Net and Sharpshooter feat

[CapnZapp]

This is incorrect -- what makes a weapon a ranged weapon is being classified as a ranged weapon. ("Every weapon is classified as either melee or ranged." Basic Rules, p.45) Since the rules for combat specify what you do with a ranged weapon, a ranged weapon without the thrown or ammunition property would not be considered an improvised weapon; it would be a ranged weapon.

The way I read the 'thrown' tag is that you need a separate weapon for each attack you make unless you recover the weapon during combat. (Note the 'thrown' tag on the javelin and spear, which represent this quality.) This also explains why the dart, a different ranged weapon, also has the 'thrown' tag. From that perspective, my original assertion of the function of the 'thrown' tag (to allow a melee weapon to be used at range) is incorrect -- it also represents a weapon that is 'expended' when used to make a ranged attack (as opposed to expending ammunition).

It would be theoretically possible to have a ranged weapon with neither the thrown or ammunition traits; it would be a ranged weapon that is not expended when thrown, but also does not require ammunition to use. While I can't imagine any 'realistic' weapons that would fall into this category, I could imagine a number of fantasy weapons from literature and TV/film that would. (One made-up example -- a flamethrower powered by a bound fire elemental in a backpack. The weapon is clearly not 'thrown', but the elemental also doesn't count as 'ammunition'. Of course, it would be just as likely that such a weapon would be modeled as a magical item allowing the use of a spell (like Burning Hands) rather than using the weapon table.)

And with that, we're getting a bit far off the AL focus of this forum, so I'll stop there. Bottom line, though, is that if the net didn't have the 'thrown' property, the most reasonable interpretation would be that it is a 'reusable' ranged weapon (and given that most combat nets are reusable, via cords or ropes attached to the net that allow it to be recovered during combat -- see 'Retarius' -- that wouldn't be an outlandish assumption), not that it would be an improvised weapon.

--
Pauper

Let me just point out you're saying someone is wrong, and ending your conversation, in the same post. That could come across as impolite, if you deny that person the chance to reply.

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[Hriston]

This is incorrect -- what makes a weapon a ranged weapon is being classified as a ranged weapon. ("Every weapon is classified as either melee or ranged." Basic Rules, p.45) Since the rules for combat specify what you do with a ranged weapon, a ranged weapon without the thrown or ammunition property would not be considered an improvised weapon; it would be a ranged weapon.

Funnily, the combat rules, when I read them, say nothing about ranged weapons. They only refer to "ranged attacks" and "ranged weapon attacks". As I'm sure you know, a ranged weapon attack can be made with a melee weapon or an improvised weapon, just as well as with a ranged weapon. Perhaps you can give me a citation for where you've seen it discussing "what to do with a ranged weapon".

Besides, I haven't made the argument you seem to be responding to, that a ranged weapon without the ammunition or thrown property is not a ranged weapon. I agree that a weapon classified as a ranged weapon continues to be a ranged weapon, whatever that means. My argument, to reiterate, is that it is the ammunition and thrown properties that allow a weapon to be used to make a ranged attack. The first sentence of each of these properties tells you how you can make a ranged attack with the weapon. There is no other source for the ability to make ranged weapon attacks other than the improvised weapon rules.

The way I read the 'thrown' tag is that you need a separate weapon for each attack you make unless you recover the weapon during combat. (Note the 'thrown' tag on the javelin and spear, which represent this quality.) This also explains why the dart, a different ranged weapon, also has the 'thrown' tag. From that perspective, my original assertion of the function of the 'thrown' tag (to allow a melee weapon to be used at range) is incorrect -- it also represents a weapon that is 'expended' when used to make a ranged attack (as opposed to expending ammunition).

This is the function of the thrown property that differentiates it from the ammunition property, with which it is mutually exclusive, as I pointed out previously. The other function, the main one, is to give the weapon the ability to be used to make ranged attacks.

 

[Undrhil]

Well, we know that using a melee weapon (with the thrown keyword) to make a ranged attack, doesn't make the melee weapon into a ranged weapon, since you cannot use the Archery fighting style (gain +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons) with a dagger.

Thank you all for the replies in regards to dealing damage with a net.