Archery supplement

[Thirsty Viking]

for what it is worth, As seneschal, my snap decision would be this is a rare event.   Roll 1/2 the dice at 2xTN,  If this hits,  roll randomly for adjacent area.  Treat as a hit with one success.  Personally I'd exclude head from the miss.  Probably talking arms only here...  would have to be really odd circumstances for a successful dodger to put the head in the way of a hit on a different part of the body.

[contracycle]

Some players, probably mine included, wouldn't appreciate if an arrow aimed at their breastplated chest accidently hit their head, by *my* decision. Better if there's a hit table to decide that.
Another thing I'd like is a hit table for when just shooting at a person in general, such as when shooting from very far distances. That would be a lot easier to make, I assume.

So you say "I am the Senescheal, and this is my hit table."

[Durgil]

Speaking of dodging incoming missiles, I can see dodging something of relatively slow velocity such as a spear, rock, or a knife, but it can't be as easy to dodge something as high velocity as an arrow or crossbow bolt.

I really don't see it as much more as seeing someone knock the arrow, pull back, and take aim and then duck for cover behind a wall, tree, or shield or whatever else is available.  Once you hear the sound of the bow string, it's pretty much a waist of time to dodge the arrow stucking in you.

[svenlein]

Dodgeing an arrow at close range is very difficult, better to take evasive movement to make it hard to aim at you.

At long range I have read it was not terribly difficult to side step a single arrow, thats why volleys are used at long ranges, and directed single shots at short ranges ("Independence, fire at will ... Oh, thats very nice of him").  Note: "tended to" not "always"

Please tell me if you believe these statements are false in any way.

Scott

[Lance D. Allen]

I agree that dodging is not so much getting out of the way of a projectile already in flight, but choosing the right moment to dodge out of the way as they throw/fire whatever. I'd say this even with thrown spears and knives.. Unless you time it right, most projectiles moving fast enough to injure you will hit you before you are out of the way. Due to this, I would only allow someone to dodge if they were aware of the archer/whatever prior to the release of the projectile.

And if it missed, "at my discretion" I would roll a die to determine where it went to... For instance, a d6, 1 and 6 would be misses, 2, 3, 4 and 5 would be respectively down, left, up, and right. I would then take the attacker's total successes, and reduce them again by the defender's margin of success. In the case of no successes at ALL on the attacker's part, the arrow would have fouled, or hit some intervening object, or slipped and struck the ground before the target, or simply missed entirely, and sailed harmlessly by.

[Lyrax]

I think Wolfen's got it.  I mean the dodge is more of a pre-emptive dodge than anything else...

[Mike Holmes]

I think Wolfen's got it.  I mean the dodge is more of a pre-emptive dodge than anything else...

Absolutely must be true in regards to firearms.

OTOH, I've dodged paint balls fired at 150 MPH. If you have enough range, you can dodge missile weapons, believe me. That's the key, though, range.

What I'd have is your Pre-emptive dodge (hard, not often effective), and then, if applicable, further dodge with difficulty based for range and weapon speed.

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

Some players, probably mine included, wouldn't appreciate if an arrow aimed at their breastplated chest accidently hit their head, by *my* decision. Better if there's a hit table to decide that.
Another thing I'd like is a hit table for when just shooting at a person in general, such as when shooting from very far distances.

Totally makes sense. At anything over point blank you almost always aim at what is termed "center of mass" meaning the middle of the target. And hope to hit anything. A well placed shot does hit the torso, however. Hero system has good charts for this and for things like "Upper half" CoM, and "Lower half" CoM.

Mike

[Jake Norwood]

There is one thing that bugs me with the missile system. Either you hit the intended area, or you miss completely. I wan't to be able to aim for the chest and accidently hit a leg. A good rule that covers this, and I'll be very happy. Otherwise I like the system as it is.

That's not entirely true. Check the optional hit mod table at the beginning of the appendix.

Jake

Oooh, your'e right. I missed that one. But it still says "at seneschal's discretion", and the problem is, to me, that it is such an important decision to make. It could spell life or death for a character(i.e. hit unarmored head or some armored part). Some players, probably mine included, wouldn't appreciate if an arrow aimed at their breastplated chest accidently hit their head, by *my* decision. Better if there's a hit table to decide that.
Another thing I'd like is a hit table for when just shooting at a person in general, such as when shooting from very far distances. That would be a lot easier to make, I assume.

This isn't a "when the seneschal feels like it" sort of thing, but rather, "in my games, I use this table." That's the idea.

Jake

[Mokkurkalfe]

Alright. Got it.
I think I'll snatch Wolfen's d6-method. Such a marvel of simplicity.