Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7112700" data-attributes="member: 12731">Now I am talking about fantasy gaming in general.When I talk about ranged attacks being weakened, I am talking about the early evolution of D&D and fantasy rpgs in general, and contrast it to "realistic" or "historical" results. When I talk about ranged attacks being "too strong", I am comparing 5e to previous editions of D&D, notably d20 (3rd edition, Pathfinder). 5e does away with no less than ten (10) restrictions, limitations or weak aspects of 3e archery. While it is entirely possible to argue ranged fire was underpowered in 3e, taking away no less than ten (10) of the drawbacks and disadvantages is going WAY too far.No, that is a whole different ballgame, and I don't even want to start talking about that. I am talking about regular close-distance combats. Relative to 3rd edition, ranged fire is superior to melee combat even if most of your fights never give you any "free attacks" at distance. As long as battlefields are bigger than what you can cover in a single move (=ca 30 ft) you will sometimes down your foe with attacks remaining, but realize your remaining movement (up to ca 30 ft) is not enough to get you in melee with the next foe. This alone is a big win for ranged combat.And even when combat starts only 30 ft away, if you win initiative, you can back away while doing great damage with ranged attacks, as opposed to charging ahead and doing damage. The first option is clearly superior, since monsters will have to spend their entire round just to catch up to you (no attacks), not to mention second-rank monsters that would have been able to reach you if you charged forward, but now waste their entire round. Essentially, you force monsters to choose between piddly ranged attacks and not getting closer to you, or doing nothing but running ahead as fast as they can to try to catch up to you, or abort the ambush. All three options are clearly superior to the scenario where one or more heroes charge boldly forward in melee. Or to bring back my point - charging boldly forward is an essential part of fantasy gaming. The game needs to make it sufficiently attractive and numerically rewarding, so even rational players can pick melee builds without feeling stupid and unoptimal.</blockquote>

Verification