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I'd definitely start reading it, and might even finish if I find it compelling. It's bound to be more fun than grading undergrads' papers (not a high bar). I'll respectfully disagree with @Umbran and say that I don't mind if you share it all at once rather than breaking it up; any discussion of...

Despite that, I see absolutely no issue with ruling that you could perform somatic components with a hand holding a wand of the war mage specifically.

The text in the PHB doesn't say anything at all about being able to perform somatic components with a hand that's holding a focus; it says you can interact with material components using the same hand that you're using to perform somatic components. I realize it's not the clearest, but that...

So you can cast... Witch Bolt, I guess? Strict RAW you can't cast VS only spells (like, say, Eldritch Blast) with a focus in your hand.

A spare rod makes for a spoiled warlock.

But when you throw a dagger you're using it as written, and so it keeps its properties (and your proficiency with daggers is what governs the attack). Improvised weapons cease to have whatever properties they used to have as weapons the moment they are treated as improvised weapons, seems to me...

Yeah, but when you throw it, you're not using it as a crossbow. Just like the longsword gains a 20/60 range when you use it as an improvised weapon, the crossbow loses its "ranged weapon" status.

Oh, you can definitely throw it, as an improvised weapon, for 1d4+STR, but you don't get archery bonus to hit, and you can't use -5/+10, is my claim. Because you're not using it as a ranged weapon, you're using it as an improvised weapon that you throw.

@dnd4vr I don't think the crossbow counts as a ranged weapon when you throw it either. It's an improvised weapon, which is its own thing.

I know it's a joke, but I don't think it becomes a "ranged weapon" when you are making a ranged attack with it as an improvised weapon. So no archery and no -5/+10.

Yeah, that's right. 'swhat happens when I try to cite the text from memory instead of looking it up. So you could throw a longsword 60 feet without disadvantage if you had sharpshooter (but no proficiency bonus to hit, unless you also had tavern brawler). It's weird but strictly worse than...

@dnd4vr, this last post confuses me. That "ranged weapon attack" means "ranged attack with a weapon" is right there. It confirms what @doctorbadwolf and I have been saying -- the first two benefits (but not the third) work with thrown weapons -- and contradicts what you said earlier. BTW, the...

There is The fact that the phrasing is different between the first two benefits and the third is a signal of intent. As to the longsword, nothing in the rules allows a longsword to be thrown, thus you can't make a ranged attack with it, unless the DM allows you to do so as an improvised...

What do you think about my proposed dagger feat above (post #29)? That was an attempt to give flavorful benefits to dagger use without just straight boosts to damage or accuracy.

The first two benefits of the feat apply to daggers since, right, they refer to "ranged (weapon attacks)", but the third benefit (the -5/+10 option) refers to "ranged weapons", so that one doesn't work with daggers.

FWIW, the Sage Advice compendium explicitly calls out this distinction. Now this is merely an interpretation of RAW, not a statement of intent.

I don't think doing this would be a problem, but I seem to remember Jeremy Crawford saying that the language choice in the sharpshooter feat was intentional.

What PHB are you reading? Do you see the paragraph I quoted about how all weapons are considered either melee or ranged weapons? Simple vs martial is a separate designation; hence the four weapon tables: simple melee, simple ranged, martial melee, martial ranged.

Also the paragraph you refer to says just the opposite of what you're saying it says: It specifically sets thrown weapons (like handaxes) apart from ranged weapons.

It says that you can use these weapons to make a "ranged attack"; not that they become "ranged weapons". Note that in the text above the weapon tables it says: and then goes on to list a bunch of melee weapons, followed by a bunch of ranged weapons. They are disjoint categories.