Penalty for shooting far

[Sharkon]

I try to find somewhere any rule that states what happens when someone shoots a target with a bow at a long distance. Of course the range increment of the bow is 80 feet but is it the same when someone attacks from 70 feet far and another from 20 feet ? Same aplies for rays...
Anyway i want your opinions about that. There must be some sort of penalty...

 

[frankthedm]

Rather than have it be a 'penalty', the system has a 'bonus' available with a character resource expenditure [a feat] called Point blank shot that adds +1 to hit and damage for shots within 30'.

It also functions as a feat tax on anyone who just wants Precise shot since many fights start out as a Race to Melee Distance.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3rd-edition-rules/200736-distance-encounters-begin.html

 

[irdeggman]

Nope.

Per the D&D combat system (which is by design an abstract system) anything within the same range increment has the same chance to hit.

Rays are spells and you need to keep in mind that it is "magic" and has no increment. They have a maximum distance but that is it (the spell describes it's distance).

30 ft is the "special" number and it allows for precision based attacks (like a rogue's sneak attack) to still be applied.

The "maximum" distance a ranged weapon can be used at is 10 times is range increment and a thrown weapon is 5 times.

Remember that all range increments are cumulative, that is it is a -2 for each range increment and that the next increment starts at the number specified. So for a weapons with an 80 ft increment it is no penalty for any distance less than 80 ft, -2 for 80 to 159 ft, -4 for 160 to 239, etc.

Also do not forget to factor in things like "soft cover" which is basically a -4 on attacks (or a +4 to AC) for any creature (friend or foe) between the attacker and the target. This I beleive is also cumulative.

-4 to attack for avoiding hitting an ally when firing into melee.

 

[green slime]

The reason is KISS: keep it simple

If you were designing a computer game, of course you could implement a method which utilized decimal numbers and was based on a curve.

But for us simpletons merely making believe, it is just enough complication to get by.

If it is a big problem, you could always make sure all your encounters only occur in a 10ft square room (preferably with orc and pie).