Ranged Options for All Classes

[Yunru]

Not always. There was a war on, where are you going to go? Go hide somewhere and the bad guys just ignore you and ransack the city.

I rarely do "dungeon crawls" so many fights were out in the open or protecting a town/castle/city, escorting a supply wagon or ambushing one, etc.

I mean, if there's a war on, shouldn't you be prepped for ranged combat?

Why are they the only ones between an army and the city?

Are there no forests or other canopies they could retreat to?

 

[Swarmkeeper]

As far as the heavy door, that's what potions, magic and teamwork are for.

To sum up: potions, magic and teamwork are for helping with heavy doors but not for trying to succeed at challenging combats. Got it.

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

 

[Oofta]

I mean, if there's a war on, shouldn't you be prepped for ranged combat?

Why are they the only ones between an army and the city?

Are there no forests or other canopies they could retreat to?

Sure you should be prepared for ranged combat. Which means if I follow RAW, means don't bother with a martial character that doesn't have a good Dex.

As far as terrain, the area is largely semi-arid planes or crop lands where there's water.

 

[Oofta]

To sum up: potions, magic and teamwork are for helping with heavy doors but not for trying to succeed at challenging combats. Got it.

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Apparently I failed my sarcasm check. Y'all keep saying teamwork solves all problems so why shouldn't it solve this one too?

Besides it works for my wife. Whenever there's something heavy to lift she just calls me over.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure you should be prepared for ranged combat. Which means if I follow RAW, means don't bother with a martial character that doesn't have a good Dex.

As far as terrain, the area is largely semi-arid planes or crop lands where there's water.

Or the wizard prepare a fly spell. If the party knows what to expect, they should prepare appropriately, even if that means the barbarian saying "I go to beseech my people for aid. In the meantime, my brother Cletus the Archer will help you out".

But the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, not Wide Open Spaces and Dragons. There is a clue in there somewhere about what sort of gameplay the rules are designed around...

 

[Oofta]

Or the wizard prepare a fly spell. If the party knows what to expect, they should prepare appropriately, even if that means the barbarian saying "I go to beseech my people for aid. In the meantime, my brother Cletus the Archer will help you out".

But the game is called Dungeons and Dragons, not Wide Open Spaces and Dragons. There is a clue in there somewhere about what sort of gameplay the rules are designed around...

So your solution is: ask someone else to handle it for you because you're incompetent or hope you have a wizard in the party that can cast fly.

As a bonus, only fight in dungeons and apparently not against dragons out in the open.

Gotcha.

 

[Mistwell]

So your solution is: ask someone else to handle it for you because you're incompetent or hope you have a wizard in the party that can cast fly.

As a bonus, only fight in dungeons and apparently not against dragons out in the open.

Gotcha.

You don't need a fly spell for that kind of situation, you need a spell to bring the dragon down. And you want that spell even if you don't have a melee fighter in the group, because almost every single class functions better at a range closer than 80'-160' away. Those spellcasters usually have spells with a shorter range than that, for exampe. Earthbind, Hypnotic Pattern, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Web (sometimes), Command, Hold Monster, Sleet Storm, Slow, Suggestion, some illusions, etc.. There are SO MANY SPELLS which can bring a Dragon down to the ground and/or keep it there. And I do not buy "you shouldn't need to do this just to help the melee types" because as I said, it helps ALL types to keep a dragon from being able to fly!

If you're fighting dragons out in the open on anything even close to as often as you seem to be implying, your spellcasters better have spells prepared to bring a dragon down to the ground and mitigate that flyby attack and movement, regardless of melee types. To not have those spells may well be suicide.

 

[Oofta]

You don't need a fly spell for that kind of situation, you need a spell to bring the dragon down. And you want that spell even if you don't have a melee fighter in the group, because almost every single class functions better at a range closer than 80'-160' away. Those spellcasters usually have spells with a shorter range than that, for exampe. Earthbind, Hypnotic Pattern, Tasha's Hideous Laughter, Web (sometimes), Command, Hold Monster, Sleet Storm, Slow, Suggestion, some illusions, etc.. There are SO MANY SPELLS which can bring a Dragon down to the ground and/or keep it there. And I do not buy "you shouldn't need to do this just to help the melee types" because as I said, it helps ALL types to keep a dragon from being able to fly!

If you're fighting dragons out in the open on anything even close to as often as you seem to be implying, your spellcasters better have spells prepared to bring a dragon down to the ground and mitigate that flyby attack and movement, regardless of melee types. To not have those spells may well be suicide.

All assuming you have those spells prepped and the slot available. Which they did sometimes.

Other times they were on their sixth fight of the day fighting wyvern riders and the spells were not available any more.

There are times I think people play a different game than I do. Spell casters always fully loaded with just the right spells while in a dungeon knowing exactly what they're going to face.

Not all flying creatures are boss fights, not all flyers are dragons

 

[Lord Twig]

Part of being a good DM is being able to read the table. So with my old group of forty-something grognards it would be a case of "if you didn't prepare then it sucks to be you". But in my original example it was a group of kids, some as young as 11, the oldest being 18 or 19, plus one other older guy that was there with his son.

So for them I felt the right thing to do was to stray from the published script. Bad guy cast Time Stop (yep, he had access to a 9th level spell), teleported over to their side, summoned a bunch on minions if front of him (create undead), then fired off an AOE. The fight resumed with the paladin smiting his way through undead and carving an opening for every one else to get through. It was still a good fight, but now everyone was able to use their special abilities instead of the melee characters stuck chuckling ineffective sticks. (I forgot to mention that the BBEG also had damage resistance to non-magical attacks. So yeah, throwing javelins at disadvantage for 1d6+5 divied by 2 was completely worthless.)

And I was going to have the BBEG teleport away, but I wanted to wait until every player was able to get a good hit in. That is totally not a tactical decision of course, but if you know anything about kids you know they can be absolutely crushed is they wait their turn for something and then don't get their turn. (I have seen kids absolutely bawling because a pinata broke early .)

Anyway, this thread has been helpful to me. I don't think I can add Str bows in AL, but I can suggest players get some support spells and have some useful magic items drop for melee characters. Really I guess I am going to focus on doing more as a DM to help the characters be prepared. And I can always change the situation up on the fly again if I really need to.

 

[LordEntrails]

There are times I think people play a different game than I do.

Uh, people have been making that comment to you for about 10 pages now...