-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Ranged AoO
- Thread starter trepanier
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
trepanier said:
Actually, it is in the PHB. They can't. Technically you need to threaten a square to get an AoO. Ranged weapons do not threaten squares.
However, alloing them to threaten squares around them (within 5ft) as a class ability or a high feat in a feat change would not be that bad.
Drawmack
First Post
Generally speaking if an action provokes an AoO it cannot be used as an AoO so charging, ranged weapons etc. do not allow AoO.
What AoO represents is your character taking a swing at something that runs by. You take a penalty when using a ranged weapon on melee so therefor you are better off letting the creature run by and shot at the one you're already aiming at.
Another point is that an AoO is an extra attack, since ranged weapons must be reloaded you cannot take an AoO with them becuase you still have to reload and therefor cannot make an extra attack with them.
Master of the Order of the Bow (epic Prestige class from the Epic Level issue of the Dragon) has as a class feature for 2nd Level the ability to threaten a 5' range rising to 30' range at 10th level.
The Quintisential Figher has some sort of archer class (non-epic) that also has a similar class feature.
I would recomend that at a minimum any feat to grant that ability should require the Combat shot ability (which prevents opponents from getting an AoO if you fire a missile weapon in a threatend square), either from the epic feat list or by having at least two levels in Order of the Bow Initiate. It doesn't make any sense to be able to get an AoO if you are doing something that would draw an AoO.
The Quintisential Figher has some sort of archer class (non-epic) that also has a similar class feature.
I would recomend that at a minimum any feat to grant that ability should require the Combat shot ability (which prevents opponents from getting an AoO if you fire a missile weapon in a threatend square), either from the epic feat list or by having at least two levels in Order of the Bow Initiate. It doesn't make any sense to be able to get an AoO if you are doing something that would draw an AoO.
Ridley's Cohort
First Post
trepanier said:
That is thinking about it the wrong way.
The implicit reason for melee AoOs is the combatant is actively swinging the sword within the threat area throughout the course of the round. If you let your guard down (provoke an AoO), one of those swings that normally has a negligible chance of connecting might actually land.
That same line of reasoning doesn't really make sense for ranged weapons. I can see why careful timing might give you a bonus to hit, but a extra attack? Doesn't seem reasonable (except perhaps as an epic level feat).
"Less time" is also misleading. The time to pull a trigger and swing a sword aren't all that different, really. Swinging a sword is actually much, much faster if you include aiming. Or notching the arrow in a bow.
