houserule has to due with powers that have the ‘weapon’ keyword. All these powers specify either a melee or ranged weapon. I’m wondering what difference it makes.

So for a houserule:
Powers with the ‘weapon’ keyword can be used with either melee or ranged weapons regardless of what the individual power says. Ranged weapons still provoke opportunity attacks as normal and proficiency rules/penalties still apply.

I can’t think of any game-breaking drawbacks but the developers specifically put it in there for a reason. I just can’t figure out what it was/is.

Thoughts?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

There are some pretty awesomely powerful melee attack powers out there my friend. What if say a ranger multies for one of the barb super attack powers? For that matter a longbow is a two handed weapon. So is a greatbow. Could create a pretty scary build with SOMETHING along those lines anyway. It would be a field day for Versatile Master too I suspect.

Ranged combat is just inherently superior in a general tactical way in almost any system. So its powers need to be kept somewhat in check (there are some pretty crazy ones already though). OAs help, but sufficiently mobile characters already can be very hard to pin down and with any power used at range it could get ugly fast.

 

[zag01]

Most of the Ranger & Rogue ranged weapon powers are just as powerful as most of the other classes melee weapon powers though. The problem is that ONLY Rangers and Rogues get them. If I want to play another class I either have to use a melee weapon or a magic stick.

Not sure what your implying about bows being 2-handed. Does that factor into some melee powers you're thinking of?

 

[Mengu]

So you want to use footwork lure on a target 40 squares away, and slide them to your square? That move belongs in Mortal Kombat only.

You would have to very carefully examine all the weapon attack powers before making such a ruling.

 

[zag01]

Yea, there would definitely have to be some common sense applied to a couple specific powers.

I guess my main beef is that out of 17 classes only 2 can use ranged weapons. (and by ‘can use’ I mean with a power not just a basic attack)

 

[KarinsDad]

I guess my main beef is that out of 17 classes only 2 can use ranged weapons. (and by ‘can use’ I mean with a power not just a basic attack)

And how many classes can use ranged attacks with powers? 12? 13?

There are now primarily melee and ranged attackers for almost every martial, primal, divine, and arcane role. That’s 8 types. With 17 classes, that means there should be an average of 2 of each type (although some classes like Cleric could combine melee and ranged types, but typically do not).

It bothers you that there are only 2 ranged martial attackers when the average is ~2?


If you look at At Will powers, most of them are a basic attack plus some minor little schtick (like move a foe one square). So, any PC with a high Dex can easily use a bow, he just loses the minor schtick. Any such PC can hang back and drop arrows and be behind cover and is somewhat safe from counterattack to some limited extent. Any such PC with a high Str can use Javelins. Again, he could hang back and still contribute, even if wounded and out of healing surges.