Mass Arrow Fire?

[Wolffenjugend]

I don't think this is covered by the rules. How would massed arrow fire work? For example, a warband of 50 orcs all fire their bows at the P (not picking any particular person, but instead the area the P is in). Making 50 rolls is a pain in the ass. And how do you determine which arrows are aimed at whom? And what about arrows that miss; can they hit someone else?

Is there a mechanism in the rules that would allow for massed arrow fire? Perhaps a Reflex save vs. some kind of modified attack roll by the archers?

Suggestions?

Since it's not explicitly stated in the rules, are there any rules that lend themselves to a solution?

 

[Crothian]

I don't recall if I read this in a book or on the boards, but I liked the idea. Basically the 50 orcs target an area like 20 x 20. Then each person in that area makes a reflex save or take damage.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As far as rules for this situation, I believe that Skip Williams has a product from Malhavok Press (Cry Havok) that will deal with large-scale combat. It should also include mass arrow fire, though I can't say for sure since I don't have the book. It may not quite be out yet...

As far as suggestions, I'd just assign a flat percentage chance that a PC moving through the field of fire is hit by an arrow each round. Perhaps 1% per orc firing, so that a group of 50 orcs covering the field would yield a 50% chance of being struck by an arrow each round the PC remained in the field.

 

[jgsugden]

I had a campaign in high school (back in the 80s) that involved a lot of open warfare. I handled this problem by writing a simple program for my TI99-4A (ahhh ... I can almost hear the crickets that powered that machine) that allowed me to input a series of AC scores (one for each PC that might be a target), a total number of attacks and the damage for each attack. Then, the program would randomly select targets for each enemy archer, roll the attack rolls and then present the damage per character (the damage for each attack plus the damage total for each character for all attacks aimed at the character).

If you're going to handle a bunch of mass encounters, writing a simple program like this might be the way to go. If you don't know how to program, but want to learn, this is a great basic program for learning.

Alternatively, generate a bunch of random d20 rolls on a randomizer. Then, when the situation arises, evenly split out the attacks against each PC (if you determine the target randomly, it will be close to this anyway) and figure out what the enemy needs to hit each PC. Then, go through the list and count the number of hits. Having a list of d20 results instead of rolling each one is a great time saver in mass combat situations.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I had a campaign in high school (back in the 80s) that involved a lot of open warfare. I handled this problem by writing a simple program for my TI99-4A (ahhh ... I can almost hear the crickets that powered that machine) that allowed me to input a series of AC scores (one for each PC that might be a target), a total number of attacks and the damage for each attack. Then, the program would randomly select targets for each enemy archer, roll the attack rolls and then present the damage per character (the damage for each attack plus the damage total for each character for all attacks aimed at the character).

The only problem with this is that it assumes that each of the 50 orcs is actively aiming for a PC. My understanding of mass warfare is that the archers generally just fired into the area as fast as they could, and didn't aim specifically at all.

 

[jgsugden]

The only problem with this is that it assumes that each of the 50 orcs is actively aiming for a PC. My understanding of mass warfare is that the archers generally just fired into the area as fast as they could, and didn't aim specifically at all.

This was a tactic used against an army. My example was for attacks against a party - 3 to 8 indiivuals. If you want to consider the 'rain of arrows' idea where the enemy archers are aiming at an area rather than at individual PCs, I suggest using a BAB of +0, but including all other bonuses (magic, etc ...). I suggest you have each PC be the target of a number of arrows equal to (the number of enemy archers / the number of PCs and PC allies / 1d6). So 100 enemy archers firing at 10 PCs would result in each PC being fired at by 10 divided by the result of 1d6 arrows.

If you want a system for army vs army battles, I suggest using rules similar to the rules for swarms. Turn the different groups into 'armies' (instead of swarms) and simplify the encounters.

 

[Mista Collins]

I read somewhere on these boards that the way some book works mass arrow fire is as follows:

let's say a group or 50 orcs is lines up for battle. The form a section on a map that is 5 squares by 10 squares (or 25ft x 50ft). Their mass fired arrows would affect an area the same size (25ft x 50ft) somewhere on the battle feild. Anyone in that area would have to make some form of reflex save (not sure how DC was figured but I think it might have been a d20 + average BAB) and if they failed they would take damage (which would probably be the amount of damage from one arrow).

This makes sense to me.. but for the life of me I cannot find where I saw this, or where I heard it.

 

[AeroDm]

I recall a rule in 2e called Rain of Arrows which may be a useful starting place to modify to 3e.

It took at least 10 archers to begin, and they could then target a 10 x 10 area. Every 10 archers beyond added another 10 x 10 area.
Every archer beyond 10 firing into any 10 x 10 area added +1 damage.
Then all people in the affected area took 2d6 + AC damage.

A few notes:
This was 2e, things didn't need to make sense.
A low AC was a good AC, someone with a -10 (the best) would almost never take any damage.

 

[green slime]

I adjudicate as if the archers were using indirect fire:

They are not aiming at a person, but rather raining down arrows on an area. The lack of aim means a 50% miss chance is given to each otherwise determined hit. As the numbers of archers are so large, I just splice off chunks of twenty archers, and every chunk gets a number range from 1 to 20.

So 40 archers shooting at a 10x10 area: would get 2 critical threats, provided they beat the miss chance. Randomly determine which of the 4 5-foot squares get hit by the crits, by rolling a d4 (they could both occur in the same area). Check to see if someone was there in that square, and what their AC is. Usually against mass combatants, the PCs AC is through the roof so only crit threats or very high rolls count.

 

[MarauderX]

As far as rules for this situation, I believe that Skip Williams has a product from Malhavok Press (Cry Havok) ....

How about Fields of Blood, if anyone has that handy too...

Back in the days of OD&D I put a lot of emphasis on a swarm of arrows decending on a party/army/whatever, where the more that were aiming for a smaller area the higher the damage was. Essentially it was the same as a fireball - you could have some good armor but it won't matter as there are so many arrows in the area you will be hit. There was a save for 1/2 damage, with bonuses due to shields and armor, but I wouldn't use this suggestion.

Instead, I keep a 8.5x11 sheet of paper with randomly generated rolls on it, then look at the next 50 numbers on it to see if it would hit certain ACs or not. Determine who gets hit by which numbers and assign the damage. You will have 2-3 20's in there, so someone is gonna get tagged at least once, unless they are all hasted ninja-monks with deflect arrows.