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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Azlan" data-source="post: 1288395" data-attributes="member: 2340">With indirect fire, the archers are not aiming to hit a particular player character, but rather they are aiming to hit the area that the player characters are grouped within. So, whatever rolls are used to resolve this situation, it should not involve each archer's attack bonus with his bow against a character's AC.So, maybe...Maybe have each archer using indirect fire roll against a DC, which is determined by the size of the targeted area, and also by the range from the archer to that area.First, determine the base DC according to the size of the targeted area. Use a base DC of 15 for a 10' x 10' area, which encompass four squares (or 2-4 player characters, in typical D&D formations). Use a base DC of 20 for a 5' x 5' area (that is, for a single square or character). Use a base DC of 10 for a 15' x 15' area, which encompasses 9 squares (or 5-9 characters). Or, if you really need to, use a base DC of 5 for a 20' x 20' area, which encompasses 12 squares (or 10-12 characters).Next, increase the DC by 2 for each range increment of the archers' bows between themselves and the targeted area.Now you that you've determined the DC...Rather than rolling 50 times, once for each archer. do this instead: If the archers all have the same attack bonus, then you can calculate approximately how many of them succeed in landing their arrows in the targeted area. If there are 50 archers, and if each of them has an attack bonus of +5, and if the DC is 17, then each archer needs a 12 or higher on the d20 to succeed, so each archer has a 40% chance for success. So, right off the top, out of 50 archers, only 20 will manage to get their arrows into the area.Or if that seems like too much calculation for you, then simply roll 50 times, once for each archer. (But, then, if you do that, you may as well roll a normal direct-fire attack for each archer against an individual player character.)Either way, determine how many archers succeed in landing their arrows in the targeted area, and then divide the number of successes by the number of squares that the area encompasses. That will determine, roughly, how many arrows land in each square.If, in this situation, the area is 10' x 10', then that area covers four squares, so each square will have 5 incoming arrows. For each player character in an open square, roll 5 attack rolls. The attack bonus for these rolls has nothing to do with the archers who shot the arrows. Rather, the attack bonus for each roll is +1 per incoming arrow. So, with 5 incoming arrows, the attack bonus for each is +5, which is used against the character's AC.If a player character is using a shield, then against indirect fire he should get twice that shield's AC bonus. A character can also gain an AC bonus from cover against indirect fire, though unless that cover provides overhead protection, it should give only the standard AC bonus. However, no one gains any benefit from any kind of concealment against indirect fire.Is this process too complicated? Maybe it is. But how else can we quickly and accurately determine a situation that involves 50 archers firing a rain of arrows upon a group of four player characters, with everything being fair and square?</blockquote>

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