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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 5616143" data-attributes="member: 13966">It's called the Rapid Shot feat as many of us have already pointed out.Also, your argument seems to hinge on merely the time factor, which would also imply that a swordsman should be able to swing his sword twice in one round even if he's a green recruit who barely knows how to use a sword without hurting himself.  Which is fine, but that 1st-level novice is likely going to choke a bit when faced with a real enemy on the battlefield trying to kill him, and is going to be more focused on trying to stay alive while the other guy is taking swings at him with an axe or what-have-you.  Likewise, a novice archer might choke and fumble if an orc comes running and screaming at him with an axe, only managing to loose one shot before the orc gets close enough to make the archer run away or something.Time-wise, I can throw something like 20 punches in 6 seconds or whatever.  Doesn't mean I'm gonna hit, or damage, jack-squat if I try that.  An opponent would just step back and maybe kick me in the junk while I flailed away.  If we were using swords, I might swing my sword around in a quick flurry of unskilled swipes and stabs, but my opponent only really needs to make one good, close slash or stab to utterly ruin my flurry and make me recoil from the edge of their blade in self-preservation.Now if I were an experienced combat-vet, I could probably judge whether or not the foe was actually going to hit me with that strike and I could just dodge and ram my elbow into their face then stab them in the gut and be done with it.  But as an untrained or little-trained swordsman I would probably be a lot more worried and focused on evading or blocking their attacks rather than flailing away like a hyperactive idjit.As an archer, it takes time to aim and load, especially if you have almost no experience with a bow.  It also gets tiring if you have to hold the bow steady and drawn while aiming.  You're looking at more than a measely -2 penalty or whatever if you're THAT much of an archery-newb and trying to fire rapidly.  But if you take Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot as your 1st-level feats, then no problem, you've obviously had more archery training than the average 1st-level warrior, despite still being a novice overall.  So you can pull it off with some difficulty (Rapid Shot's -2 penalty), but at least those feats show that you've put a lot of practice into rapid-fire during your brief training so far.But it does take time to pull back your arm for the next throw and take aim.  ESPECIALLY if you're changing targets.  Moreso with moving targets.Also, a 1st-level newbie on the battlefield is likely to sweat a lot in nervousness or fear when faced with a real fight against opponents that are trying to kill him or her.  That newb's grip might slip up sometimes, and he or she might also be shaking with fear or excitement.  Once they get enough experience to steady their hands and cool their nerves, they can throw faster and still have some accuracy (Quick Draw, Point Blank Shot, and Rapid Shot).And this thread is just going in circles because you seem to be dead-set on measuring actions in time alone, in a vacuum, without any other variables of real combat.  And ignoring the abstractions in D&D combat.  You CAN walk and chew gum at the same time.  Or walk and swing a sword, as it were.  Or walk and shoot.  That's a standard action with a move.  If you stay still or mostly still and just attack repeatedly, that's a full-round action.  If you try jogging towards cover, that's a double-move or withdraw.  Running all-out is a full-round action.Point is, just because you can attack once with a standard action doesn't mean that a standard action necessarily represents 3 seconds or half a round or whatever.  Because D&D combat is abstract in its use of rounds, HP, etc., you may technically be walking around while you make your attack at the first good opening that you find.  And orcs may be charging towards you at the same time.And enemy archers may be shooting at you at the same time as you're trying to aim at them, but because you're a 1st-level noob on the battlefield, you get distracted by that or have trouble taking aim at the moving targets, when a more-experienced archer might just ignore it all and release a fluid stream of shots, easily estimating from enemy positions and angles of attack and wind speed/direction (which may differ from one end of the battlefield to another, especially when a lot of trees or buildings or hills or the like are nearby) that he or she does not need to dodge or just not more than a sidestep or two.</blockquote>

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