Indirect Bow fire?

[Vaxalon]

No, no reflex save.

Arrows don't get a reflex save.

If you're shooting at a body of troops, the way I would do it, is that you use the size of the whole body rather than the size of the individual members for the to-hit roll, and then apply a 50% miss chance.

 

[DanMcS]

Bullets don't get a reflex save either, except when you use them for autofire, which is an indirect, area-effect type of attack, and where I yoinked the rule from. If you don't like it, don't use it, it's not like I'm the rule police.

 

[MacMathan]

Thanks for the ideas.

Yes I did mean arced arrow fire at targets you can see. It sounds like the direct fire ranges maybe too long to reflect inside or level firing.

I realize that this is always dangerous with DnD but does anyone have an idea of how far the historical counter parts to these bows could fire flat and arced at 45degrees?

Thanks,
-MacMathan

 

[Vaxalon]

I'd say a flat arc would be limited to two range increments.

Underground, that's farther than most people can SEE, much less find a corridor that long and straight to shoot down....

 

[rhammer2]

The way I have always played is that any fire beyond short range (base range increment in 3E) is arced. In 3E I use a 10 foot per range increment rule or 1/2 the range increment, which ever is less.

I'd say a flat arc would be limited to two range increments.

Underground, that's farther than most people can SEE, much less find a corridor that long and straight to shoot down....

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

If you're shooting at a body of troops, the way I would do it, is that you use the size of the whole body rather than the size of the individual members for the to-hit roll, and then apply a 50% miss chance.

That is a rather clever solution. A military formation is usually going to be Gargantuan or Colossal.

 

[DanMcS]

I realize that this is always dangerous with DnD but does anyone have an idea of how far the historical counter parts to these bows could fire flat and arced at 45degrees?

Strong bows seem to have an arrow velocity of 200 to 300 fps. Call an average 80 m/s, because I like the math in metric more.

Disclaimer: All following calculations disregard wind, drag, etc.

Firing from shoulder height (5 feet, about 1.5 meters), flat, the arrow would travel 44ish meters before it hit the ground, in about a half-second. That's what, 1 range increment easy, with hardly any loft at all.

The range on a bow with this initial speed at 45 degrees loft is about 650 meters. That's rather unrealistic, because real arrows have all kinds of drag, and are affected very much by the wind, but firing in a vacuum, that's what you'd get.

Edit: had the range increment on a longbow wrong.

 

[DanMcS]

So a longbow, with a 100 foot range increment, maximum 10 range increments, initial velocity 250 fps, would need about a 15 degree loft to go 1000 feet; it would take about 4 seconds to cover the distance, and reach a maximum height of about 70 feet in the air (65 feet above firing height). So apparently there's already some indirect fire built into the system.