Level Up (A5E) More love for archers?

[Timespike]

I know many contributors to these forums and the Level Up games have been traumatized by archers and fights in huge 300 yard fields, but the skew towards melee combatants, particularly in maneuvers, is really intense. I did a quick count and there are 67 maneuvers that require a melee weapon and ... 12 that require ranged (all within Biting Zephyr).

Any chance we might get some content for ranged weapon users such that they don't all have exactly the same maneuvers? Perhaps in a Gate Gazette?

I released a 3PP Arcane Sniper archetype for the ranger class and some associated supporting material last moth: Arcane Sniper (A5E) - Purple Martin Games | DriveThruRPG.com

 

[Jacob Vardy]

Pin down - pin a target to a point with your projectile. Must use an action to remove.

This definitely.

Also, archers want a maneuver where they can loose an arrow without breaking cover.

I've got a party of mostly archers who frequently go against ranged opponents. What everyone tries to do is go prone or get full cover. Frequently holding their action until an enemy breaks cover. Meaning the first creature to break cover gets 3-4 arrows in the guts.

Rangers and rogues can somewhat counter this but everyone else is in trouble.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Also, archers want a maneuver where they can loose an arrow without breaking cover.

I've got a party of mostly archers who frequently go against ranged opponents. What everyone tries to do is go prone or get full cover. Frequently holding their action until an enemy breaks cover. Meaning the first creature to break cover gets 3-4 arrows in the guts.

...well, wait, that just sounds like the problem is that archers already can loose arrows without breaking cover. did i miss something here?

edit: also, this sounds like exactly the situation ricochet would be perfect for, haha

 

[Pedantic]

...well, wait, that just sounds like the problem is that archers already can loose arrows without breaking cover. did i miss something here?

edit: also, this sounds like exactly the situation ricochet would be perfect for, haha

Cover's a reciprocal situation generally, so if you've got 3/4s and you don't want your opponent to have 3/4s, you have to move. Ideally you'd move out and then back by the end of your turn, but once everyone has a readied action to shoot whoever moves first it gets to a stalemate pretty quick.

That being said, I think Ricochet is the intended maneuver to solve the situation. It's just a shame that it's only 1 attack. Ideally an upgraded version would either cover all your attacks until the start of your next turn, or you could have some kind of "Exposing Shot" maneuver that strips cover, perhaps until the start of the target's turn if it hits.

 

[noodohs]

I don't have anything to add other than to say that I was putting together a Ranger for an upcoming game and trying to make them be as close to purely ranged as possible and... yeah. The maneuvers get real underwhelming if you try to do that. So I gave up and allowed them to do some melee combat, too, just so that they could actually use some of the maneuvers. Kind of a bummer.