How far can I throw a small object?

Question

How far can a character throw an object? Looking at the PHB a long ranged basic attack can be made 10 squares away (with a -2 to the attack roll) with a random object weighing about 1 pound.

But what if I'm not throwing to hit a specific square or a creature in a specific square, but rather throwing an object just to get it away from me? With that same 1 pound specification what's the ruling on how far it can be thrown?

And if you could tell me where you found the information at that would great!

Answer 1

GM discretion. For a competition, you could compare Athletics checks. For a given distance, the GM should set a DC. For rough ballparks, a baseball weights half that with a thrown Guinness World Record of 445 feet.

Answer 2

There is no official answer.

4e is not a simulationist system, so it doesn't try to come up with rules to cover every possible situation. Instead it gives you a set of tools, and you apply whatever seems the most reasonable for the matter at hand.

I would recommend using an Athletics skill check, probably something similar to a jump attempt where the distance you throw the object is based on your skill check result. A reasonable distance might be a number of squares equal to your skill check result, or possibly squares equal to half your skill check result (at high levels).

For example, if you had a +10 athletics skill and you rolled a 13 on the die, you would have a skill check result of 23 and so would throw the object 23 squares (115 feet, a little under 40 yards) if using the result or 12 squares (60 feet, 20 yards) if using half the result.