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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 3062654" data-attributes="member: 1656">'Threaten' is a defined term; you threaten a square into which you can make a melee attack, generally.Apart from the Peerless Archer (3E PrC from the FR Silver Marches sourcebook), it's not possible to threaten with a ranged weapon.  You also don't threaten with certain melee weapons - namely the whip and unarmed strike.Note, however, that it is not necessary to threaten in order to gain a flanking bonus.  (The RotG article claims otherwise, but this contradicts the rules.)  It is only necessary for you to be making a melee attack; it is your ally who must threaten in order to grant the bonus.So if your ally has a longsword, and you have a whip, you can gain a flanking bonus; your ally threatens, and you are making a melee attack.  When he attacks, he does not gain the bonus; he is making a melee attack, but you are not threatening (since a whip does not threaten an area).Now if we switch the whip for a longbow, your ally still receives no bonus; he is making a melee attack, but you do not threaten an area with your longbow.  Neither, now, do you gain a bonus; your ally threatens, but you are making a ranged attack, not a melee attack.(The Peerless Archer has the opposite problem to the whip - he can grant a flanking bonus (since he threatens) but he cannot gain one (since he can't make a melee attack).)-Hyp.</blockquote>