Exotic weapons requiring Thrown Weapons skill

[phiwum]

Some unusual weapons require Thrown Weapons skill. As a result, everyone skilled with these weapons is +2 to hit and can ready-and-throw in one turn. These weapons include:

Bola
Boomerang
Net and Trident
Sha-ken
Spear thrower (May use polearms instead of thrown weapons)

Now, each of these is really a special kind of thrown weapon with their own strong advantages. A bola or net knocks one down, a boomerang does remarkable damage, one can throw several sha-ken at once and spear-throwers use missile range. All that plus ready-and-throw in one turn. (I'll ignore the +2 to-hit for now.)

I first noticed that bolas are really skirmish-changers. One in hand and two on the belt and you can knock down three opponents in three turns. Same applies for net. I've previously house-ruled that bolas must be readied and then thrown, since that seems to make sense (they must be swung around once before thrown, according to my vast five minute look on Youtube). I'll do the same for net (but not Trident), since it's unwieldy.

I don't have any opinion on spear throwers in terms of game balance. They sound like one turn preparation prior to throw is sensible as far as real life mechanics go, but I haven't looked at video to know.

Boomerangs are simple but deadly. They seem a bit overpowered in terms of game balance, but I can't see a good thematic reason to require ready first, then throw. They do very good damage for a thrown weapon, but with only two on the belt and maybe two in hand, they're not crazy tough. One more damage than the long bow, which can be fired twice per turn by a fast enough character (minimum attribute points: 35).

Sha-ken I don't know about. Definitely, I think you can ready and throw one in the same turn. Multiple ones? Beats me. I know some of the old hats around here talk about the much feared halfling sha-ken snipers, but I haven't seen one in play yet.

What is your experience with these weapons? In actual game play, I've mostly seen the bola and a high DX character can put down three baddies for two turns each very quickly in combat. I've never seen it used to disarm, since prone is better most of the time, and I've rarely seen a head shot (mostly when legs were not an option).