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Adjudicating Unusual Actions
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7836630" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Things actually get worse. Now we are talking an indirect fire weapon against a moving target. That's like trying to hit a speeding car with a mortar. Indirect fire weapons tend to very much be weapons that depend on making fire adjustment - see where it lands and adjust the weapon slightly to compensate - but with a moving target you get only one shot.</p><p></p><p>Worse, if the PC ends up in the air then they end up in the air whether they hit or not, and not just on a hit.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Again, things actually get worse on two fronts. First, the catapult or trebuchet is probably scaled to fire between 10 and 80 lb shot depending on the design. If the siege engine is too small, catastrophic failure is basically guaranteed. Only a really big honking trebuchet (some of the largest in the real medieval world) is going to be able to really toss 200lb+ of PC and gear any real distance, so this works best for size small PCs. But, that jerk of the rope is comparable in threat to the acceleration of the catapult arm or trebuchet arm. Unlike a stone, the PC doesn't have a stable well-defined center of gravity, and so its very hard to predictably accelerate the PC through an arc. One of the most likely outcomes here with a catapult is to slide off the end of the arm to soon and then to get slapped/clubbed by the accelerating lever, or failing that to just plop gracelessly (but mercifully) onto the ground behind the engine. Another likely outcome is to be hurled straight up in the air or straight back down into the ground. Literally everything that could happen for laughs to Wily Coyote could actually happen here. Some needs to be massively proficient with siege engines to arrange this, and the PC being fired needs to make some sort of check to not unduly interfere with the process.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'd probably do the typical DC 20 strength check to grab onto to something while falling. That would actually be the easier step in the problem. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Or heroism. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Batman is at least a 15th level character. Do not try to replicate without equivalent skill.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7836630, member: 4937"] Things actually get worse. Now we are talking an indirect fire weapon against a moving target. That's like trying to hit a speeding car with a mortar. Indirect fire weapons tend to very much be weapons that depend on making fire adjustment - see where it lands and adjust the weapon slightly to compensate - but with a moving target you get only one shot. Worse, if the PC ends up in the air then they end up in the air whether they hit or not, and not just on a hit. Again, things actually get worse on two fronts. First, the catapult or trebuchet is probably scaled to fire between 10 and 80 lb shot depending on the design. If the siege engine is too small, catastrophic failure is basically guaranteed. Only a really big honking trebuchet (some of the largest in the real medieval world) is going to be able to really toss 200lb+ of PC and gear any real distance, so this works best for size small PCs. But, that jerk of the rope is comparable in threat to the acceleration of the catapult arm or trebuchet arm. Unlike a stone, the PC doesn't have a stable well-defined center of gravity, and so its very hard to predictably accelerate the PC through an arc. One of the most likely outcomes here with a catapult is to slide off the end of the arm to soon and then to get slapped/clubbed by the accelerating lever, or failing that to just plop gracelessly (but mercifully) onto the ground behind the engine. Another likely outcome is to be hurled straight up in the air or straight back down into the ground. Literally everything that could happen for laughs to Wily Coyote could actually happen here. Some needs to be massively proficient with siege engines to arrange this, and the PC being fired needs to make some sort of check to not unduly interfere with the process. I'd probably do the typical DC 20 strength check to grab onto to something while falling. That would actually be the easier step in the problem. Or heroism. Batman is at least a 15th level character. Do not try to replicate without equivalent skill. [/QUOTE]
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