Strength requirements for ranged weapons

[Yunru]

Here's the general thought:
A bow or crossbow has a base Strength requirement of 10. If a character wields a bow or crossbow and doesn't meet the Strength requirement, it gains the loading property. If a bow or crossbow has the light property, it's Strength requirement decreases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the heavy property, the Strength requirement increases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the loading property, the Strength requirement increases by 5.

And here's how it'd be displayed:
Loading (X) -- Add "unless the wielder has a Strength score of X or higher."

Hand Crossbow: Loading (12)
Heavy Crossbow: Loading (18)
Longbow: Loading (13)
Shortbow: Loading (10)

 

[Oofta]

I'm probably not going to do it but if I were to implement something like this, I'd probably limit range and damage based on strength. The draw weight of a bow is the strength needed to pull the string fully.

You only get your dexterity modifier to damage (minimum 1) equal to triple your strength modifier. In addition, full range is only possible if you have at least a +4 strength modifier (minimum range 20/40 ft if strength is 10 or less) with incremental reductions.

Crossbows are more problematic. One of the reasons they were popular is that unlike longbows where people trained for years to the point that we can tell who used them based on deformation to their skeletons you can put a crank or a lever on a crossbow. So you could trade longer loading times for more damage because you have to use a crank but if you're strong enough you can just pull the cord or use a lever.

So for crossbows you can load normally if you have a 14 or higher strength, but a 12 doubles loading time, 10 or less triples (which means it may take a round or two).

I think that would be closer to realistic but not necessarily worth it.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Here's the general thought:
A bow or crossbow has a base Strength requirement of 10. If a character wields a bow or crossbow and doesn't meet the Strength requirement, it gains the loading property. If a bow or crossbow has the light property, it's Strength requirement decreases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the heavy property, the Strength requirement increases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the loading property, the Strength requirement increases by 5.

And here's how it'd be displayed:
Loading (X) -- Add "unless the wielder has a Strength score of X or higher."

Hand Crossbow: Loading (12)
Heavy Crossbow: Loading (18)
Longbow: Loading (13)
Shortbow: Loading (10)

It doesn’t need to be that complicated, and crossbows function quite differently.

A bow isn’t really going to take longer to “load.” And it’s capable of a bonus based on its draw weight.

For example, a bow (STR 15) would require a minimum of a 15 STR to draw, and grant a +2 bonus. Even if you had an 18 STR, it would still be +2.

A simple rule would be to use the better of DEX or STR, but the STR is capped by the capability of the bow. This is essentially finesse, since a bow can be used for Sneak Attack, but with a restriction for STR.

Crossbows, however, already have a much higher draw weight than a bow, but a shorter draw length as well. I would make light crossbows useable without a lever or crank. Heavy crossbows would grant a bonus based on the crossbow, but take a full round to load (realistically, it should be more like 5 rounds). This may sound harsh, but the reality is that since it doesn’t require a minimum Strength, as long as they are available and have the coin, everybody will get a +5 heavy crossbow.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Incidentally, I’d also change a sling to finesse, 1d4 for a stone, and 1d6 or maybe 1d8 for a bullet. This is more in line with the historical weapon.

 

[Yunru]

It doesn’t need to be that complicated, and crossbows function quite differently.

A bow isn’t really going to take longer to “load.” And it’s capable of a bonus based on its draw weight.

For example, a bow (STR 15) would require a minimum of a 15 STR to draw, and grant a +2 bonus. Even if you had an 18 STR, it would still be +2.

A simple rule would be to use the better of DEX or STR, but the STR is capped by the capability of the bow. This is essentially finesse, since a bow can be used for Sneak Attack, but with a restriction for STR.

Crossbows, however, already have a much higher draw weight than a bow, but a shorter draw length as well. I would make light crossbows useable without a lever or crank. Heavy crossbows would grant a bonus based on the crossbow, but take a full round to load (realistically, it should be more like 5 rounds). This may sound harsh, but the reality is that since it doesn’t require a minimum Strength, as long as they are available and have the coin, everybody will get a +5 heavy crossbow.

It's a combination of two things for bows. One is draw, and the other is uniformity.

 

[Krachek]

We can rewrite the weapon list and add some minimal requirements to all weapons.
Damage and extra attack can be the result of a complex formula involving str, dex, wis and int.

 

[CapnZapp]

Ironic, since 3E had Strength based ranged damage (and then only for composite bows)

 

[jmartkdr]

Based on my experience with similar rules, I feel that in practice all this does is make weapon-users more MAD, which will have one of a few consequences:

1. Players will stop playing archers and start playing blastlocks, because they're better at shooting, and get magic.

2. Players of archers will have flatter ability score spreads, reducing the variety available.

3. Players of archers will need to dump both intelligence and charisma, giving them a lot fewer options outside of combat, which will in turn make the players push for fewer non-combat encounters.

Making players use more ability scores almost always makes the game worse.

 

[FrogReaver]

We can rewrite the weapon list and add some minimal requirements to all weapons.
Damage and extra attack can be the result of a complex formula involving str, dex, wis and int.

And charisma because $@!# talking your opponent matters!

 

[FrogReaver]

Here's the general thought:
A bow or crossbow has a base Strength requirement of 10. If a character wields a bow or crossbow and doesn't meet the Strength requirement, it gains the loading property. If a bow or crossbow has the light property, it's Strength requirement decreases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the heavy property, the Strength requirement increases by 3. If a bow or crossbow has the loading property, the Strength requirement increases by 5.

And here's how it'd be displayed:
Loading (X) -- Add "unless the wielder has a Strength score of X or higher."

Hand Crossbow: Loading (12)
Heavy Crossbow: Loading (18)
Longbow: Loading (13)
Shortbow: Loading (10)

If you are doing this. It might be worth putting dex and str requirements on melee weapons as well. A maul requires 15 str and 6 dex. A greataxe requires 14 str and 7 dex. A greatsword requires 13 str and 10 dex. Etc.