There are a lot of questions on this site that rely on whether Improvised Weapons are actually melee Weapons or not. This affects many things such as dual wielding, weapon bonding, magic spells, monk martial arts, etc.
There is a table at PHB p149 which specifies melee weapons.
Improvised Weapons are defined at PHB p147.
Unarmed Strikes count as melee weapon attacks but are not melee weapons (PHB errata).
The 2nd paragraph of Improvised Weapons states:
In many cases, an improvised weapon is similar to an actual weapon and can be treated as such. For example, a table leg is akin to a club. At the DM’s option, a character proficient with a weapon can use a similar object as if it were that weapon and use his or her proficiency bonus.
I am not interested in these cases where you can treat it as a weapon because it resembles one (it should be fine to treat a table leg as a club or a pole as a quarterstaff). I am interested in cases like bows, arrows, shields, darts, crossbows, wagon wheels, and dead goblins, where they are clearly not designed to be melee weapons. When one of these is used for a melee attack, is it really a melee weapon? If it is a melee weapon, is it only considered a melee weapon for that attack or so long as you wield it?
Related questions:
- Can you use Magic Weapon spell on an Improvised weapon?
- Would a monk with the tavern brawler feat have improvised weapons count as monk weapons?
- Would improvised weapons work with cantrips like Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade?
- Can you make a weapon bond with an improvised weapon?
- Does using a shield as an improvised weapon work with Dual Wielder feat?
- Does wielding a shield as an improvised weapon count for Dual Wielder and Two-Weapon fighting style?
Best Answer
Improvised Weapons are not a subset of Melee or Ranged Weapons, but they are Weapons.
Let's begin with the identification of the Improvised Weapon as a Weapon (and not an object or Armor, or anything else). Jeremy Crawford supports this:
What type of weapon is it? An Improvised Weapon
Chapter 5 of the PHB (page 149) contains a list of common Melee and Ranged Weapons. That is the list for things that require Melee Weapon or Ranged Weapon attacks. Existing items within the ruleset that are not listed here would likely not qualify, but items that are not listed which have similarities would (i.e. katana as longsword). A shield is not on the list, but is under Armor.
Whether or not Improvised Weapons are on the list is the exact question being asked here.
Jeremy Crawford takes a bit about the object vs process here:
An Improvised Weapon is neither a Melee Weapon nor a Ranged Weapon (from the list previously defined on page 165.) It is it's own category that can be found pages 147-8 in the PHB.
Type of Weapon is different from type of Attack
While you may make a Melee or Ranged Attack with one, it does not turn the Improvised Weapon into a Melee or Ranged Weapon. It is just a Melee or Ranged Attack that is made with an Improvised Weapon.
Crawford covers this in the following exchange:
and the following exchange with a user (the first quote):
Proficiency points the way towards a different Type than Melee/Ranged
If an Improvised Weapon is ALWAYS either a Simple or Martial Melee or Ranged weapon, then there would have been no need for this clarification on proficiency in the Improvised Weapons rules:
If it was a given that an Improvised Weapon was always a Simple or Martial Melee/Ranged weapon, then proficiency would always apply. In addition, the only way to gain proficiency in an Improvised Weapon is through the Tavern Brawler feat. This would be unnecessary if Improvised Weapons were classed as part of Melee/Ranged as your proficiency would already be granted if that was covered by your race/class.
Crawford discusses this a bit here:
There is clearly a differentiation in Crawford's eye between Weapons and Improvised Weapons.