Is A Thrown Weapon Ever a Ranged Weapon?

[Kinneus]

I picked up the Eberron Player's Guide recently, and I've been thinking that a dwarven artificer who models himself off Moradin would be a lot of fun to play. The throwing hammer would naturally be the perfect weapon for this character, at least aesthetically.

A lot of artificer powers have a range of "melee or ranged weapon". My question is, could you ever use an artifcer "melee or ranged weapon" power with a throwing hammer's range? It makes sense from an in-character standpoint, I think, but by RAW, aren't throwing hammers always melee weapons? Melee weapons that you can just happen to use for a ranged basic attack?

It's frustrating. I want my throwing hammer artificer and my throwing axe ranger, dang it.

 

[Ryujin]

A handaxe is both a melee weapon and a heavy thrown weapon. Throwing hammers are the same. There is no reason why you couldn't do what you suggest. Because they are heavy thrown weapons, you use STR for attacks. Thrown = ranged.

Additionally, in 4e thrown weapons also all seem to receive the ability to return to the thrower automatcially after the attack.

 

[RedBeardJim]

"Ranged weapon" in the power's description is a combination of the attack type ("Ranged") and its range ("weapon"). So you certainly could use a throwing hammer to make a Ranged attack, with a range of 5/10 as defined by the weapon.

Side note: the "returning to the thrower" aspect is for magical throwing weapons only.

 

[Ryujin]

Sorry, I thought that I implied magical weapons in my post.

 

[Kinneus]

Wow. So I could use a throwing axe for a "Split the Tree" Ranger Daily 1 attack? That's awesome. Makes me want to roll up a dwarven ranger or artificer as soon as possible.

It's nice to hear that you can do something you previously thought you couldn't do. Thanks, guys.

 

[chitzk0i]

A handaxe is both a melee weapon and a heavy thrown weapon. Throwing hammers are the same. There is no reason why you couldn't do what you suggest. Because they are heavy thrown weapons, you use STR for attacks. Thrown = ranged.

Additionally, in 4e thrown weapons also all seem to receive the ability to return to the thrower automatcially after the attack.

Yes, you can use a thrown weapon with power that says "Ranged weapon". No, it does not override what ability score a power uses--unless that power is "Ranged Basic Attack".

 

[Felon]

On a related note, do you need multiple thrown weapons for an attack that target's multiple enemies, or does the one weapon just bounce around like we're in an episode of Xena?

 

[Iron Sky]

Yes, you can use a thrown weapon with power that says "Ranged weapon". No, it does not override what ability score a power uses--unless that power is "Ranged Basic Attack".

Yeah, I was thinking of making a melee TWF ranger with a Farbond Spellblade Spiked Chain so I could throw it with Twin Strike too, but then I noticed that if I threw it with Twin Strike, it would use Dex for attack even though Farbond makes the weapon Heavy Thrown...

 

[Klaus]

On a related note, do you need multiple thrown weapons for an attack that target's multiple enemies, or does the one weapon just bounce around like we're in an episode of Xena?

If it's a magical weapon, you need only one. If it's a regular weapon, you need one per target (but the act of drawing the weapon is included in the power's action).

So, rogue targets 9 enemies with Blinding Barrage. If he uses a nonmagical shuriken, he needs 9 of them. If he uses a magical shuriken, he needs only one (it either bounces off enemies, or return and is thrown with blinding speed).

 

[Turtlejay]

What about for the purposes of enchantments? Could you make a Distance Throwing Hammer, for example?

Javelins have some cool interactions with enchantments working with melee and ranged, both. I haven't checked to see what CB allows, but I remember when building a Dwarven Ranger a lot earlier in 4e's run, I never found any rules wording to support enchanting a thrown weapon with a ranged only property.

Jay