Maybe rapid shot etc just wasn't fast enough for reality...

[Plane Sailing]

Fascinating video


Dedication is everything - Lars Andersen the self taught rapid shooting bow master
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXxV5uDq-E

What do you think?

 

[Graythebruce]

Lars Andersen reactions

I think it's a fun video to watch, as are his other ones.

However, for some perspective, I've collected links to archery-history buffs who have some criticisms for the Lars Andersen argument. You can find them on my site, here: http://ludusludorum.com/2015/01/31/...ry-buffs-react-to-that-amazing-archery-video/

Gray

Fascinating video


Dedication is everything - Lars Andersen the self taught rapid shooting bow master
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXxV5uDq-E

What do you think?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Archers could fire really fast back in the day, but they didn't have to do a lot of aiming. If you're shooting at a mass of horsemen, just "aim" up so your arrow arcs down and uses gravity to spike a knight or horse. Does it matter if you hit the knight next to the one you were "aiming" at? The knights had to be pretty tightly-packed to punch a hole in enemy formations, so hitting the ground wasn't very likely. Medieval archery didn't resemble D&D-style small unit tactics for the most part.

This doesn't mean archers back in the day could not aim. It just wasn't that important a military skill.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Archers could fire really fast back in the day, but they didn't have to do a lot of aiming. If you're shooting at a mass of horsemen, just "aim" up so your arrow arcs down and uses gravity to spike a knight or horse. Does it matter if you hit the knight next to the one you were "aiming" at? The knights had to be pretty tightly-packed to punch a hole in enemy formations, so hitting the ground wasn't very likely. Medieval archery didn't resemble D&D-style small unit tactics for the most part.

This doesn't mean archers back in the day could not aim. It just wasn't that important a military skill.

Firing as many arrows as you can is different from aiming for a small specific area I guess. D&D probably assumes you're doing the latter...