Why does a club have a range increment ?

[CyberThread]

am just curious over all, why does a club have a range increment to be thrown , and all that fun stuff, while most melee weapons do not have this factor?

[NEO|Phyte]

Because as a throwing weapon, it can be thrown without a -4 nonproficiency penalty.

[mabriss lethe]

Short version: The game designers probably wanted a free thrown weapon option amongst simple weapons in the same way that there are free ranged (sling w/rock) Two handed and double weapons (staff). So they tacked it onto the club.

As for realism: Throwing clubs are a real thing, and are one of the earliest weapons used by humanity. A good heft and balance for a melee club also lends itself to short range throwing.

[jaydubs]

^^What he they said. Here's a link for more details.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Thrown_Weapon

[limejuicepowder]

That's actually it's reach. Since a club is just a stick, and sticks of different sizes can be easily found, it follows that clubs have reach (if the player wants). With a big enough club, the character can strike up to 50 ft away. The "ranged" penalties are for the obvious unwieldiness of the weapon.

[Segev]

That's actually it's reach. Since a club is just a stick, and sticks of different sizes can be easily found, it follows that clubs have reach (if the player wants). With a big enough club, the character can strike up to 50 ft away. The "ranged" penalties are for the obvious unwieldiness of the weapon.

This post's tone is just close enough to "serious" to be misleading at first. If I may be so bold, I suggest using the convention of the board and painting the text blue.

[Maginomicon]

Because as a throwing weapon, it can be thrown without a -4 nonproficiency penalty.
Fetch! Good boy. :smallamused:

[Worira]

yeah you can chuck a stick at a dude

[AmberVael]

As for realism: Throwing clubs are a real thing, and are one of the earliest weapons used by humanity. A good heft and balance for a melee club also lends itself to short range throwing.

This. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwing_stick)
My understanding is that the boomerang is likely to have originated from a throwing club. Suffice to say, it's an actual thing, and it makes sense- sticks are easy to come by, and throwing something has various advantages over just smacking something at close range. Why not develop that a bit? So, throwing clubs.