New respect for crossbows

[Destil]

Remember, you're not dead until -11.

If memory serves only PCs and PC status creatures get: Hopeless Rerolls, Max HP at 1st level and 4d6 drop lowest and arrange as desired stat rolling (NPCs are 3d6 in order).

 

[Fenes 2]

In Switzerland, swords are not covered by the weapon laws, since they are too long to be concealed. But this is in a country where sixteen year olds get a military-issue assault rifle to keep at home over summer ("Just don't switch the plate covering the burst-fire and autofire modes like this, ok?") for shooting tarining and every soldier (military service is mandatory for all able-bodied males) keeps his military sidearm (pistol or assault rifle) with ammunition also at home, so it does not matter much...

 

[MerakSpielman]

Well, I'm sure plenty of folks out there know this about crossbows... but, back when they first came into widespread use, crossbows were considered almost unfair by many elite warriors/knights. Firing a bow effectively took some training, and many bows could not penetrate the heavy armors that knights often wore. However, with the crossbow allowed a relatively little trained peasant the ability to kill a knight with one flick of the switch.

(and, if you think d8 is low for a crossbow, try a crossbow in 1E or 2E!)

Then they made guns, and the knights shut up arguing about simple crossbows...

I think heavy crossbows should do 2-10 points of damage. As long as the DM remembers to enforce the full-round reload time, it'll be fine.

 

[Pielorinho]

I think heavy crossbows should do 2-10 points of damage. As long as the DM remembers to enforce the full-round reload time, it'll be fine.

?? 2d4 I could see. 2d6? no problem. But how do you get 2-10 points of damage -- roll a d10 and reroll any 1 that comes up?

Or did you mean 2d10? That sounds nasty, but it might be appropriate. OTOH, are heavy crossbows really that much nastier than longbows, damagewise?

Daniel

 

[Angcuru]

This is a little off-topic, but does anybody know exactly where the American "right to bear arms" ends? I mean, I know you can own a handgun, shotgun, rifle or similar small arms.,

Like mkarl said, the constitution declared the right for individual stated to have their own armed forces/militas. The individual right to bear arms is not specified in the constitution, and is nothing but a SEVERE misinterperetation of the text.

*sigh* To the people who talk about daggers and crossbows killing in one hit in D&D terms...THE AVERAGE PERSON HAS 3-5 HP! NO MORE NO LESS! If i shoot you or stab you, chances are that you gonna die.

 

[Tewligan]

This morning we had a girl come into our emergency department having been shot by a crossbow. It had gone through the meat of one thigh and into the other leg.

This was after it had penetrated completely through a friend of hers: into the front of the chest, through a lung (miraculously missing the heart and great vessels) and out the back.

Who was the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald?

 

[Angcuru]

?? 2d4 I could see. 2d6? no problem. But how do you get 2-10 points of damage -- roll a d10 and reroll any 1 that comes up?

Or did you mean 2d10? That sounds nasty, but it might be appropriate. OTOH, are heavy crossbows really that much nastier than longbows, damagewise?

Daniel

longbows are more accurate and have better range, and are deadly weapons at ANY range. crossbows are REALLY deadly, but only at close range. The average crossbow back in the day was only accurate up to a few dozen yards. After that you're shooting blind.

 

[Angcuru]

Re: Re: New respect for crossbows

Who was the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald?

Oswald wasn't the actual assassin, he just took the fall.

 

[Tewligan]

A local cop here in Alabama told me that it was perfectly legal to walk down the street with a katana strapped to my hip. This was a concern as myself and many of my friends are martial artists and it was fairly common for us to have a backseat full of bladed nasties as we cruised down the road.

Thank god SOMEONE is out there keeping Alabama's ninja population in check!

 

[apsuman]

To continue the highjack…

… technically, the US 2nd amendment right to bear arms is a right of the _states_ to keep militia and not allow the Federal government to restrict states from protecting themselves from Federal action. See United States v. Miller, 207 U.S. 174 (1939). This means that a state could, within its borders, regulate ‘arms’ in any way including an outright ban. In general, blades and projectiles are regulated in different manners and the 2nd applies to arms consistent with a military, para-military, or marginally military usage (as perceived by today’s standards). There is also an attempt or discussion of extension of the 2nd as a right to self protection (which, imho, it clearly is not).

Recently, the 5th US Circuit Court (New Orleans, LA) ruled that the 2nd applies to _individuals_ and not to states. US v. Emerson 270 F.3d 203. That means that in the 5th district (I don't know which states that is) states can not unduly burden the right to bear arms; but the definition of ‘unduly’ has not been written.

United States v. Miller, 307 US 174

I read nothing in the opinion that excludes the second amendment from defining an individual right.

Also, as to answer a question previous. It is illegal (anyone correct me if I am wrong here) for an individual to own a machine gun in the United States. It is also illegal to own or manufacture bombs.

Also, as for other arms, it is not illegal to own an F-16 (to my knowledge). Larry Ellison (sp? - the CEO of Oracle) wanted to buy one. But the Federal Government prevented the company from selling him one. So, he bought an Italian fighter jet. And you can buy old WWII and Korea vintage fighter jets.

I suspect that the illegality of bombs would include armed missles.

g!