Spicing up bows and crossbows.

[fjw70]

No, I am not. Reread my original post for clarification.

So I assume you meant to say bows can be fired more than once per round if the attacker had multiple ATTACK and not multiple ACTIONS?

 

[Sir Brennen]

No, I am proposing that you allow common sense to govern rules adjudication so that the "spirit of the law" trumps the "letter of the law."

But it's not a corner-case, rule-on-the-fly fix you're suggesting. It's a "common sense" fix to to a house rule you've proposed, that would need to be applied in such a consistent manner that it's really another house rule. And it adds a layer of complexity- beyond what you already adding on the surface - which requires the DM to now have to consider the type, or source, of advantage a character has. Bleh.

Also consider you've essentially given a +5 to the weapon, particularly against unarmored targets. That makes it appear crossbows are more accurate, not better at penetrating armor.

Perhaps it'd be simpler to use a different mechanic to simulate armor piercing. Perhaps simply halving the bonus armor provides the wearer against a crossbow would be better. Or, like other systems, certain weapons ignore X points of armor (an Armor Piercing, or AP rating). Longbows and light crossbows are AP 1, Heavy crossbows AP 2. Of course, you might want to apply this feature to melee weapons designed to penetrate armor, like picks.

 

[canucksaram]

So I assume you meant to say bows can be fired more than once per round if the attacker had multiple ATTACK and not multiple ACTIONS?

Correct. I have changed the word "actions" to "attacks" to refine for clarity. Thank you.

 

[canucksaram]

But it's not a corner-case, rule-on-the-fly fix you're suggesting. It's a "common sense" fix to to a house rule you've proposed, that would need to be applied in such a consistent manner that it's really another house rule. And it adds a layer of complexity- beyond what you already adding on the surface - which requires the DM to now have to consider the type, or source, of advantage a character has. Bleh.

Also consider you've essentially given a +5 to the weapon, particularly against unarmored targets. That makes it appear crossbows are more accurate, not better at penetrating armor.

Perhaps it'd be simpler to use a different mechanic to simulate armor piercing. Perhaps simply halving the bonus armor provides the wearer against a crossbow would be better. Or, like other systems, certain weapons ignore X points of armor (an Armor Piercing, or AP rating). Longbows and light crossbows are AP 1, Heavy crossbows AP 2. Of course, you might want to apply this feature to melee weapons designed to penetrate armor, like picks.

I chose "advantage" as the simplest way to emulate the high damage and/or armor piercing quality of crossbows at short range rather than fiddling with numerical bonuses or some sort of AC discounting. Both of your suggestions could work as alternate rules. I just wanted something relatively simple to account for "you land a telling blow this round because of the qualities of your weapon in this set of circumstances."

It's all flavor. If folks like it, great. I just wanted to account for some of the tactical and situational advantages that weapon choice and positioning could have on a game.