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.
Well, sounds like we just need to agree to disagree on this one.
I think it’s a big enough concession to allow characters a free swap to handle attacking at a different range than normal, but one I can support given it’s something that all characters are likely to face, to some degree: a melee character could find themselves too far away to get within reach of an enemy at all or easily, just as much as a ranged character could find themselves uncomfortably close. Okay, hybrid characters that are good at both range and melee will benefit, but then many of them are already compromising by not specialising.
But freely being able to swap weapons in combat to deal different damage types, or to boost AC by swapping from a two handed melee weapon to weapon and shield, goes too far for me. Even if only one free swap were allowed. I’m happy to handwave any implausibility here in being more permissive about range than this other stuff, as I’d prioritise game balance.
Not a hill I’d die on, though, just a preference.
