Ballista?

As I play Warhammer Fantasy Battle, I happen to have some very nice ballista models. I am thinking of using them in DnD 3e session. But under the rule in DMG, they seems to be almost useless (use straight d20 with no modifier to hit) and will rarely threaten PCs. Are there any good idea to make them real threat?

Chalenging for who ?

Against who will the ballista will be used ? PC in a dungeon or in mass combat againt troop or ships ? If it is against PCs you would could get better results with ballista traps or similar devices. For mass combat, i have a simple set of rule for dealing with those and other siege machines.

Other question : How deadly do you view the ballista in your game ?

a) Heck ! Its just a flesh woud, i still have 40 hp left deadly ?
or
b)HOLY CRAP ! I HAVE A 6FT SHAFT OF WOOD TROUGHT MY BELLY AND I'M DYING ! CLERIC ! deadly ?

Last thing : Are those High Elves repeating Balista or some other models from WHFB?


- Hack the planet.

Some previous rulesets would allow use of the ballista-team leader's to-hit rolls (BAB) for attack purposes. You might consider house-ruling it thus (to-hit or rate-of-fire penalties would be appropriate for under-manned teams).

Re: Chalenging for who ?

BlackRazor said:

Against who will the ballista will be used ? PC in a dungeon or in mass combat againt troop or ships ? If it is against PCs you would could get better results with ballista traps or similar devices. For mass combat, i have a simple set of rule for dealing with those and other siege machines.

Click to expand...

Well, against PCs. Maybe in a dungeon. Or when attacking some villain's (or monster's) fortress. Current campaign is somewhere around 11th level. But I will soon run lower level sessions or two.

Other question : How deadly do you view the ballista in your game ?

a) Heck ! Its just a flesh woud, i still have 40 hp left deadly ?
or
b)HOLY CRAP ! I HAVE A 6FT SHAFT OF WOOD TROUGHT MY BELLY AND I'M DYING ! CLERIC ! deadly ?

Click to expand...

A). Should not be hero's ultimate weapon (One of my friends used to using Tenser's Floating Disk as his Ballista Platform in AD&D. I do not get it back). But should be somewhat more dangerous than plain bows or crossbows when it is in proper position and in the hands of mediocre soldiers.

Last thing : Are those High Elves repeating Balista or some other models from WHFB?

Click to expand...

Goblin Spear Chukka! I am an O&G Warboss. And as one of my friend is playing HE, I can borrow some Repeating Bolt Throwers, too.

Re: Re: Ballista?

dcollins said:

Some previous rulesets would allow use of the ballista-team leader's to-hit rolls (BAB) for attack purposes. You might consider house-ruling it thus (to-hit or rate-of-fire penalties would be appropriate for under-manned teams).

Click to expand...

Previous rulesets? What do you mean? Is is AD&D? Or in some supplement?

Ballista Suggestion

OK, Here is what I suggest:

1) Position:
Put the ballista some place higher that the hero and put some cannon fodder between it and the PCs. This should give it some chance to fire once or twice before the PC manages to close on it.

2) Cover and anti-spell
A bunch of goblin in a half circle with tower shield raised while the ballista reload would provide cover for the crew and keep spell caster from torching your siege engine in the first round (since they don’t have line of sight behind the tower shield) If you feel nasty and depending of the level of your heroes, cover the siege machine with fresh mud, thus protecting it from fire (Christian Knight used this on their siege tower during the crusade to resist Saracen flaming arrows.)

3) Rules
To represent the fact that a ballista is hard to aim but pretty powerful concerning penetration I suggest the following:
a) Give it a reasonable base attack bonus (like +3 or +4) but make it ignore the first 4 or 6 point of armour bonus (after all, the AC is supposed to represent the difficulty to penetrate the defence of your enemy. Probably why strength is used as an attack bonus in melee instead of dex. We are considering that the ballista have "more than sufficient" penetration power)

b) For damage, 3D6 should be enough, with a crit of 20 X3 I guess. It’s sure dangerous but not incredibly so for melee type character and other tank. Your rogue or monk will probably have a easy day against it, allowing your player a way to defeat it without too much hard work (and maybe even a shining moment for the rogue) but not before it probably pluck a shaft or two in the less dexterous character.

c) For the rate of fire, a fully crewed ballista (4 members) could probably fire each other round, reloading behind its tower shield wall for additional protection. If the servant’s crew are killed, increase the reload time by one round for each missing servant.


Extension and scaling: for a truly horrible war engine, use the following: Make it do touch attack, 3d6 damage and allow it to re-roll 6 adding the result to total damage, crit 20 x4, poisoned bolt (supply your own poison), make it out of stone and adamantium (drow craftsmanship, harder to destroy or set fire to), make it masterwork and grant it the cleave feat if a target behind the first one is available (the bolt simply pass trough the poor fellow without stopping). Still not enough? Add a master gunnery captain to give it a better BAB and cast animate object on it to make it draw itself. You could also cast magic weapon or greater magic weapon on the ballista and the bolt but that would be overkill.

If not, do it and add a portable hole full of bolt above the loading area. The bolt simply drop one after another inside the loading bay, you just have to secure them once the rope is draw and you are ready to fire again. For the final touch, haste the crew.

Good luck with your ballista.


For WHFB I was once a Dark Elf Commander long ago but the skyrocketing price of the minis drove me out of the hobby.

If my grammar and spelling seem weird, I’m sorry, I’m one of those guys who surrendered after we lost our main city in WW2

- Hack the planet.

Be careful allowing attack bonuses for the Ballista.

Currently, 1st level mercenaries man the Ballista on the second deck of my wagon, but it'd be great to jump up there, cast true strike, and fire it myself.

What is stopping you ?

And what, exatly, is stopping you from doing it ? You will be trading 2 round to fire one shot at +20 for 3d6 (if we assume the ballista i suggested) instead of 2 normal missile attack.

Despite all rant and raves, true strike is not that powerfull. sure, that +20 is impressive, almost a 100% accuracy hit. but it cost 2 standart action to make such shot. Except on the rare occasion you really need to hit on the first shoot and at low level, true strike is just a mean to ensure your spellcaster manage to hit something when a higher level. Nothing overpowering.

No true fighter devoted to the bow will consider it once he get its first iterative attack.

- Civis Pacem parabellum

When my PCs were planning to assault a castle, I wrote up a new feat:

Siege Expert [General]
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1 or higher, proficient with weapon chosen
Benefit: Choose one type of siege weapon that uses an attack roll, such as a ballista or a ram. When you are part of the crew operating such a weapon, you may add your base attack bonus to the attack roll.
This feat can only be used if the weapon is being operated by a full crew. If two or more members of the crew have this feat, only the largest bonus applies.
Normal: Without this feat, characters operating a siege weapon use an unmodified attack roll.

[Edited to add] Obviously this isn't much of a feat for PC fighters, but in a garrison of NPC warriors, at least one sergeant is likely to have it.

I'd say that most artillery ignore armor, that one way to get the ballista to hit things better

Also, it probably do a little bit of splash damage to anyone right next to the person it hits,