High strength characters are free to ignore the ranged weapon slot and instead use the functionality that allows them to freely swap to use any thrown weapon in their inventory without penalty if they need to attack at range.
The game makes a distinction between slashing, piercing and blunt damage with associated vulnerabilities and resistances that are present on many targets. Yet it doesn't allow the same flexibility to swap between Greatsword / Maul compared to Longsword+Shield / Heavy Crossbow, which should be a much bigger effort to swap in the first place.
It's just bad design, a completely arbitrary limitation, and it should be corrected rather than ignored.
"You can have a heavy crossbow stowed on your back, but not another sword." -Larian DM. It even sounds really stupid said out loud.
