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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LazarusLong42" data-source="post: 1289997" data-attributes="member: 9620">OK, so, given the CW rules are Completely Weird, I'll go for a different set of rules:(1)  The entire band of archers fires at an area which must be contiguous and not jerrymandered--i.e. either a square, rectangle, or "circle"--the last as defined in DnD rules normally.(2)  Treat the entire attack as if it were an area of effect spell, but with damage dependent partially on AC.  So:For every 20 archers in the band, there are 21-AC+AB hits, as Vanalon stated above.  One of those hits is a critical threat, but for ease of calculation we're going to assume that the high angle of the arrow volley means no criticals are going to happen.Because the archers are targeting an area--rather than a creature--they have a 50% miss chance, as if the creature were invisible.  Because it's a volley, we'll assume 50% of those do in fact hit their marks.Also, the total area targeted makes a difference.  The same amount of potential damage will occur, but it'll be spread out much more.So, the final damage formula is:Each person caught in the area of effect takes [(# of archers)/(40*# of targeted squares)][21-AC-AB][damage dice].Examples:A party of four adventurers, walking 2x2, are targeted by 100 orc mooks (AB = +1) wielding regular ol' longbows.  Each person takes damage equal to:100(22-AC)/(40*4) * d8The rogue, with AC twenty, takes 1.25d8; round down, he takes 1d8 damage.The wizard, with AC a whopping 14, takes 5d8.Now, if the same adventurers were spread out, each walking 10 feet away from the others, the damage is:100(22-AC)/(40*9) * d8And the wizard takes only 2d8 damage (rounded down from (20/9)d8, whereas the rogue takes no effective damage.Strength bows allow the arrows to travel faster going up, so they sure as heck would do more damage coming down, and that damage can be added on.Finally, a large creature occupies four squares (10x10) and thus takes four times as much damage as his comrades.So... in summary:(1)  How many archers are shooting?  Call this number "A";(2)  What's their AB?  Call this number "B".  (Don't forget range penalties!);(3)  How many 5x5 squares are in the target area?  Call this number "S";(4)  For each person in the target area, damage = [A*(21+B-AC)/(40*S)]*(d8 + strength)</blockquote>

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