Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8718878" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Oh sure, for example, while Dexterity was used to attack, only thrown weapons, slings, and composite bows could allow for a Strength bonus to damage, and composite bows had to be specially made to allow for that.&nbsp; So most ranged attacks wouldn't gain any bonuses.Then you had rules like this:[ATTACH=full]256585[/ATTACH]Or this one:[ATTACH=full]256591[/ATTACH]In addition, from The Dragon #149 &amp; 150, &quot;Sage Advice&quot; by Skip Williams:&quot;Can characters use missile weapons when fighting toe-to-toe with an opponent?Characters cannot aim and fire bows, use slings, or hurl hand-held weapons while in melee. Loaded and cocked crossbows can be fired in melee but cannot be reloaded. Since light and heavy crossbows are too large to be very handy, the DM might rule that they can be fired only when the user has initiative.Can missile weapons, other than hurled melee weapons, be used in melee?No, missiles cannot be fired or hurled when the firing character is in melee. Furthermore, bows and arrows are not melee weapons and cannot normally be used in hand-to-hand combat. A bow or crossbow could, however, be used for pummeling (see Unearthed Arcana, page 107).&quot;While this concept was a rule in 1e, it was not explicitly stated in 2e, though inferences could (and were) drawn from the text of &quot;firing into a melee&quot; and the existence of a &quot;point blank range&quot; for bow specialists- and most DM's who played in 1e assumed this was still the rule (or, at the least, ruled it this way) before Skip gave a definitive answer.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8718878, member: 6877472"] Oh sure, for example, while Dexterity was used to attack, only thrown weapons, slings, and composite bows could allow for a Strength bonus to damage, and composite bows had to be specially made to allow for that. So most ranged attacks wouldn't gain any bonuses. Then you had rules like this: [ATTACH type="full"]256585[/ATTACH] Or this one: [ATTACH type="full"]256591[/ATTACH] In addition, from The Dragon #149 & 150, "Sage Advice" by Skip Williams: "Can characters use missile weapons when fighting toe-to-toe with an opponent? Characters cannot aim and fire bows, use slings, or hurl hand-held weapons while in melee. Loaded and cocked crossbows can be fired in melee but cannot be reloaded. Since light and heavy crossbows are too large to be very handy, the DM might rule that they can be fired only when the user has initiative. Can missile weapons, other than hurled melee weapons, be used in melee? No, missiles cannot be fired or hurled when the firing character is in melee. Furthermore, bows and arrows are not melee weapons and cannot normally be used in hand-to-hand combat. A bow or crossbow could, however, be used for pummeling (see Unearthed Arcana, page 107)." While this concept was a rule in 1e, it was not explicitly stated in 2e, though inferences could (and were) drawn from the text of "firing into a melee" and the existence of a "point blank range" for bow specialists- and most DM's who played in 1e assumed this was still the rule (or, at the least, ruled it this way) before Skip gave a definitive answer. [/QUOTE]

Verification