Most reach weapons double the wielder’s natural reach, meaning that a typical Small or Medium wielder of such a weapon can attack a creature 10 feet away, but not a creature in an adjacent square.
A reach weapon is a melee weapon that allows its wielder to strike at targets that aren’t adjacent to him or her. Glaives, guisarmes, lances, longspears, ranseurs, spiked chains, and whips are reach weapons. Ranged weapons are thrown weapons or projectile weapons that are not effective in melee. Melee weapons are used for making melee attacks, though some of them can be thrown as well. A character who uses a weapon with which he or she is not proficient takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls. Characters of other classes are proficient with an assortment of mainly simple weapons and possibly also some martial or even exotic weapons. Barbarians, fighters, paladins, and rangers are proficient with all simple and all martial weapons. These categories pertain to what training is needed to become proficient in a weapon’s use (simple, martial, or exotic), the weapon’s usefulness either in close combat (melee) or at a distance (ranged, which includes both thrown and projectile weapons), its relative encumbrance (light, one-handed, or two-handed), and its size (Small, Medium, or Large).Īnybody but a druid, monk, or wizard is proficient with all simple weapons. Weapons are grouped into several interlocking sets of categories.
