D&D 5E A Rock

[Blackrat]

I would consider it a potential monster with a possible challenge rating of 20-30... But of the choices presented, improvised weapon...

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yup, this exactly. If you just grab a rock off the ground, that's improvised. If you take a little time to pick one that's suited for throwing, I'd call it a simple weapon doing 1d4 with a range of maybe 10/30. (I wouldn't make it less than 1d4, since that is standard improvised weapon damage; the short range is what makes it inferior to a sling or even a thrown dagger.)

FWIW, IIRC you can already thrown an improvised weapon 20/60 anyway so you are giving it less range?

 

[Shiroiken]

That’s not the standard rule for improvised weapon damage. It’s a good rule, it’s the one I use, but it’s not the standard rule.

Huh. I was positive the 1d6 option was in there, but upon looking again, it is not. I might have carried that over from a prior edition, the playtest, or just some weird part of my brain...

 

[CleverNickName]

Yeah, I'd rule it as an Improvised Weapon unless I had a reason to believe otherwise (like giants--maybe it's a cultural thing? Or maybe the character is a competitive shot-put thrower, or played a lot of baseball, or won the blue ribbon in the County Fair Rock-Skipping Contest two years ago). It's not really a game-breaking issue, so I'd be pretty lenient here.

And I'd vary the range and amount of damage by the size of the rock (a rock the size of a fig? 30/100, 1 point of damage. A rock the size of an apple? 20/60, 1d4 damage. A rock the size of a brick? 10/30, 1d6 damage, requires Str 13+.)